Smoothies are a quick breakfast or snack. Not only are they easy to make, they’re nutritious, filling and absolutely delicious. Often if you buy a smoothie, they’re loaded with sugar or ice cream which might taste good, but kind of eliminates all the goodness of the fruit and veggies. When you make smoothies at home, you can control exactly what goes in there and only add in nutritious ingredients and light sweeteners, if any at all.
I love making them in the mornings using a combination of frozen fruit, yogurt, milk, and ice. There’s no real rhyme or reason to the proportions – you can thin it out more with additional milk or fruit juice or thicken with more fruit/yogurt/ice. Here are some great suggestions for delicious smoothie combinations to give you some inspiration the next time you pull out your blender:
- Banana-berry: blend 1 banana and a handful of frozen berries. Strawberries, blueberries and raspberries are all delicious! Use all of them or just one in combination with the banana.
- Tropical: 1 banana, frozen pineapple, coconut Greek yogurt and milk. Add ice or more milk to achieve that texture you’re looking for. You could also use coconut water in place of the milk.
- Raspberry peach: mix frozen raspberries and peach slices with vanilla yogurt and milk.
- Pick me up: even though it might sound odd, the combination of banana and coffee is delicious! Mix fresh bananas with strongly brewed coffee (or even espresso powder for an extra kick), milk, and yogurt of your choosing. Coffee flavored would be great here!
- Kiwi strawberry: 2 peeled kiwis, frozen strawberries and plain yogurt let the strawberries and kiwis shine.
- Blueberry pear: blend frozen blueberries, fresh pear slices and maple or plain yogurt.
- Apple-ginger: mix 1 chopped peeled apple and a small piece of fresh ginger with some freshly squeezed lime juice, 100% apple juice, and a few tablespoons of honey.
- Strawberry-maple: 2 cups frozen strawberries, 1 cup milk, 2 tablespoons maple syrup and a pinch of cinnamon. Add more ice or milk if needed.
- Orange banana: you can omit the yogurt in this smoothie or add it for more of a creamy texture. Use orange juice instead of milk, banana, ice cubes, and almond extract. Garnish with a mint sprig if you’re feeling fancy 🙂
- Mint mojito: this smoothie even includes veggies for an added vitamin boost. Blend together 1 pear, the leaves from 3 mint sprigs, juice from ½ a lime, some frozen pineapple, coconut water, and several handfuls of chopped Swiss chard.
- Kale banana: along with 1 banana, throw in a whopping 2 cups of chopped kale, ½ cup milk (you could also use soy milk or almond milk here), and a tablespoon of maple syrup to sweeten it up a little bit.
Hope this list of 11 delicious smoothie combinations will help you to break out your blender more often! Smoothies are a great way to start your day or to give you an energy boost in the afternoon.