Smoothies - help!

flutterbyuk25

Hey all

I'm planning on doing a smoothie making session with my young people at work. This is to try and encourage them to eat more fruit and drink less horrid drinks. I'm going to be assessed by my PGCE tutor during this session so want to make it a good one!

Does anyone have some foolproof smoothie recipes or links?

As I work for a charity we can't afford very expensive fruit (off season summer stuff) so wondered if frozen fruit would work ok?

I won't actually have a freezer in the premises but I know frozen fruit takes about 2 hours to defrost so should be ok with that, but can't really use ice cream so I guess yogurt is best way to go?

Any suggestions would be great!

Cheers

x

v8monkeyboy

Hi,

My standard recipe is:

1 banana - either frozen or fresh
1 cup frozen fruit - either a mix or raspberies - usually whatever's on special offer
1/2 cup youghurt
1 cup orange or apple juice

this makes about 500ml of liquid smoothie. I always use frozen fruit as it gives it a 'slushie' texture. If you are going to use the fruit from frozen, just make sure that the belnder is set of 'ice' so it blends properly.

HTH,

T xx

ALIBOBSY

You can make smoothies with frozen fruit without defrosting. It actually makes better smoothies as it makes it nice and chilled without using ice.
Bananas go black so quickly its a great way to use them up. Just peel slice and open freeze. Then use for smoothies whenever. Most fruit will freeze like this, apples/pears tend to be better cooked and frozen for pie fillings etc though.

By showing them this tip it will be teaching them to use up leftovers and overripe fruit rather than wasting food. You could talk about the amount of food waste we all produce and what a great way this is to use up fruit and get healthy and add to your 5 a day. You can also add fibres to smoothies to make great breakfast drinks. Oats are good for slow release energy, bran good for the bowel and many add seeds to their smoothies.

My smoothies tend to be a throw it in and see kind of affair. But as a general rule I would say bananas with milk and/or yoghurt based smoothies, and more fruity based mixes using orange/apple juice.

ali x

rachbc

I was going to say pretty much what alibodsy did - frozen bananas give a great thick, creamy texture and fab for preventing waste. I like oats and a bit of malt powder (ovaltine) in mine too - though its not super healthy.

Stephen_Leak

One of my favourites is 2 bananas, a large pot of plain yoghurt and a tablespoon of honey.

flutterbyuk25

Mmm thanks all, all sound yummy. I'll report back when I've done the session.

x

cyclingyorkie

another advocate for use of frozen fruit here!

I just bung it all in and whizz it up!

zippychick

Are there any useful recipes in this thread?

I'll merge this later on for you.

Zip

flutterbyuk25

Thanks zippy - I did try to search!

x

zippychick

it took me a while as I looked for smoothies! Not smoothie.... :D

Bedebtfree

Theres a recipe in one of Nigellas books which I have used... a lot.
She calls it a breakfast smoothie, but its just lush at anytime!

just under a glass of Milk
frozen banana
3 or 4 teaspoons of any chocolate or malty powder
peanut butter
teaspoon of honey

you can replace the Peanut butter with a slug of "camp coffee" (or just dissolve half a teaspoon of instant in a tiny bit of water)

blend until banana is liquidised and enjoy!

You can use low fat milk, and if it was for breakfast, you're getting one of your 5 a day, a little protein, and a bit of caffeine too!