Basic Fruit Smoothie Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup fresh fruit (soft fruits work best - hard fruits like apples will likely leave lumps unless you have a really good blender)
• 1-1/2 cups unsweetened almond milk, low-fat milk, coconut milk, or fruit juice
• 1/2 cup plain non-fat yogurt
• 1 tablespoon honey (or to taste, optional)
• Up to 1/2 teaspoon herbs or spices (optional)
• 1/2 cup crushed ice

Instructions

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Yields one 2-1/2 cup serving.

Flavor Combos

Try any of the following combinations or make your own.

• 1 sliced banana, 1/2 cup blueberries, low-fat milk or almond milk
• Fresh pineapple (1 cup), coconut milk
• Canned pumpkin (1 cup), apple juice, 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• Blackberries (1 cup), low-fat milk or almond milk, 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 banana, 1/2 cup mango, coconut milk
• Chopped honeydew melon (1 cup), apple juice, 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated gingerroot
• Kiwi (1/2 cup), strawberry (1/2 cup), low-fat milk or almond milk
• Cantaloupe (1 cup); apple, pear, or white grape juice; 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh mint
• 2 bananas, orange juice, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup peeled chopped pears, pear juice, 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground fennel seeds or chopped fennel fronds

Tips for Success

Consider the following tips:

• If you use frozen fruit, you can omit the ice and add up to 1/2 cup of liquid to adjust thickness to your preference.
• These are easy to double in size - just double the amount of every ingredient except for the flavoring. Keep flavoring at 1/2 teaspoon.
• Taste before you add honey to determine whether you'd like it to be sweeter; many fruits make the smoothies sweet enough without added sweetener.
• You can replace up to 1/2 cup of the fruit with leafy greens.

Start Your Day

Smoothies are a quick and nutritious way to start your day. They also make good snacks, so start your blenders. Making smoothies is a fantastic option for adding a little more fruit to your life.