Callapidder Days

In the comments of my last Friday’s Fave Five post, Keyley (who happens to be my sister-in-law — hi, Keyley!) asked me to share my favorite smoothie recipe. I was so glad she asked because I have been at a loss for blog post topics am always happy to spread cold, refreshing, fruity goodness around a little.

I’ll list several of our favorite smoothie concoctions, but I have to give a few caveats first:

1. A smoothie only makes my “favorites” list if C. likes it, too. I tend to make smoothies in bulk, for all of us to enjoy, and as a way to get extra nutrients into my 10-year-old. Therefore, these smoothies are fairly simple — nothing too exotic, nothing too crazy.

2. We have a very serious, heavy-duty Blender-with-a-capital-B. We’ve had other blenders — purchased at Target or a department store. And while they’re fine for some things (like mixing a banana and some yogurt), we’ve discovered that a heavy-duty, though admittedly pricier, Blender allows us to do so much more.

For example, my first recipe includes an orange, and all I do is peel it — the seeds go in along with the rest of the orange, the blender pulverizes them, and you’d never even know they were originally there. Also, I sometimes throw an apple into my smoothies — an entire apple. I remove the stem, but the core, peel, and seeds all stay intact. In one of our previous blenders, this would have been a recipe for a lumpy, gritty, disgusting disaster, but in the new one, you can’t even tell.

All I’m saying is that, depending on your blender, you might have to make some adjustments.

Anyway, on to the recipes:

Banana, Orange & Carrot Smoothie

1/2 banana
1 orange, peeled
1/2 cup orange juice
2-3 baby carrots
1 cup ice

Combine ingredients in blender and blend well (start on a low setting and then increase to high; blend on high approx. 30 seconds). This is probably my personal favorite right now — refreshing, naturally sweet, and tastes similar to an Orange Julius. Yum.

Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

1 banana
3/4 cup milk
Big glob of peanut butter (adjust to your liking — I probably use 1-2 Tbsp)
1 cup ice
Optional: Sometimes I include an apple, or exchange vanilla yogurt for some of the milk

Combine ingredients in blender and blend well.

Refreshing Fruit Smoothie

1 cup hulled strawberries
1 banana
1 cup red or green seedless grapes
1 cup ice

Combine ingredients in blender and blend well. I wasn’t sure if I’d like a smoothie without any kind of added yogurt or juice, but I really love this one. It’s just pure fruit juce, but I think it has a great taste.

Strawberry Ice Cream

Okay, this isn’t a smoothie, but it’s delicious. Not entirely healthy. But did I mention that it’s delicious?

1 cup milk (I used 2%)
1 pound frozen unsweetened strawberries
Up to 1/2 cup sugar or other sweetener (I used between 1/4 c and 1/2 cup)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla flavoring

Combine in blender, blend until smooth, but don’t over-blend (or it will start to melt). I have no idea if this will work in every blender — I found it on a site dedicated to our brand. I was skeptical, but it really worked. The frozen strawberries provided both the flavor and the coldness, and the blender whipped it into a yummy, soft-serve consistency strawberry ice cream. We drizzled it with chocolate syrup and devoured it. Three of us split it, but it could certainly stretch further — we were all stuffed after eating it.

And here’s a smoothie I’d like to try, but haven’t quite worked up the guts to…yet:

Cocoa Green Smoothie

1-3 cups baby spinach (start lower and work up to 3 cups)
1  banana (frozen, or use fresh and add some ice)
1 cup milk
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp sugar
Add water if needed to help the blending

Spinach in a smoothie? I know! Sounds weird. But I’ve heard that you can hardly tell it’s there, and just think of all the added nutrients I could get my kids to consume. I’ll let you know if I manage to try this one…

Writing this post made me crave a smoothie, so I just made one and thought I’d share a picture. Here’s the Banana, Orange, & Carrot smoothie, right before I made it quickly disappear.

If you have a favorite smoothie or cold blended drink, please share! I’m always looking for new ones to try.