Summer Smoothies...Simple Recipes for Maximum Benefit

It’s summertime and the livin’ is easy…in our minds anyway. Many parts of the country are experiencing record setting heat waves. It’s too hot to cook and almost too hot to even think about cooking. What’s a healthy body to do?

Grab your blender….it has other uses beyond frozen cocktails. Blend up your favorite frozen smoothie utilizing the summer’s best bounty of fresh fruit. This is an easy way to work towards that goal of getting more fruit and vegetables in your diet.

Short on time? Smoothies are quick to make (less than 10 minutes) and you can be on your way with a healthy snack/meal to go. Just one reminder… even though we’re focusing on healthy ingredients, it’s not a license for mega consumption so do be aware of your portions as smoothies can be calorie dense.

Here are a couple of quick smoothie recipes from I’d Kill for a Cookie:

For each of these recipes, put all the ingredients in a blender and blend for 20-30 seconds.

Berry-Banana Cooler:
1 cup strawberries or mixed berries (can use frozen)
1 banana
1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
Ice as needed (if not using frozen berries)
Optional: 1 Tbsp. wheat germ or ground flax seed

Lemon Squeezer:
1 cup fresh berries
1 banana
.5 cup low fat vanilla frozen yogurt
.5 cup lemon sherbet
Ice as needed

Peach Melba:
.5 cup sliced fresh peaches
.5 cup fresh raspberries
1 banana
1 cup raspberry sherbet
Ice as needed

Enjoy!

Dr. Susan