Easy Smoothie Recipes

Let’s face it, there are many variables that come into play that prevent most people from making it a healthy habit to enjoy a daily healthy smoothie. Besides the daunting task of having to clean up after yourself after preparing your favorite recipe, just the thought of going to the store to purchase fresh fruit or veggies to match a specific recipe, washing and cutting the produce is enough to unmotivated the best intentioned. I typically focus on fruit based smoothies when I plan easy time efficient smoothies.

Below you will find some easy smoothie recipes and guidelines to help make the smoothie process as painless as possible

The first secret is to purchase frozen fruit at your local grocery store. You can purchase individual fruits separately like a bag of strawberries, a bag of blueberries, a bag of raspberries, etc, and then combine them as required by your favorite recipes.

You can also purchase frozen fruit that are already mixed like a mixed berry blend that will have 3 to 4 of the common fruits you will require.  You can also find exotic fruit combinations to create a large variety of smoothie recipes.

I always recommend buying some ripe fresh bananas, peel them, slice in 1 inch or so pieces, place in zip lock bag and freeze them yourself.  Since you rarely find frozen bananas, this is a simple way to have bananas ready for anytime you want to add a creamy texture to any smoothie.

Why is frozen fruit the key to easy smoothie recipes?  It’s quite simple, they are always ready to add to your blender without any washing, chopping, or much thought what so ever.  Being frozen means you need one less step of adding ice to your smoothie.  And you never have to worry about your fruit going bad or needing much planning if you want to create a spontaneous smoothie.

Here are the 2 basics to have on hand for any simple smoothie recipe

- a liquid base ( water, juice or milk type liquid)
- frozen fruit purchased at store or fruit you freeze ahead of time

And that is really it! That is what makes this so simple. Because you are using frozen fruit as your base you will just need enough liquid base to ensure the recipe blends together nicely.  To reduce the sweetness or if you want to enjoy the flavors of the ingredients just use water. If you want to add to complexity of your smoothie use various juice flavors or creamy base liquids.

Here are some ideas of my favorite simple smoothies. I personally like to use water as it cuts some of the sweetness and sugar levels, however if you like a more tart sweet juice exchange the water for you fruit juice of choice. Apple or grape juice are popular bases to use: 

Easy Smoothie Recipe One

1 cup frozen strawberries
½ - 1 medium frozen banana
¾-1 cup water

Directions:
Add frozen strawberries and frozen banana into blender. Add water. Additional water may be needed depending on texture desired.

Easy Smoothie Recipe Two

1 cup mixed berries ( strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, blueberry)
½ cup water

Directions:
Add frozen mixed berries. Add water. Additional water may be needed depending on texture desired.

Easy Smoothie Recipe Three

1 cup mixed berries ( strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, blueberry)
¾ cup Milk based liquid  ( whatever you have in fridge: milk, coconut milk, soy milk, rice milk, etc)

Directions:
Add frozen mixed berries. Add milk based liquid. Additional milk based liquid may be needed depending on texture desired.