It was a rather unsettling start to the morning: A noisy whirr coming from our kitchen at barely seven a.m. I tentatively made my way downstairs to find my 10-year old daughter, Rosie, at the helm of our industrial blender, a pile of leafy greens on the kitchen counter. Inspired by the green drink her favorite teacher carts to school each day, Rosie had set to work concocting a vegetable smoothie of her own.
I’ve always encouraged my kids to be independent in the kitchen, but that usually translates to decadent baking projects, not kale smoothies. At any rate, Rosie has been making her “green drink” ever since, a beverage my oldest daughter refers to as “the swamp”.
A Passion Fruit Smoothie
We make a lot of smoothies in our house. And while most of them are actually not green, they are a nutritious answer to quick weekday breakfasts and snacks. The key, of course, is what goes into them. I always include fruits and/or vegetables, a protein/calcium source (milk, soy milk, almond milk, yogurt, kefir, and so on), and other healthy add-ins such as almonds, sunflower seeds, oats, and flax meal.
Try it with Frozen Bananas
Having assorted frozen and fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables on hands makes for effortless smoothies. I keep a bag of bananas in the freezer since they do wonders for a smoothie’s texture, regardless of flavor. When the bananas in my fruit bowl start to go brown, I peel them first and into the freezer bag they go.
Rosie’s Green Smoothie
For the adventurous among you (and those not afraid of a little texture), here is what goes into Rosie’s green drink: 1 cup loosely packed kale, 1/3 cup loosely packed parsley leaves, 2 small apples, cored and roughly chopped, 2/3 cup apple juice, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice.
For those not quite up for “the swamp”, this Passion Fruit Raspberry Smoothie is easy on the tastebuds. It’s adapted from the pages of Super-Charged Smoothies by the Corpening sisters.
If you like Passion Fruit Berry Smoothie, you might like:
Wild Blueberry Brain-Boosting Smoothie
Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie
Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie, a recipe I created for Simply Recipes
You might also like these tips for ordering smoothies from a smoothie shop
Passion Berry Bliss Smoothie
Ingredients
- ½ cup passion-fruit juice (or pineapple juice)
- ½ cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
- 1 ripe banana (frozen, if possible)
- 1 cup frozen strawberries
- ½ cup frozen raspberries
Instructions
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Combine the passion-fruit juice and yogurt in a blender. Add the banana, strawberries, raspberries, and agave nectar. Blend until smooth.
Recipe Notes
Reprinted with permission from Super-Charged Smoothies by Mary Corpening Barber and Sara Corpening Whiteford, Chronicle Books, 2010
photo credit: Shutterstock