- Fruit, any kind
- Juice, any kind
- Milk or yogurt, optional
- Ice cubes, optional
- Sweetener to taste (optional)
This is more a method than a single
recipe. You do need a blender to make
smoothies. Food processors won't blend the
fruit finely enough to make a good beverage.
After you have a blender you need fruit. I
use leftover fruit, like that half a banana
or half eaten apple left over from lunch.
Fresh fruit which is ripening faster than it
can be eaten is custom made for blender
drinks. Canned fruit, with the juice from
the can, works well too. I often use canned
pineapple, peaches, pears, applesauce or
fruit cocktail which has been sitting in the
fridge for a few days, and doesn't look like
it will be eaten.
Fresh fruit, cut into chunks, like apples
(with the peels, but not the cores); peeled
bananas; oranges, peeled and seeded; or any
other type of prepared fresh fruit can go
into the blender container. One exception to
this is grapes with seeds, I only used them
once. The seeds were very time consuming to
remove, and then some wound up appearing in
the smoothie anyway, no matter how
meticulous I was about removing them. A few
stray orange seeds don't seem to bother me
the way those grape seeds did.
Fruit juice, especially any which might turn
into cider or vinegar in the next couple of
days, is really good in a fruit smoothie.
The slightly sour taste adds a nice zip to
the finished product, although you might
want to add a little more sugar than usual
for sweetness. Most of our juice is from
frozen concentrate. Any time I use a recipe
which calls for part of a can of frozen
juice concentrate, I use the remainder,
diluted somewhat casually with water, to
make smoothies. Regular flavors at my house
are orange juice and apple juice. Grape
juice is good in a smoothie too, but it
isn't quite as versatile as apple or orange
juice, because it is so strongly flavored.
When I have extra grape juice to use up, I
usually mix it with unflavored gelatin to
make real grape gelatin. The kids prefer
this to grape flavored fruit smoothies.
Next add some milk, or yogurt if you like. I
prefer to use yogurt, because to my taste
buds it mixes very nicely with fruit. I do
use milk sometimes though, depending on my
mood, and the contents of my fridge. Lastly
add sugar or honey to taste.
The procedure goes like this: Put a cup or
two of fruit juice, or syrup from canned
fruit, into the blender. Add fresh and/or
canned fruit (cut into chunks if necessary).
Use about a cup or two of fruit. Next add
yogurt or milk if you are using it. About a
cup or two will be sufficient. Put the lid
on the blender and whirl it around until it
is all smooth. When it seems smooth, turn it
off. Take the lid off of the blender and
taste the mixture with a spoon. If you think
it needs sugar or honey, now is the time to
add it. Usually 1/4 to 1/3 cup of sugar is
plenty. Blend briefly to dissolve the
sweetener.
If the blender isn't too full, I often add a
few ice cubes, especially in the summer
time. Put the lid back on the blender, and
whirl it around until the ice is finely
chopped Now it is done. Pour the mixture
into 6 or 8 ounce size cups or glasses. I
recommend this size because Fruit Smoothies
are pretty filling as a rule, and the kids
won't drink as much as they think they can,
unless they are in a growth spurt, in which
case, they will eat you out of house and
home for a good week or two.
If you have any leftovers, this mixture
makes very nice frozen popscicles. Pour it
into popscicle molds, or into small paper or
plastic cups (3 ounce size). When it is
partially frozen, shove popsicle sticks down
into the centers of the cups. Popscicles
made this way are almost better than the
Smoothies.
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