Strawberry (or any berry) banana smoothie

I am not a juicer, nor have I typically been a “smoothie person.” I prefer to chew my food and will choose savory over sweet in most cases. But, I also am no fan of cereal. The everything bagel with veggie cream cheese that I really want isn’t really the most wholesome thing to eat daily, not to mention I live in Chicagoland where the term “bagel” is used loosely, at best. I do find myself hungry in the morning, and I probably don’t eat as much fruit as I should, so I decided to try the smoothie. As it turns out, as long as it is kept simple, I am a fan.

Buy your fruit in season and freeze it

Bananas are often cheap, and often underwhelming to eat as they are. Let them ripen a lot, then freeze them to have a perfect smoothie component at the ready. Strawberries are starting to appear at a reasonable price, and will be all summer. And you can substitute any berry you like. Blueberries are a great option because of all of the healty stuff in them. Once you find a source of good berries, wash and freeze them (first on a sheet pan so they don’t stick together), and keep them in freezer bags for future uses. The other great thing about using frozen fruit is that you don’t need ice. This is particularly useful for people like me who never saw the need for a fancy blender. My cheap ordinary, only thing special about it is the glass pitcher, blender can handle frozen fruit. Not so much with the ice.

You will also need 6 oz or 3/4 cup of yogurt and up to ½ cup or milk or juice. I am using plain yogurt because I prefer to avoid added sugar, but you could totally use a cup of Yoplait or whatever you prefer. Just keep in mind that you might need more liquid if you use Greek yogurt.

Bzzzzzz

If your blender, like mine, does not have super powers, you will want to put the yogurt in first, then the fruit, breaking up the banana. This keeps it from becoming suspended above the weak blade mechanism, then seizing up into a challenging mass.

Add about half of your milk or juice right before turning on the blender (again, to keep things flowing), and add more as you go to achieve the consistency you want.

If you are not going to eat it right away, you can freeze it in an ice cube tray like this:

Once the cubes are frozen, pop them out and keep in a freezer bag for use in lunches, etc. and one could probably jam a toothpick into the center and convince a child it is homemade ice cream…off to find some toothpicks!