Summer Smoothie Recipe Ideas

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      Here in Phoenix, Summer is arriving!  You know what that means.  I am close to not turning on my oven for a number of months and to finding the coolest ways to feed my family.  Not only do we not want to heat up the house, we also don't want to heat up ourselves! 

     A couple of months ago, I purchased this new blender.

It is the Oster Pro 1200. I love it still after 2 months of using it!

     One of the main reasons I purchased this Oster Pro 1200 blender was to make smoothies that wouldn't have little chunks of ice left in them.  This blender has lived up to my standards!  I have been making smoothies quite a bit!  I am really going to click into high gear and go crazy with the smoothie making now that the weather is getting hot.

     Up in the collage, I included this picture of my son-in-laws cheese bread with the delicious yogurt drink he makes.   

     I love the tangy, creamy, deliciousness of the yogurt in the smoothie, so now I try to add it all of the time. (Unless I have to do a dairy free smoothie, but that will be another post.)

     My first test smoothie in my  Oster Pro 1200 was the classic strawberry smoothie.  

Classic Strawberry Smoothie

    I used:  8 cubes of ice, 1 c. vanilla yogurt, 10 strawberries, 1 T. sugar, 1/2 c. milk
Then, I just blended it on the smoothie setting and it was delicious without a bit of ice chips or chunks in it.
     I was out of bananas that day or I would have made it strawberry-banana by adding 1 banana.

     I hardly ever make a smoothie without a banana.  They add such a creamy richness to the texture of the smoothie that they seem like a must.  
     One of my favorite smoothie combos is 1/2 a can of mango chunks with banana.  I went to make myself one this morning and found that I was all out of mangoes!  So, I gave a can of peaches a try and it was really good, too.

Peach-Banana Smoothie

     Ingredients:  6 ice cubes, 1-15 oz. can peaches (packed in juice), 1 banana, 1 c. vanilla yogurt, 1/2 c. milk, 1 T. sugar.
     Blend it all together on the smoothie setting.
     You can leave out the sugar, of course, it just cuts back on a bit of the tartness of some fruit.
     Of course, a little whipped topping on the top is fun, but I mostly did it for the photos!

      If you feel like you need to add some veggies, like kale or something to your smoothie, but you are like me and the idea of a green smoothie isn't appetizing to you, here is something I have done with great success! Yellow squash is very mildly flavored and adds that veggie element to your banana-mango smoothie without changing the flavor at all.  You won't even know it is there!  I have also added a few beets to a red smoothie.  They are a little more noticeable than the squash, but not bad!  This would be an especially good way to add some veggies to your kids diets this summer! 

     Finally, you know if there are blackberries in the house, I am going to use them in whatever recipes I can.  I don't like the seeds in my smoothie though, so I pushed them through a wire sieve to strain out the seeds.

Banana-Blackberry Smoothie

    Ingredients:  1/2 pint blackberries pushed through a sieve, 1 banana, 6 ice cubes, 1 c. vanilla yogurt, 1/2 c. milk, 2 T. sugar.
     Blend all together on smoothie setting! 
     The banana is the more dominant flavor in this recipe with the blackberries coming through subtly.  You can add more blackberries if you want a stronger blackberry flavor.

     All of these recipes will serve 2-3 people, depending on your glass size or if you like seconds!
    I have more ideas for different flavors, including dairy free that I will try out and share with you later.  In the meantime, give these a try! 
     Look, there is a great price on the Oster Pro 1200 going on right now!