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Smoothie Recipe: Mango Banana Berry

by on December 19, 2011

I love making healthy smoothies for my family. We have owned our Vitamix blender for 6 years now and despite its many capabilities, we blend up smoothies 90% of the time!

On a recent shopping trip at Trader Joe’s, I purchased some juice and several bags of frozen fruit along with some Kefir. When I make smoothies, I am known to just throw in whatever I can find in my produce drawer, my fruit bowl, or my freezer and I never measure. So bear with me as I jot this recipe down for you and know that the combinations of fruit/juice/yogurt/kefir/veggies etc are truly endless. This recipe makes 2 large servings or 2 medium and 2 small (for my whole family 🙂

Mango Banana Berry Smoothie

  • 1 cup Trader Joe’s Orange Peach Mango juice
  • 1 cup Trader Joe’s Strawberry Kefir (or Plain Whole Milk yogurt)
  • 1/2 ripe banana
  • 5 frozen strawberries
  • 6 frozen raspberries
  • 1/4 cup frozen wild blueberries
  • 5 frozen mango chunks
  • 1 orange, peeled

Combine all ingredients in blender in order listed. Blend until smooth. Serve immediately.

Feel free to adjust the liquid measurements to your desired consistency of the end product. Many times that I make smoothies, I will throw in a carrot or two or a chunk of apple and a handful of fresh spinach leaves. It will turn your smoothie odd colors but the taste is completely masked by all that berry goodness and you get a powerhouse of nutrition in your glass 🙂

Smoothies are a fantastic way to get extra vitamins and minerals in your kids (or your husbands!)

What is your favorite smoothie recipe?

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Iced Coffee using Cold Brew = Perfection

by on June 21, 2011

For all the iced coffee lovers out there, how would you like to save money and have as much iced coffee as you’d like, prepared the way you’d like at your fingertips 24/7? Cold-brewed coffee, along with a handful of super simple ingredients on hand are all you need to be wired all day long!

A good friend of mine introduced me to Cold Brew and uses this system. When I decided to give cold brewed coffee a try, I found this article and this article  to help me get started without buying any special equipment.  I have to admit, I have only been a coffee drinker for the last couple of months – something about having two young children will do that to you! So the knowledge I am sharing is new found, but has worked great for me.

The cold brew method results in a smooth, less acidic coffee concentrate which you can then use as you wish – hot or cold using water or milk of your choice.

To brew the coffee, simply combine a ratio of 1:4 coarsely ground coffee of your choice to cold water and let sit overnight (12-24 hours). Then strain through a fine mesh sieve lined with a coffee filter or cheesecloth, and enjoy!

The beauty of this is you can make a quart or gallon at a time if you would like and store it in the refrigerator covered for up to 2 weeks – if it lasts that long because once you see how easy this is, it will be hard to limit your habit to one glass a day 🙂

To make my perfect glass of iced coffee, I add approx. 1/2 cup of cold brewed coffee concentrate to my glass and 2 spoonfuls of homemade vanilla syrup. Next, I fill my glass with ice and then add a generous splash of half n half, stir and enjoy! The possibilities of your idea of a perfect glass are endless – more or less coffee, milk of your choice, sweetener of your choice, etc.

The result: a sweet, smooth, creamy refreshing cup of coffee to be enjoyed at any time of day.

I have also frozen extra coffee concentrate in ice cube trays and once frozen, popped them out into a ziplock bag that will keep for months in the freezer.

How do you like your cold brewed iced coffee?

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