How To Make A Smoothie In A Blender
Smoothie aficionados will tell you a blender is the way to go for smoothie making. A good quality blender is going to break up your ice, pulverize your fruit, and yield a not-too-thick, not-too-thin smoothie consistency. Plus, a blender is an incredibly useful multipurpose kitchen tool to own for way more than just smoothies.
A great blender is the one thing I think every healthy kitchen needs, says Alder. You can make amazing soups, desserts, smoothies, sauces, and more in it. And clean-up is effortless.
How To Build A Healthy Smoothie
Smoothies can make a healthy breakfast if you have a good balance of ingredients and nutrientsincluding protein, carbs, and healthy fats.
Smoothies can be a healthy and convenient way to add in several nutrients to help jump-start your day, says Andrea Mathis, M.A., R.D.N., L.D., an Alabama-based dietitian and author of The Complete Book of Smoothies: 115 Health Recipes to Nourish, Health, and Energize.
Mathis especially loves that you can modify smoothies for any taste or preference. She emphasizes the importance of making smart swaps to ensure youre getting all the nutrients your body needs. For example, protein powder is a great addition to your smoothie for an extra kick of the macronutrient, but Mathis also loves nuts, cottage cheese, chia seeds, and other foods that already contain high amounts of protein.
Additionally, adding a source of healthy fat, like nuts or avocado, and extra fiber from vegetables, flax seeds, hemp seeds, or chia seeds can help provide essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, she says.
Easy Frozen Fruit Smoothie Recipe
We love making fruit smoothies. They are so delicious and I would eat them every day if I could. It is a great way to get your fruit servings in each day.
This is my basic recipe to create what I call the perfect fruit juice smoothie. It is such an easy smoothie recipe. You can do all water for your liquid, but I suggest you add some sweetener to it.
This recipe is so versatile and can be customized to what you like. It calls for a cup of frozen fruit and I typically use strawberries or blueberries. However, you could use banana, pineapple, mango or a combination!
This Spinach Pineapple Green Smoothie is another favorite plant based smoothie I absolutely love! Once you start making smoothies, you will be hooked!
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How To Make A Smoothie
A smoothie is so much more than blended fruit. It’s an art with all of its different elements blending perfectly together. Just in case these 29 smoothies aren’t enough, here is our guide to making the perfect smoothie.
Pick your fruit.
We chose strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and bananas to be our base, but any combo of fruit is great. Make a tropical smoothie of pineapple, mango, and banana or add blueberry and peach to switch it up a bit for a summer twist. Aim for about 3 cups of fruit.
Fresh or frozen fruit?
For smoothies, frozen fruit is best. It blends up thicker than fresh fruit and gives you a really cold smoothie to enjoy after blending. If you don’t have frozen fruit, freeze your fresh fruit for 30 minutes before blending or add about 1 cup of ice and blend until smooth!
Add a thickener.
We use unsweetened Greek yogurt in our smoothie, but peanut butter, almond butter, or vanilla yogurt are all great options. Traditionally about 1/2 cup is ideal. If you prefer thinner smoothies, you can either lessen the amount of thickener or skip it all together.
Choose a liquid.
Almond milk is great for the added nutty flavor, but coconut milk pairs well with a tropical smoothie and gives a richer, creamier flavor. Whole milk or fruit juice also work well. 1 1/4 cup of liquid makes the perfect consistency for our preference. If you skipped the thickener, use less liquid as well.
Throw some add-ins in.
What Are The Extras You Need To Make A Smoothie
Once youve picked the fruit and vegetables and liquid that you are going to use to make your smoothie, the next thing you need to do is choose the extras. As the name states, this category is extra. You dont have to choose anything here. But if you are looking for something extra to put into your smoothie, then here are some good ideas:
- Nuts
- Be sure to soak almonds
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Delicious Smoothies For Strawberry Lovers
Strawberry smoothies make a healthy, delicious, and refreshing drink. Even better, theyre easy to make and ready in a snap when youre in need of a snack or quick breakfast. Strawberries are one of the healthiest fruits around. Theyre low in carbs and calories, but high in vitamin C, manganese, potassium, fiber, and antioxidants. They work well with countless flavor combinations, making them a perfect addition to many smoothies.
How To Make A Smoothie Without Bananas:
Bananas are the backbone of my simple smoothie recipes. They add so much creaminess, and natural sweetness while being inexpensive. That being said, I know not everyone likes/eats bananas. If you arent into bananas, you can add some Greek yogurt + sweetener + ice OR a half of an avocado + sweetener + ice. Those two combos will replace a banana nicely in a smoothie and still give you a nice rich and smooth texture.
Got a big day? Start it off right with these nourishing energy smoothie recipes.
Sure, I like a high stack of pancakes drenched in butter and maple syrup as much as the next person.
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But empty carbs and sugar can quickly lead to a crash and burn scenario.
Energy smoothies, on the other hand, are full of whole foods that fuel your body right.
These nutrients are precisely what youll need to nourish your body and energize yourself for the day.
Plus, it doesnt hurt that they taste amazing!
With a trusty blender, you can whip up a tasty energy smoothie in minutes and be ready to tackle the day.
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Choosing The Right Ingredients
Our standard fruit smoothie recipe starts with a banana or apple and yogurt,but anything you can imagine can work. We’ve made delicious treats with peanutbutter, pineapple, carrots, spinach and kale, and more. We’ve even added celeryto the spinach peargrape smoothie. If you’re going for complete nutrition, adding protein powder tosmoothies puts power in your day without changing the flavor.
You don’t have to break the bank by paying out the nose for little bags ofwashed, chopped, and frozen fruit at the store. Freezingyour own fresh fruit takes less time than you think, and you can make yourown mixture of ingredientsready to dump a little baggie in yourblender!
The amount of ice affects how smooth or chunky your smoothie is .The more ice, generally the chunkier the end result given the same amount ofblending time. Too much ice or too much frozen fruit and you’ll end up with asorbetdelicious, but harder to drink through a straw.
For a very healthy, low-calorie smoothie load up with flavorful fruits and cut down on high calorie ingredients. Punchup your drink with spices, herbs, and other low-calorie flavors. Remember thata smoothie packed full of leafy greens will keep you full too without blowingyour calorie budget.
Basic Steps For How To Make A Fruit Smoothie
1. Add your frozen fruit of choice
In this case, we used blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries. However, any type of frozen fruit will work great!
2. Add a yogurt or banana base to thicken
Plain greek yogurt and/or bananas are great for thickening smoothies.
3. Add protein powder
Adding protein powder helps sweeten the smoothie and, of course, adds protein. This is always an optional step!
4. Add your milk of choice
Our favorite is unsweetened almond milk, but cashew milk, coconut milk, oat milk, and regular dairy milk are all great options as well.
To make the smoothie: Simply blend everything in a single serving blender and enjoy! Another option is to pour the smoothie into mason jars and freeze for quick smoothies throughout the week. Simply thaw in the refrigerator a few hours before youre ready to drink it !
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Make Sure You Have A Good Blender To Make This Frozen Fruit Smoothie
You want to make sure you have a good blender. I have been thru some cheap ones and they barely last a week. Dont waste your time like I did with these cheaper models, and just get something nice from the get go. It will save you time and money!
I have a Vitamix now and it was worth the money. We have had it for many years and its still working to make smoothies and more! Its paid for itself time and time again with all the money I have saved making smoothies and milkshakes at home.
Purchasing a Vitamix is pricey, but it is worth it. You wont have to keep replacing it like with the cheaper blenders. Amazon has several of them on sale right now for a great price.
If you just cant make it work in the budget, I recommend a Waring professional blender. I think it is the next best thing and it will get the job done. Now, it is not as good as the Vitamix but its a close second for a more reasonable price. Amazon has several Waring blenders on sale right now.
Tropical Papaya Perfection Smoothie
This coconut-infused breakfast smoothie tastes just as decadent as a milkshake. One sip will immediately transport you to a tropical island.
Cut 1 papaya into chunks and blend it with 1 cup of fat-free, plain yogurt, 1/2 cup fresh pineapple chunks, 1/2 cup crushed ice, 1 tsp. coconut extract, and 1 tsp. ground flaxseed. Process the mixture for about 30 seconds, or until its smooth and frosty.
Nutrition: 299 cal, 13 g pro, 64 g carb, 7 g fiber, 44 g sugars, 1.5 g fat
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Ingredients For This Strawberry Smoothie
Heres what youll need to make this strawberry smoothie! Alex and I were careful to choose healthy ingredients for this smoothie: no overly sugary juices or syrups. Heres what we selected:
- Frozen strawberries: Its easy to find and store frozen berries, and they add a great icy texture to this smoothie. If you want to use fresh berries, use a frozen banana.
- Fresh banana: Our pet peeve is smoothie recipes that call for frozen bananas, because we never keep them on hand! Usually we want a smoothie recipe now. So we customized this one to use a fresh banana.
- Greek yogurt: Greek yogurt gives this recipe a protein boost and helpful probiotics. It also makes for a perfect creamy texture.
- Ice: Heres the most important part ice is essential to a perfect strawberry smoothie! It makes just the right frothy texture. Weve tried it without and it really makes a difference. Do not omit it!
- Milk: You need just the right amount of liquid in a smoothie to get it to blend. Not enough and the blender gets stuck , and too much it tastes milky. You can also use non-dairy .
- Maple syrup: Adding a hint of maple brings out the sweetness in the berries. If you eat a low sugar diet you could omit, but it doesnt quite taste sweet enough with no sweetener.
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How Do You Make A Smoothie From Scratch
In short, making a smoothie is as simple as tossing ingredients into the blender and letting it do the work. The harder part is deciding what, and how much, goes into the pitcher.
A homemade smoothie can be as simple or complex as you choose to make it.
You can make an easy 2-ingredient strawberry smoothie by blending together frozen strawberries and a bit of milk. Or you could get really complicated and make a 12 ingredient mega smoothie with enough calories to last the day.
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Milk And Honey Smoothie
Make use of the celery in your produce drawer with this blended juice, which combines it with almond milk, cucumber, and grapes for a sip-worthy snack.
In a blender, combine 1 1/2 cups unsweetened almond milk, 1 medium Kirby cucumber , 1 cup seedless green grapes, 2 medium stalks celery , and 1 Tbsp honey. Blend until the mixture is smooth, serves 2.
Nutrition: 124 cal, 2 g pro, 26 g carb, 2 g fiber, 21 g sugars , 2 g fat
The Easiest Strawberry Smoothie Recipe
Here we are again with the non-recipe recipes.
The thing is, we love smoothies. The kids love drinking themthey are a healthy, sweet treat thats relatively easy to take with them when theyre outside playing.
And I love that I can pack them full of basically everything they need: fruit, protein, fiber, grainseven veggies if I were really trying! So as far as Im concerned, smoothies are win-win around here.
Thats reason enough to bring you this pretty pink drink today, right?
Im fairly confident that this strawberry smoothie are the instant-breakfast magic that gets us through our busy days!
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What Are The Benefits Of A Strawberry Banana Smoothie
A strawberry and banana smoothie is good for you because strawberries are rich in fiber, vitamins and antioxidants. They are among the top 20 most antioxidant-rich fruits. One serving of strawberries contains more vitamin C than an orange.
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Try to buy organic strawberries, if possible. Non-organic strawberries often test positive for at least one pesticide. I like to buy the large Costco packages of frozen organic strawberries for our smoothies.
Bananas are a good source of fiber, potassium and magnesium. Your body digests the sugar in a banana more slowly than refined sugars, so you get lasting energy, rather than a sugar rush and crash. Naturally-sweet bananas are a healthy way to satisfy your craving for sugar. When youre craving a sweet frozen treat, this strawberry banana smoothie is a delicious option!
Are you ready to make your best strawberry banana smoothie? Lets do it!
A Simple Strawberry Smoothie
The other day I was flipping through one of my favorite cooking magazines and noticed a strawberry smoothie recipe. It immediately caught my attention because of the vast array of ingredients, 15 grocery items to be exact.
I stopped in wonder. Who in their right mind is going to go to the store and buy 15 items just to make smoothies?
Some smoothie-makers like to add protein powder, flax, or minerals to their smoothies to up the health benefits, but I wasnt fooled. My beloved magazine was putting on airs to dress up a simple strawberry smoothie.
Like wearing heels with your gym shorts, this just doesnt make sense.
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More About This Recipe
- With just three ingredients and a quick spin in the blender, you can have a fruit-packed smoothie in just 10 minutes. The thick texture and tang of Yoplait® Original yogurt is a perfect complement to the sweet, fruit, and making it at home gives you a jump start to a streamlined, better-for-you day. Now that youve mastered this easy strawberry smoothie recipe, you can make smoothies a regular part of your routine. Weve also got some handy tips for making smoothies even easier with make-ahead versions. For new ideas and inspiration, check out the rest of Bettys best smoothie recipes.
- Yoplait is a registered trademark of YOPLAIT MARQUES used under license.
Why You Should Make This Banana Smoothie
Ive made a version of this easy banana smoothie recipe more times than I can count. Its perfect on its own and is the best base recipe for adding more ingredients like fruit, nut butter, and veggies.
Here are a few more reasons we love it:
- You need less than 5 minutes to make it.
- You can use fresh or frozen bananas.
- Its easy to adapt to what you have in the kitchen.
- This smoothie is perfect for breakfast or a snack.
- Kids love it!
- You can even make the smoothie ahead of time, freeze it, and save it for later.
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Caramel Apple Overnight Oatmeal Smoothie
This vegan, gluten-free breakfast smoothie is perfect for cold mornings when youre craving a fall treat. Dont worry: Theres no caramel in this recipe. Instead, this blogger subs in dates to add natural sweetness, along with antioxidants, fiber, and minerals. Rolled oats also pack fiber and protein, while apples and cinnamon give that undeniably heartwarming taste. This dreamy mixture sits in the fridge overnight, saving you so much time in the mornings.
Preparation Storage & Freezing Tips
These smoothies are perfect during peak strawberry season which is when they hit their ultimate sweetness levels which is key to their deliciousness. Strawberries can be a bit sharp if theyre out of season, but swapping the water for orange or apple juice can sweeten it up.
- Buying Choose strawberries that are bright red, small to medium size and have a sweet aroma. Unlike bananas, they wont ripen at home, so dont go for pale or green ones.
- Prep Wash well and remove the hull .
- Storage Strawberries are best consumed within 2 days, as studies have found their nutrient content starts to decrease after this time. They will last longer in the fridge though .
- Freezing You can freeze strawberries for up to six months.
So, there we have a few of our fav recipes that are cheap and easy to prepare! Now which ones take your fancy?
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