smoothie help for the culinary idiot

[Pan Dulce]

Thanks for starting this thread kenyonchris, I got a lot of good recipes too.

[GLC1968]

My smoothies always include bananas, but I've found the key to a good thick smoothie is lots of frozen strawberries. I never include ice. Here's a recipe that might come out a little thin sans banana, but which is really tasty (I'm totally making the volumes because I never actually measure this stuff, so you'll have to experiment a bit to get the consistency and volume you like):

(1 banana)
1/2 C. Vanilla or plain yogurt
1 can of pineapple chunks
Flaked coconut
1 C. Frozen strawberries

Pour yogurt, entire (or half if you're not really into pineapple) can of pineapple WITH JUICE, and flaked coconut into blender. Puree until smooth. Add in frozen strawberries, using the ice crusher mode. Stir frequently. Add strawberries until consistency is what you like or it's the volume you want. Enjoy!

I will also toss in frozen or fresh blueberries, strawberries, or raspberries, depending on the season, but in my opinion the trick to a good smoothie consistency is frozen strawberries. I don't go in for protein powder and so forth, but clearly you could try some of that too -- if you do, let me know how it goes, and I might give it a stab in the future.

I am totally trying this recipe - it sounds delicious with both the pineapple and coconut in it (blowing my 'local' thing out of the water, but whatever). Thanks for sharing it!

[spokewench]

Well, it does sound like you need to eat more healthy; but I still don't think you need to lose weight.

My recipe for smoothies is:

a few frozen peaches
some frozen strawberries
1/2 pineapple juice
1/2 orange juice
a scoop of yogurt

Yum, the peaches really smooth this out.

[blueeyesaz]

Two of my favorite recipes:

Tropical smoothie:

1/2 cup FAGE 0% Greek Yogurt (fat-free)
1 cup light soymilk
1 cup frozen pineapple (or sub with mango/papaya)
2-3 packets of Splenda
1 Tablespoon honey

= 270 calories, ~26g protein

Chocolate/Strawberry Banana Peanut Butter:

1/2 cup FAGE 0% Greek Yogurt (fat-free)
1 cup light soymilk
1 small banana
2-3 packets of Splenda
2 Tablespoons sugar-free chocolate or strawberry syrup (like Hershey's)
1 Tablespoon all natural peanut butter

= 295 calories, ~24g protein