Marsha's Smoothies

I have always been a fan of smoothies, but I have not always been successful at making them at home.  My biggest problem was getting the proportions right.  But, thanks to a great base recipe I found in my What to Expect When You are Expecting book, I think I have been able to create an almost fool-proof recipe.  Lately, I have been having a smoothie for breakfast almost every day.  I hope you will try it out.

Frozen Fruit Smoothie

1/2 cup apple juice (or your favorite flavor, i.e. orange, pineapple, grape, etc.)

1 6 oz. container yogurt

1-2 cups frozen fruit

Place all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth.

So, here are my tips.  First of all, I just put a couple of handfuls of frozen fruit in my blender because it's a little hard to measure frozen fruit that is all different sizes.  Really, the amount of fruit you use depends on how thick you like your smoothies and how strong your blender motor is.  I freeze ALL the fruit I use in my smoothies, including bananas.


Secondly, to make my smoothie a little more figure friendly, I use Yoplait Light, fat-free, yogurt.  They are around 90-100 calories.  If my calculations are correct, 1/2 cup apple juice is around 50 calories, and 1 cup fruit is around 100 calories, making a big breakfast smoothie around 250 calories.  That's very diet friendly.


Thirdly, as far as proportions go, if you use a really ripe frozen banana, the banana flavor can be pretty strong, so I only use 1/2 a banana per smoothie.  I am also careful to not use too many berries in any given smoothie because they can be rather tart.  Instead, I like to balance the sweetness in my smoothies by using just a few berries and lots of peaches, pineapple chunks, mango chunks and/or 1/2 a banana.


Fourthly, I haven't found a yogurt that I didn't like in my smoothies.  Any flavor that you like will do.  I just try to match my yogurt to the fruit I am using that day.  Lemon and lime yogurts work well in a tropical blend.  


Fifthly, you can add any kind of powdered supplement that you like, if you are into that kind of thing.


Here are some combinations that I have tried that I love:

Marsha's Strawberry Smoothie

1/2 cup apple juice

1 6 oz. strawberry yogurt

1/2 banana, frozen

1 cup frozen strawberries (adjust amount to taste and thickness)

Marsha's Peach Smoothie

1/2 cup apple juice

1 6 oz. vanilla yogurt

1-2 cups frozen peaches

Marsha's Tropical Smoothie

1/2 cup apple juice

1 6 oz. yogurt (any flavor that sounds good)

1-2 cups frozen mixed fruit (peaches, strawberries, pineapple, mangos, bananas using more of the particular flavor that I want to be strongest in my smoothie that day)

As you can see, the combinations are almost limitless. Just get your proportions of juice, fruit and yogurt right, and you can combine anything that tastes good to you. You can also mix up your juices to adjust sweetness, or use frozen fruit that comes pre-sweetened.