Ever since I found out I was pregnant I've done my best to try and get in as many fruits and vegetables as possible. I kinda figured that carrot cake, banana bread and apple crisp weren't exactly going to count towards my "5 a day" - bummer! I'm a lazy eater, and tend to grab what's easiest at that particular time, which isn't always what's best for me. Although I was buying a lot of fresh fruit, I wasn't necessarily finishing it before it would start to go bad. In order to prevent the fruit from spoiling I'd cut it up, put it in zip lock bags and throw it in the freezer where it would wait until I came up with something to use it in - like these Lemon & Lime Blueberry Muffins I made a while ago.
I've had a slight obsession with strawberries over the past few months, and since strawberry season came kind of early in the UK this year, they were often on sale for buy one get one free. I'd eat one package and wash, cut and freeze the other pack. The same thing happened when I made those Lemon & Cheesecake Raspberry Bites I just threw the left overs in the freezer.
I quickly began to accumulate a wide variety of frozen fruit in my freezer, and I needed some way to use it up. Then it hit me - the best way to get a few servings of fruit into my diet quickly and easily would probably be to make a fruit smoothie. Back in Canada I loved smoothies, but I never actually made them myself - I always ended up paying a ridiculous price for one whenever I was at the mall.
After ordering and waiting for my smoothies to be made at the mall, I'd seen how easy they were to make, so I started making my own. I love tropical flavours like pineapple and coconut, so usually try to incorporate at least one of those in my smoothies. I don't have an exact recipe for them, and I tend to just use whatever fruit I have on hand. Lately that's been pineapple, bananas, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, mango, etc. Add in a bit of vanilla yogurt and some fruit juice, blend for a couple minutes and you're done!
5 Fruit Smoothie
15 Blueberries, frozen
1/2 Banana, frozen
10 Raspberries, frozen
7 Large Pineapple chunks, frozen
5 Strawberries, frozen
2 Tbsp Shredded Coconut
1/3 Cup Vanilla Yogurt
1/3 Cup Pineapple Juice
1. Dump everything into a blender, turn it on, and you guessed it - blend! Blend everything together for a minute or two until there are no large chunks of fruit remaining. Check the consistency to make sure it's not too thick (or thin). If you think your smoothie is too thick, just add in a bit more juice and blend again. If it's too thin, add in a bit more frozen fruit and blend.
To avoid making a portion way larger than I can drink, I usually fill the glass I'm going to use with my fruit as I've found it to be a pretty good indicator of how much smoothie it will make. Fill the glass with frozen fruit - get a glass full of smoothie. Fill it half full, get half a glass of smoothie. Pretty simple.
If you don't like or have one of the fruits above, just use something else. There's no rules with smoothies! You can also use fresh fruit as well, as long as you use at least 1/2 frozen fruit then you'll still get a nice thick consistency and it will be cold without needing any ice.
I like my smoothies to be a tad thicker which can mean that they can be a little hard to drink through a regular straw. I've found the best thing to drink my smoothies with is a Bubble Tea straw because they're wider than normal.
There you have it - a quick and delicious, yet healthy treat! I can't say that about most of the things I blog about!
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