Strawberry-Peach Smoothies | Tasty Juice Drink make yours at home

JD

October 07, 2019

0

breakfast, brunch, fruits, juice recipe

Sure, you could buy a smoothie for an exorbitant price at your local coffee shop or juice bar, but why would you, when it’s so easy to make them at home? We replaced the ice called for in most smoothie recipes with frozen fruit to avoid diluting the flavors. We found that bananas are the secret weapon for smooth smoothies. Blending them creates a substantive (but not stiff) base, and their flavor is mild enough to play well with many different ingredient combinations. Pureeing a banana with honey and a pinch of salt before adding the other ingredients guaranteed an even level of sweetness throughout. The salt also helped bring out the fruit flavors. We love using Greek yogurt, but for these smoothies we preferred regular whole-milk yogurt because of its looser texture. Once you have this basic formula down, try the fruit combination that best fits your mood and tastes. You can substitute low-fat for wholemilk yogurt here, but your smoothies will be much less creamy.

Ingredients

1 ripe banana, peeled and halved lengthwise
2 tablespoons honey
⅛ teaspoon salt
1 cup frozen strawberries
1 cup frozen peaches
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
¼ cup orange juice

Procedure in preparing

1. Process banana, honey, and salt in blender until smooth, about 10 seconds.
2. Add strawberries, peaches, yogurt, and orange juice and blend until smooth, scraping down sides of blender with rubber spatula as necessary, about 1 minute.
3. Serve.

Cherry-Almond Smoothies - Variation in preparing

Add ¼ cup almond butter to blender with banana, honey, and salt. Substitute 2 cups frozen sweet cherries for strawberries and peaches. Substitute whole milk for orange juice.

Kale-Pineapple Smoothies - Variation in preparing

Substitute frozen pineapple chunks for strawberries and 1 cup frozen chopped kale for peaches.

Mixed Berry Smoothies - Variation in preparing

Substitute 2 cups frozen mixed berries for strawberries and peaches.

Tropical Fruit Smoothies - Variation in preparing

Substitute frozen mango chunks for strawberries, frozen pineapple chunks for peaches, and pineapple juice for orange juice.

SMOOTHIE PRO TIPS from an expert Chef

Washing the blender jar after you make your morning smoothie can be a real chore. Get a head start on the cleaning process by following this method: Fill the dirty blender halfway with hot water and add a couple of drops of liquid dish soap. With the top firmly in place, turn the blender on high for 30 seconds, then empty the blender jar. Most of the residue pours right out with the soapy water, and the jar need only be rinsed or lightly washed by hand. Another advantage to this technique: It keeps your fingers out of the jar and away from the sharp blades.
Stock your freezer for smoothie success by preparing smoothie packs in advance. Peel and cut up all the fruit for a week’s worth of smoothies and then portion enough for one smoothie into each of five zipper-lock freezer bags. Freeze the portioned fruit and then simply pull out a bag and blend its contents with yogurt, juice, and/or milk as needed.