With this wonderful spring weather, Andrew and I always get in the mood for smoothies and milkshakes, so I start planning ahead and freezing our leftover fruit. I've just finished freezing a lot of strawberries, since they're in season and on sale.
I flash freeze these fruits. The strawberries/other berries I rinse, cut the tops off, and cut in half if they are very large. The bananas I peel and break into small chunks. Then I lay the fruit out on a cookie sheet and freeze overnight. Then I place then in bags and seal (using a straw to vacuum out the air). Freezing the fruit on the sheet first causes them to harden so that they don't all stick together when placed in the bag. :)
This method of freezing bananas is perfect for smoothies, because you don't have to thaw the banana to peel it before throwing it in your blender (therefore creating a thicker smoothie/milkshake).
This morning we made milkshakes with frozen strawberries, bananas, milk, and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Delicious!
What are you favorite smoothie ingredients/recipes? I want to try making green smoothies soon...
~Alicia
This post is linked to Works For Me Wednesday.
Mmmmm....smoothies. When I woke up to a 65-degree house this morning, somehow a smoothie seems a bit chilly, but I'm glad you're enjoying them! We always used fruit juice instead of milk/ice cream, so that they're healthier but still sweet. Orange juice works really well, or Juicy Juice. Yogurt is also a good nutrition-booster, as long as you use the unsweetened version. :)
ReplyDeleteIf you're feeling really brave, there's always Silk Tofu......
Hm, silk tofu. I'm not feeling it.
ReplyDeleteBut yes, when we use milk/ice cream it's really a milkshake.
I do this too. YUM!
ReplyDeleteI've got frozen bananas and strawberries in my freezer right now. I love smoothies! The strawberry season is very short where I live, so I had about a month where I kept coming home with strawberries to freeze (and telling my husband "This is the last time! Really!"). I use the same method you described and it works wonderfully.
ReplyDeleteWarning about the green smoothies: Do NOT use frozen spinach - let my EPIC FAIL be the only one out there... and if you're giving to little ones, I don't recommend starting with more than a cup of fresh. Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip on freezing fruit! I feel like we're constantly buying it and throwing it away - and forget about buying strawberries in the winter!
ReplyDeleteI make smoothies every morning with fat free yogurt, strawberries, a banana, a kiwi, some pineapple (out of a can, I hate to admit!) and when the fruits aren't quite ripe, I throw in a package or two of splenda. We use a margarita machine to do ours because the ice comes out like a snow cone!
@Jordan and Matt: I really like the kiwi/pineapple idea...
ReplyDelete@Em and Lib: Next time I buy FRESH spinach, I'm going to try it! hehe
@ Debbi: Strawberry season seems to be lasting a long time here--everytime I go to the store they are still on sale! I have to admit, this is the first year where I've really paid attention to "what's in season" because now our budget really requires it!
Brilliant idea on freezing the bananas (in chunks)! I just got a whole bunch of bananas...way too much for me to handle by just baking with them (I've already baked 4 different things with them) so I'll definitely be taking your advice and freezing the remaining bananas for smoothies.
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