I think it's a great treat to have and a good way to eat fruit (and some vegetables). Unfortunately most smoothies that you buy at stores are unhealthy, or they're expensive (and I'm really poor). So mine are homemade and take about five minutes (unless I spill it. Which I do fairly often, and that makes me sad).
Getting Started
I don't have a fancy smancy blender. I'm sure whatever you have will be fine. I purchase a lot of my produce at Aldi's. I'm not sure of their locations across the country but they're everywhere I've ever lived. It's a cheap grocery store that always has THE BEST PRODUCE. Did I mention it's CHEAP?
Behold my booty!
Anywho, I buy whatever they have that looks good. For instance this week I bought a pineapple, mangoes, grapefruits, apples, bananas, strawberries, spinach, romaine, etc... I pretty much buy anything and everything. It's amazing. Often though the fruit starts to turn bad before I've had a chance to eat it. So I started to freeze my fruit. Bananas, strawberries, pineapple, blueberries, mangoes, peaches-- They all freeze well and make the smoothies better because then it's all cold and has the consistency of a milk shake.
YAY!
So buy fruit whenever you see it on sale. Buy fruit at discounted grocery stores, farmers markets, or road side stands (My favorite!) The peaches in my freezer came from a Georgia road side stand last Summer when my parents bought a couple bushels on their way back home. Seriously, they still taste amazing and work well in smoothies. My strawberries came from my mothers garden. (She puts out a 2 acre garden. Does it by hand. She's insane, but I reap all the benefits!)
If you have the space to store a big batch of fruit then you should stock up in the summer when you have all of those wonderful road side stands.
Layers
Here's my typical smoothie (note: I change them everyday. Depends what I have on hand. So be creative!) I start with half a banana. It's usually frozen because I always have leftover bananas when they turn brown. I only do half because then it gets too banana-y. Then I add blueberries (again frozen- but I don't buy them frozen. I buy them in large amounts when they are on sale because blueberries can be expensive.) I then add strawberries, peaches, a handful of spinach (you really can't taste it- promise.) I use vanilla flavored Greek yogurt. It has a lot of protein, so it makes me feel full. Also, it's low in fat, and has calcium. I love it. Then I top it off with some sort of juice.
Lately, I've been digging the diet cran-grape juice. It's only five calories for a full cup and I use about half a cup of juice in my smoothies. Pineapple juice is amazing too but it has a lot of sugar and more calories than I'd like. There's really no nutritional gain but it does taste yummy. You can get by with diluting it: half juice and half water. I buy my pineapple juice in the small 6 oz. cans. Use half a can one day, the other half the next. Have fun with the flavors. I always have half a banana. After that-- it's whatever your heart desires. I like banana, peaches, mango, pineapple, with vanilla Greek yogurt, and diluted pineapple or orange juice.
Top off your smoothie with a straw and a cute umbrella.
Then sit back, relax, close your eyes, and pretend you're on a beach somewhere. Let the sound of the city drift away.
xoxo,
Sally
