We make smoothies for breakfast almost every other day in our house. They’re quick, nutritious, and easy to whip up in under five minutes. Although I “experiment” sometimes, my favorite “base” for smoothies (by far) is strawberries. If you start with strawberries and then add in blueberries, peaches, raspberries, pineapple, or other fruits, you’re bound to end up with a delicious and refreshing concoction.
On most days, I make Strawberry Banana Smoothies because I like the simplicity of the recipe.
You’ll only need a few basic ingredients (Yes, that really is our blender. No laughing! I actually really like our 70’s blender…):
- 8-12 strawberries, frozen or fresh
- 1/2 to 1 banana, frozen or fresh
- 1/2 cup to 1 cup of plain or vanilla yogurt
- a little bit of water
First, drop in the strawberries. No need to slice them up. Just put them in whole. I usually use frozen strawberries, but you can use fresh ones if you like. This is the task that I usually give to my 21-month-old daughter (which she loves).
Second, slice up the banana and put it in the blender. I almost always slice up bananas ahead of time and keep them in a ziploc in the freezer so that I always have them on-hand. I usually put about 1/2 to 3/4 of a banana in, but you can adjust that depending on how banana-y you want your smoothie to taste.
Third, add 1/2 cup to 1 cup of plain or vanilla yogurt. Plain will make the smoothies less “sweet,” but I think it’s still pretty tasty. I usually put about 1/2 to 3/4 cup.
Finally, add in a little bit of water to make the smoothie blendable.
Blend. Pour into glasses. Garnish with whipped cream and sliced strawberries, if desired. Serves 2.
And here’s some good news for me (and for you if you use strawberries as much as I do)! Mom Central just clued me in to the fact that “California provides 88% of the nation’s strawberries, and the region is experiencing an incredibly bountiful harvest this year. With over 35,000 acres of fields across California, the growers will be picking nearly6 million crates of delicious, ripe strawberries this week to deliver to grocery stores nationwide.”
That’s A LOT of strawberries (which, hopefully, means that they’re going to be affordably priced and easy-to-find in grocery stores). For more information, stop in at the California Strawberry Commission website, where you can find recipes and online strawberry-themed games for elementary age kids.
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hazel says
July 6, 2008 at 11:56 pmI never really considered making smoothies at home, thinking that they’d be too difficult (jamba juice makes them look so complicated), but hey your recipe makes it look really easy and sound really good. And I just bought a huge package of strawberries too, I think I’ll try it! =D
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Ashley says
June 30, 2008 at 12:11 pmwe love smoothies in our house…we buy big bags of mixed fruit in the freezer section at Costco!
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Laura says
June 30, 2008 at 9:30 amThis sounds sooooo delicious.
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Christine says
June 30, 2008 at 8:05 amI have never heard of adding spinach. Now I have to go try it out. Pretty interesting idea, but if it tastes good, what a great way to get in a vegetable!
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Noreen says
June 29, 2008 at 10:49 pmI love the yogurt you used, mountain high. It is the only full fat yogurt I have found for my girls, they need the extra calories
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Kelsey says
June 29, 2008 at 9:02 pmOh yumm yumm yumm yumm! I have some strawberries so Ill have to make these thanks so much! And another YUMMO
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casual friday everyday says
June 29, 2008 at 8:29 pmOh heavens, you’ve given me a craving!
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yawningdog says
June 29, 2008 at 8:24 pmI finally made my kids some banana milkshakes today. About time, too, the freezer was being taken over by black bananas.
I just throw any banana past my kid’s standard of ripe into the freezer. When you want a healthy milkshake, take the bananaa out, peel and cut into chunks. Run them and some milk through your blender and you will get a milkshake without any ice cream.
My kids particularly like to add some peanut butter and some chocolate syrup.
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Barbara says
June 29, 2008 at 6:20 pmWe are fans of adding spinach to fruit smoothies too. It makes me feel even better about having one for a meal! I put it in the blender first (fill it almost full of fresh leaves), then put the fruit on top. It seems like a lot of spinach to me, but I can’t even taste it. You can see it though :).
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Sara says
June 29, 2008 at 6:03 pm“Mmmmm, licious” as Allison would say. I really should experiment more with smoothies. Our recent staple for after nap snack around here is strawberry, banana, spinach smoothie. A friend suggested the spinach and it’s surprisingly good. It’s not a pretty as a non spinach smoothie would be but it packs a little extra punch.
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marissa says
June 29, 2008 at 6:03 pmI love your step by step directions with the pictures. Smoothies are something that we need to make more of. Thanks for your yummy suggestion!
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Angie says
June 29, 2008 at 4:33 pmSounds really good. Hubby and I make smoothies often. Today we had an awesome peach smoothie and boy was it refreshing. I should have taken pictures and posted on my blog about it LOL
Thanks for sharing your recipe and pictures.
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Erica says
June 29, 2008 at 2:49 pmYour smoothies ARE good. Thanks for sharing the recipe so I can try it at home next time!