Smoothie Season!

One of my favorite parts of spring, besides the weather being awesome, are smoothies! I recently bought a Nutri Ninja, which has made smoothie making so much easier, cleaner, and fun. Yes, I said fun. I feel like I could put anything in that thing, and it would taste delicious. But I’ve narrowed down my technique and this is what I’ve learned makes a good smoothie:

• You need at least one thing that is sweet. I usually use a banana, or an apple.
• Something creamy. For that I use either yogurt, or an avocado.
• Something frozen. I will use frozen fruit, which is usually my second sweet ingredient (strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, etc.) Or just a few ice cubes.
• Something hearty, fibrous, that thickens. For this I like to use some kind of vegetable: kale, spinach, carrots, but you can also use some oats or almonds.
• You need a form of liquid: soy, almond or coconut milk, orange juice, or coconut water.
• And then for some extra goodness here’s a list of things that are great additives that make your smoothie extra special: almond/peanut butter, fresh ginger, fresh mint or basil, cinnamon, cocoa powder, nutmeg, goji berries.
• Lastly, a good thing to remember is less is more. Pick a good 5 ingredients with confidence and stick to that. I’ve gotten weird and tried putting 10 different things in the blender… it didn’t taste very good. And now have fun!