Easy Banana/Fruit Smoothie

Easy Banana Smoothie Recipe:

This delicious, pretty healthy recipe can be customized to please pretty much everyone’s individual taste. It’s versatile in that you can make the smoothies with the freshest in-season fruits or enjoy the convenience of using frozen fruit if you wouldn’t use all the fresh fruit before it goes bad. I do prefer to use fresh bananas in my recipe but they can also be sliced and frozen. The ingredients are pretty simple and can be adjusted for sweetness by using less sugar or if you like a slushy smoothie, like I do, add more ice - which also cuts the sweetness a bit. The banana makes for a pretty creamy smoothie so I don’t add milk or yogurt to mine. After you’ve used the recipe a few times, experimenting with your favorite fruits, you’re sure to find a winner. We made three today, Banana Berry & Pineapple, Banana Mango Peachy Pineapple, and my favorite Banana Berry Blend. Each batch makes 2 servings and you can freeze one for later, it’ll defrost in about 2 hours at room temperature.

Banana Berry & Pineapple:
1 Whole Medium Banana
1 Cup Strawberry
1 Cup Pineapple
2 Tbsp Turbinado sugar
1/3 Cup Orange juice
8 Ice cubes (or more if you want a slushier smoothie)

Break up the banana, or slice if you must and drop into the blender. Wash your fruit and slice if necessary, not such a big deal with the berries but a must for the pineapple. My pineapple had directions on the back of the label for the correct way to slice it up. Drop your sliced fruit into the blender. Add the sugar, though I have to say, if I am saving my sugar intake for dessert later - I forgo the extra sugar. A lot of fruit is ripe enough to sweeten the smoothie anyway. Add the orange juice, and here, I think a little pulp adds more flavor. Finally, add the ice and blend it up until it’s smooth!

Banana Mango Peachy Pineapple:
1 Whole Medium Banana
1 Cup Mango
1/2 Cup Peach (I removed the skin when I sliced it)
1/2 Cup Pineapple
2 Tbsp Turbinado sugar
1/3 Cup Orange juice
8 Ice cubes (or more if you want a slushier smoothie)

Banana Berry Blend:
1 Half Medium Banana
1 Cup Strawberry
1 Cup Blueberries
2 Tbsp Turbinado sugar
1/3 Cup Orange juice
8 Ice cubes (or more if you want a slushier smoothie)

Adjustments that can be made to this recipe include:
It’s basically a 1 Banana: 2 Cups Fruit recipe - so try what you like, the possibilities are endless!
Try eliminating the extra sugar, the riper the fruit, the sweeter the smoothie.
Use another fruit juice or add a splash of water instead (necessary for the blender blades to move freely)
Add more ice, an easy way to sneak more water into your day and stay hydrated!

Cooking with Irene

I figured I’d be spending the day in the house so why not raid the fridge for things that needed to be used in case we lost power? I made basil fried rice, chicken soup, papaya mango salsa, and banana bread. If we lose power, we’re good to go on food (I made sure we had wine and beer on hand, we could always drink water from the toilet tanks if we got desperate.)