The Base to Create Deliscious and Healthy Smoothies

I have been making a ton of summer afternoon smoothies. My favorite go-to has been this Banana Almond recipe I found! Oh, man, it is SO good! And, at just 245 calories a serving packed with vitamin c, protein, calcium, potassium, fiber, iron, and more, it's win-win!

But, I 've been trying out different recipes as well using the same base ingredients.

• Frozen Fruit (1 cup) tip: buying frozen fruit is usually cheaper than freezing your own.
• Plain Greek Yogurt (1/2 cup) tip: buy the big tub when you do your weekly grocery shopping
• Vanilla Soy Milk (1/4-1/2 cup) or Apple Juice (1 cup)

Using these "base ingredients" the possibilities are endless. I usually try to get whatever frozen fruit I can find on sale and/or that sounds good, add the yogurt, then add in the liquid starting with 1/4 cup adding a little more at a time until the blender runs smooth. Remember you can always add more but once it's in you can't take it out. I use the vanilla soy milk when I want a creamier smoothie like banana or tropical fruit, and apple when I want it to be a bit sweeter, typically with berries. This is usually enough for 2 servings and each run right around 250-300 calories. Not too bad for a sweet satisfying homemade afternoon snack full of the good stuff that tides me over until dinner. :) My only warning is that smoothies tend to run high in the sugar department, so just make sure you're watching those.

 

Last week we did peanut butter banana, tropical strawberry, and berry (using the berry frozen mix).