Summer Smoothies
Summer Smoothies
By Tim & Erin Otto
Tim here-
The kids and I recently hiked ¼ mile down our woodsy logging road and collected a 5 gallon bucket of beautiful blooming branches along the way. What started off as a stroll became an adventurous hunt for flowering bushes and trees (and actually a few ticks). I totally love this spring weather, and I’m soaking in as much as possible before the summer heat shows up.
And when summer gets here we’re going to be ready with some fun and fruity smoothie recipes that we can try out. Smoothies are something that fit our lifestyle for several reasons. For starters we’re in the natural foods business and we sell bunches of fruit (so go figure). But besides that, smoothies can be super nutritious and super fast and easy. With 5 kids getting ready in the morning it’s really handy to be able to reach into the chest freezer, whip out several frozen bananas and a creative blend of other nutritious stuff, throw it all into a high powered blender, and ka-boom! – Breakfast is served! Also, the cleanup is naturally simple and easy.
Now, about that “creative blend of nutritious stuff…” we are looking for your ideas. What kind of smoothies do you make? What do you put in them? Fill out the form below and your smoothie comment will post immediately.
Erin here-
Our “creative blend of nutritious stuff” almost always starts out with a base of frozen bananas and kefir, milk, or yogurt. This peanut butter banana smoothie has been a favorite for breakfast and snacks, but I usually add foods that pack in a bigger nutritional kick; like frozen berries and invisible power foods like chia and flax seeds.
One ingredient that invariably makes it into my smoothie glass is our superfood. Never mind that it’s ugly. It stops my headaches and keeps my energy up, and it doesn’t taste half bad in a smoothie.
Comments:
| My daughter in law suffers from severe migraines. What is this super food your mentioning ? Is it the kefir? Also she battles lyme disease. Any suggestions? Thanks | Mary |
| I use coconut milk, a handful of spinach, chia seeds, blueberries, cherries, a little stevia, hemp protein powder and cinnamon. Great way to start the day! | Janet |
| I have recently started fermenting my own kefir grains and kombucha, which are very high in probiotics. I’ve mixed both of these with bananas, strawberries, blueberries, pineapple and when I have it, cantelope. It is so delicious and gives me lots of energy to get through my fun and crazy day! | Leah |
| My smoothie has 1cup water, 2 large handfuls of spinach, 1 frozen banana, 6 oz of frozen strawberries and 1 cup or so of frozen peaches. Next I add an avocado. I usually add fresh ground chia or flax individually. Or dried coconut on top. | Angela |
| Frozen strawberries, orange juice, banana, kefir or yogurt, coconut oil, raw honey, and sometimes a fresh egg yolk. | Jan |
| I’m so glad you guys have organic mangoes this month! They’re my husband’s favorite fruit, but it’s hard to find organic ones. I make him a mango smoothie with orange juice, ice, and fresh mangoes. Sometimes a squeeze of lime juice if I have some on hand. | Liz |
Simple Peach Slushy
With all the peaches we’ve had lately, we’ve been making this refreshing slushy quite a bit. It’s so easy that I don’t think I can really give you a recipe, but I’ll tell you what we do. For our 8 cup capacity VitaMix, we put about 3 cups water in the blender container and then add frozen peaches while the motor is running until the container is full. Add a spoonful of honey or a pinch of stevia powder, and it’s done.
This slushy is equally good made with frozen strawberries instead of the peaches. Yum!