Smoothies

What are some of your favorite smoothie recipes?

this is a boozy one -- a good summer dessert or afternoon treat. i have made it with non-fat vanilla frozen yogurt instead of the ice cream.

SGROPPINO

1 pint softened premium vanilla ice cream
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup good quality vodka
In food processor, blend all ingredients until smooth but still thick.
Pour sgroppino into 4 tall stemmed glasses. Enjoy as an after dinner drink-dessert.

I got this delicious idea from a place near me: throw a little bit of crystallized ginger into your fruit smoothie. Yum. I'm also in the frozen fruit, not ice camp.

The recipes already posted sound delicious. Practice with some already-tested recipes, then start adjusting for your own taste. A rule to keep in mind is that you need:

1 part ice
1 part thickener (bananas/yogurt/frozen yogurt)
1 part fruity/tangy flavors (frozen berries, fresh fruit)
1 part liquid (OJ being the most popular, but all juices being good)
1 or 2 spoons optional nutritional boost (wheat germ, wheat grass, protein powder, powder vitamin supplement)

Pulse the blender a few times, look at it, decide if you want to add a little more or something to change the texture, then blend.

That combination will give you the right thickness to be called a smoothie, but ingredients are totally up to you.

I don't like to use ice on my smoothies, just frozen fruit. My standard smoothie is something like this:

Oatmeal powder
A few big spoonfuls of yogurt
a cup or so of frozen fruit
A cup or so of milk
usually a tablespoon or so of peanut butter.

Picky toddler will almost always eat these so it's a good way to get a bunch of good stuff in his diet.

My husband and I make smoothies every single morning - so easy when you get into the swing of it.

Grab the blender - take a large spoon (like a cutlery spoon) and scoop 4 fat free vanilla yogurt spoons into the blender, add around 3/4 -1 cup of frozen fruit (like raspberries or mixed berries or mango), pour in a bunch of orange juice that gets you the right consistency (I think around 1 + cup) and a couple tbs. of wheat germ. Blend! Delicious!

OOOOH...My all-time favorite....I call it 'the elvis'.

ChrisVR turned me on to the first part of this:
grind up 1/4 cup of oatmeal in the blender until it's a powder(my husband and I really prefer smoothies with the oatmeal base, now, they are really hearty and filling and don't interfere with taste at all)

add in:
cup of plain yogurt
couple tablespoons of cocoa powder
banana (frozen if possible)
about half of a cup of non-fat evaporated milk
tablespoon or two of natural peanut butter
maple syrup to taste
handful of ice

the non-fat evaporated milk really makes a difference in the consistency and I add it as needed to get it to the 'shake' feel I like.

I have served these to friends as 'milkshakes' - super yummy.

i created one that is similar to this. i am obsessed with it, and have been for almost a year now.

i frozen banana, one (?) cup chocolate soymilk, one heaping tablespoon peanut butter, one/two heaping tbsp of vanilla frozen yogurt

i eat it for dessert thought it has enough real foodstuff in it to be a meal item.