When I was a kid, we never had smoothies in our house.  I don’t know why exactly.  I’m sure it never would have occurred to my dad to make them for us.  Anyway, this lack of smoothies meant that when I did finally get to have one, I thought it was like, the most special treat in the whole world.  Surely they were complicated to make and really bad for me – after all, they tasted so good.  I remember once going to a friend’s house to play after school and her mom made us smoothies as an after school snack.  I couldn’t believe it.  To me, it was equivalent to getting huge bowl of ice cream for a snack – before dinner, no less!  I thought her mom was way cool.

Once I moved into my own house with my own blender I decided I should start making smoothies.  After all, adults get to do what we want, right?  (This means I also drink chocolate milk almost daily, because I can :))  You can imagine my surprise when I discovered that smoothies are actually a very healthy indulgence.  I’m sure there are plenty of smoothies out there full of all kinds of refined sugars, artificial flavors and such, but not the kind I make.  And it’s amazing – just some frozen fruit, yogurt and a splash of milk make my perfect smoothie with no sugar added.  My kids will definitely grow up knowing the joys of smoothies.  In fact, Andrew and I have smoothie dates on weekend mornings where we split a big smoothie with two straws.  I’m thrilled that he loves them as much as I do.

I know a lot of people don’t use recipes to make smoothies and I really don’t either.  I never measure when I make mine.  But, I have given a basic recipe here which you can obviously tweak to your liking and based on what you have available.  A few tricks I have learned along the way include using frozen fruit so that you can skip adding ice, giving a more concentrated flavor.  The pineapple I use is nearly always from a whole pineapple that I cut up myself, and I keep it in the freezer so it is ready whenever smoothie time strikes.  I always add a banana no matter what flavor of smoothie I’m making because it helps with the texture.  I never add any sugar because the fruit and yogurt are sweet enough on their own, but you can add a tablespoon or two of honey if you need some extra sweetness (especially if you use plain or greek yogurt).  Finally, I add ground flax seed to the mix for a little extra fiber.  You can’t taste it at all but it is a nice nutritional bonus.

  • Yield 2 large or 3 small smoothies

Ingredients

8 oz. low-fat vanilla or plain yogurt
1 large banana
1½ cups chopped pineapple, frozen
1½ cups frozen strawberries
2-3 tbsp. ground flax seed
¼ cup milk

Directions

  • 01

    Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor.  Process until thick and smooth.  Add ice to thicken, if desired, or milk to thin.  Serve immediately.

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