Breakfast Smoothie

Thar she be. My breakfast of champions. My on-the-go companion of hectic mornings and lazy summers. I make a smoothie like this for breakfast six out of seven days a week. Even during the school year, I put it in some plastic cup/container thing and sip it while I teach. I'm still auditioning for the part of 'serious smoothie holder', as most of my plastic cup things fall short in the 'easy to clean' category and thus get nasty quick.

I have added all kinds of things to the smoothie in order to make it more 'healthy' or basically, more than just a smoothie. I added protein powder, spinach, kale, milk. In the end, I usually don't add much other than fruit. Today I added greek yogurt though, and it was edible so I'll say it's a 'do'. The original recipe came from Alton Brown and it's a keeper.




Let me just say that I adore my immersion blender. I lubadubdub it. I highly suggest you get one. I use it every day, sometimes more than once! For example: I was making that veggie curry, and the canned diced tomato had to be put through a food processor *one thing I don't have yet* and so, I busted out the immersion blender and stuck it in the opened can for a quick second and boom. Done. No extra dishes either!



I start with a fresh, not frozen, banana. I'm a firm believer in this- I don't like it all to be too cold. I know, it's a smoothie, yadda yadda, you do it your way and I'll do it mine. :) I also believe in putting the banana at the bottom of this particular blending apparatus. After the banana, I pile in about 1/2 cup of three other (usually frozen) fruits. I like mango, strawberries and some other berry blend. I just picked up some frozen pineapple that I'm aching to try. Then I pour in some purple juice, another 1/2 cup or so. Today I also added a dollop of yogurt on top and then blended the wild heck out of it.
Sometimes, during the crazy school year, I make it at night and then right before the point where I would blend it, I toss it in the fridge and the next morning it's so easy to whip up. It feels to easy to be true. But it's not. Shh..



I love when it looks like this. Firm, like sorbet almost, and shiny. I regret all those years when I used ice, and had to suffer through icey smoothies. Oh, the tragedy. (hand must be on forehead, eyes looking somewhere to the left, so you can get the full extent of the drama)





Smoothie Recipe
adapted from Alton Brown

1/2 cup banana (fresh or frozen, I use one small banana or half of a large one)
1/2 cup frozen mango
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1/2 cup frozen blueberries (or any other frozen fruit of your choice! Go wild!)
1/4-1/2 cup 100% fruit juice (I like blueberry or cranberry)
a dollop (heaping tablespoon or more depending on your desired consistency) plain greek yogurt

Put all the ingredients in a blender and mix away. Pulse at first, then blend continuously for about a minute to get the smooth texture. Enjoy!

-m