Smoothie Recipe for Lex

My whole family loves smoothies. They are an easy, light meal/snack that packs a big nutritional punch. I started drinking them for three simple reasons:

1. I needed something to take in the car with me to work that wouldn't crumb everywhere;
2. I needed to get rid of rotten fruit in my refrigerator and I felt guilty pitching it (although, now I compost, but it has to be really, really, super disgustingly rotten to make way to the compost bucket);
3. My friend Judy Fitch had a Smoothie Card Deck. We were training for a marathon and needed a lot of protein.

After a few non-commital relationships with fruit in a blender, I finally settled on this recipe:

**1 banana (1 per person, adjust accordingly)
**A cup or so of frozen fruit (you can freeze anything; Whole Foods has affordable frozen fruit. I buy the 365 brand. When in season, I pick a bunch of blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries and freeze them. You can freeze bananas as well. Frozen peaches are yummy, too. Oh, and cherries!)
**8 oz or so of apple juice, pear juice pineapple juice, banana/orange juice, typically not from concentrate and with minimal/no added sugar

Zip it in the blender, pour, and enjoy.

Depending on what flavor you are trying to achieve, you can mix fruit families or keep them pure. I like a pure peach smoothie with apple juice or a berry blend, for example, but the banana is key as it provides the suspension.

Also, I tried using ice cubes once, but that just watered it down. Then, once while visiting my friend Laura, she inspired me to use frozen fruit as an alternative.

If you are really looking for a powerful antioxidant/immune booster, try this recipe that my friend Jen told me about:

1 banana
A handful of kelp (depending on what kind you buy, this will change the flavor slightly)
Pineapple juice

I used to add protein powder, but I get that from other places now. You can add peanut/almond butter, soy milk, or yogurt, but I prefer to keep this dairy/soy/nut free. Again, I get those essentials in other parts of my diet.