Recipe: Banana Berry Yogurt Smoothie

Good Morning Sunshine! It's Fruit Smoothie Time! After months of cold, snowy weather… spring is here! … well in the US that is.. sorry Australia… you had beautiful weather when we didn’t… so now it’s our turn.

With warmer weather… I like cooler and mostly lighter meals… starting off with breakfast. When my son was growing up.. I was a smoothie queen… truly… had a scepter and all…. well maybe not a scepter… but I did have a blender… a marvelous invention.

I don’t know about you and your family… but my son was just impossible in the morning.. oh he got up alright… getting him to move was another story. Time for breakfast?...he barely had time to put his shoes on.. let alone eat a breakfast. He went to a school near where I worked… which was about a 45 minute commute … so inevitably… I would pack his breakfast and he ate while we sat in traffic… I can’t tell you how many times he ate Coco Puffs in a tupper… and yes… I added milk to them… all the comforts of home in my Ford Escort.

During warmer weather… I made smoothies… and he loved them… he would sip them as we drove… he actually thought they were a treat and not breakfast… but they were loaded with good things… milk or juice or yogurt as the base.. loaded with fruit… and I admit a little sugar or honey or syrup for something sweet… but if it got him to love all the other good things in there.. I thought it was worth it.

I will be posting recipes for fruit and calcium packed drinks that are delicious… great for kids and for those just trying to eat healthier… this is a delicious way to start your day.

Smoothies really defy recipes… you can adjust them… change them .. switch ingredients and quantities to your heart’s content… and best of all… if you start out with healthy ingredients.. you have yourself a healthy quickie meal.

TIPS

For the smoothie I made for today’s recipe… I used a non-fat light yogurt… any brand will do… I happen to try a store brand this time… use whatever yogurt you like.

You can go light on fat and calories by using non-fat yogurts and non-fat milk… I also use light yogurts … I do think, depending on the fruit and how ripe they are… will determine if you need to add any sweetener… I found the produce still not quite as sweet as I like them to be.. so I add a bit of sugar, honey or even a little syrup… I added about a tablespoon of red raspberry syrup … it added great flavor and really didn’t add that many calories… you could also use artificial sweetener if you really want to watch the calories.

Just an additional note about the syrup… I actually used Knottsberry Farm Red Raspberry syrup…. I eyeballed the amount… add a little… blend and then taste it until you get the amount of sweetness you like.


To make sure the smoothie was ice cold and shake-like thick….I cut up a banana and froze them in an air tight container… I also popped the yogurt in the freezer when I brought it home from the grocery store…. Just before making the smoothie… I ran hot water over the lid to loosen it a bit and took the lid off… made sure all foil pieces were off… then popped it in the micro for 25 seconds on high … just to loosen the yogurt.

You can also freeze blueberries and strawberries…. Clean and cut-up the strawberries before freezing.

This recipe makes about 2 (6 oz.) servings.

So without any more chit chat… here is a delicious smoothie for you to try…






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Recipe: Banana Berry Yogurt Smoothie

All you need:

1 (6 oz.) container non-fat strawberry yogurt (frozen)
1 banana, peeled, cut-up and frozen
2 large strawberries, cut-up
1 cup non-fat (skim) milk
1 tablespoon raspberry syrup

All you need to do:

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.