A Yummy Summer Treat

What's the Word June
Today's word is: (sensitive)

Here at the Deneweth house, during the warm months, we make smoothies pretty much every single day. The kids love them (Zoie even asks for them by name), they are icy goodness perfect for cooling off after playing and getting dehydrated. I feel good making smoothies for them because it's a guaranteed serving of fresh fruit and some added calcium from the soy milk I add in.

If you feel like you'd like to get into making your own smoothies (and I totally recommend it), I've put together some pointers for you.

• I usually buy bags of frozen fruit for our smoothies, but sometimes I use fresh fruit (frozen is cheaper and just as good). Some of the fruits we use on a regular basis are: bananas, strawberries, raspberries, mango, peaches, pineapple, blueberries*, and raspberries.
  
  *I only use blueberries because my son is a serious blueberry head. Blueberries in smoothies work much better if you can find a blueberry juice. When whizzing up a fresh or frozen blueberry, you always get the millions of chunks of blueberry skin... blech! I have strained the juice before to get the chunks out, but it is a pain in the rumpus.

• I've personally found that it's almost impossible to make a bad smoothie as long as you add a banana. Bananas are essential to a good smoothie.  Fresh or frozen, it doesn't matter. I generally buy lots of bananas, because they go fast around here. If I do happen to buy a bunch that gets brown particularly fast, you can save those suckers by peeling them, putting them into a freezer safe ziplock and popping them into your freezer. 

• Some juices I generally use for our smoothies are: apple juice, orange juice, strawberry kiwi V8 splash. And I've lately been experimenting with some of the other healthy juice mixtures they have out there. V8 makes a mango peach juice that makes a bangin' smoothie. I always try to stay away from the juices containing High Fructose Corn Syrup, though. We are anti HFCS in this house (for the exception of Oreos).

• And don't forget the splash of soy milk! I used to use plain lowfat yogurt until we found out about the Bear's milk allergy, but soy, almond, vanilla soy, etc, works just as well. 

So go ahead and whip one up! Here's How: In your blender, start with your banana, add your mixture of the fruits that sound yummy to you today, you can add in a spoonful or two of sugar to your taste, pour in the juice until it fills the blender almost to the top of your fruit, then add in a healthy splash of your milk (you can leave the milk out, but we find it makes the smoothies creamier and less acidic), then fill the blender to the top with ice. 

If you happen to be sensitive to acidic fruits, a good option for you is: bananas, peaches, watered down apple juice and a splash of vanilla soy. It's creamy, yummy and non acidic.

Whiz up your concoction until you don't hear the ice breaking up anymore. We use a Ninja Blender (which is the BEST blender I've ever owned), and it doesn't take very long, but with our old blender, the whizzing could take up to 5 minutes (good riddance old blender).

Pour the smoothies into cups (we always use cups with lids for the kiddies), add a straw and enjoy. Straws are another necessity to a good smoothie. 

BONUS: if you happen to have any leftovers, you can either pour it in a cup and freeze for tomorrow (put it in the fridge to thaw in the morning and it should be perfect by lunchtime), or pour it into a popsicle mold and have healthy popsicles. <-- My kids LOVE smoothie popsicles. :)

Enjoy! And please feel free to leave me any questions you may have in the comments.

<3, Tabi :D