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How to Make Smoothies
The basic instructions for how to make smoothies are about the same for each of the many, delicious smoothie recipes we share on this site. It's super-easy and once you learn the how-to of making smoothies, you can make ANY of these recipes quickly and easily. Ready? Here we go...
How to make Smoothies 101:
Ingredients:
- Whatever fruits you love (or vegetables too!)
- Yogurt (optional - plain or flavored - or protein powder)
- Juice, water, milk, soy milk, or ice (or your liquid of choice)
- Honey, sugar, or other sweeteners (if needed)
Steps:
- Wash and cut all fruits into manageable pieces (depending on how much your blender can handle.) Most blenders work well with strawberry-sized pieces.
- Remove seeds, peels, leaves, or other less-than desireable parts of the fruits.
- Place the heavier/harder fruits in blender and chop.
- Add remaining fruits and chop, then blend.
- Add yogurt, soy or protein powder if desired.
- Add liquid as needed for thinning (or ice for a more frozen treat) and blend until smooth.
- Add honey or sweetener to taste
- Enjoy.
Was that a little TOO simplistic for you? Smoothies really are easy to make and it's difficult to ruin them if you use ingredients that you love. However, while all fruit smoothie recipes are good, some ARE outstanding. If you're a recipe-follower more than an experimenter, we have LOADS of smoothie recipes. If you'd like to try a real easy recipe to start learning how to make fruit smoothies, here's one of our favorites:
Simple Berry Smoothie Recipe:
Ingredients:
- 2 cups Blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, or any other berries
- 1 cup Yogurt (plain non-fat or try a berry-flavored one for more sweetness)
- ½-1 cup water, milk, soy milk, and/or ice (as needed)
- Honey (if needed)
Steps:
- Wash all berries thoroughly.
- Remove leaves, stems, or other less-than desireable parts of the berries.
- Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.
- Add liquid as needed for thinning (or ice for a more frozen treat.)
- Add honey or sweetener to taste
- Enjoy.
You can use fresh or even frozen berries. If frozen, you'll probably want to at least partially thaw them before starting (unless you have a Vita-Mix or other high-tech blender able to chop hard foods.)
More Smoothie Tips:
- Sweetness is definitely in the eye of the beholder. Always make the smoothie first without any additional sweetener and then add a little at a time until it's sweet enough for you (and/or your kids.) Try adding a little less each time. You'll find that you can "wean" yourself (AND your kids) from sugar and other sweeteners.
- Don't want to use a sweetener? Try 1/2 ripe banana to add a little sweetness to any smoothie without naturally sweet fruits.
- Freeze juice in ice cube trays to make a more frozen, flavorful smoothie.
- Add some protein powder to make a more filling and nutritious smoothie that can replace a full meal.
- Allergic to dairy? No problem! Use juice, soy milk, tofu, or just skip the liquid all together.
- It's super-easy to add healthy ingredients when making smoothies. Add flax seeds, high-fiber cereals, tofu, protein powder, or wheat germ and you'll never even taste it!
See LOTS more smoothie recipes... and share your own!
See our Vegetable Smoothies page if you'd like to see recipes that sneak a few vegetables in.
Read about our favorite blender.
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