Triple Fruit Smoothie with Greek Yogurt

     Wowzers! Was it ever hot yesterday! I checked my little weather station heat and humidity reader, and at one point it said 99 degrees! And it’s supposed to be hotter today! You can even see how hot it is here by all the condensation instantly building and dripping off of the glass! It’s way too early for this. I’m so not ready to dive in head-first straight into summer. Spring procrastinated so long that it seemed to have gotten skipped altogether. And I procrastinated on getting my pepper plants in, so now I get to plant them on a scorching hot deck. I swore I was going to get right on it this year, but nope. Oh, well, my blinding white winter legs need some sun desperately anyways! And icy, fruity drinks always take the sting of the sun away! We’ve been on a huge smoothie kick this past year, and I’ve come up with a base recipe that really rocks! You will need to add a frozen banana, but the rest of the fruit is totally up to you! I like to let my bananas get very ripe before I freeze them, too, so they don’t have that chalky taste and they’re sweeter. At least let them get “spotty” before freezing. This one has frozen strawberries and raspberries, but I sometimes add wild blueberries and blackberries, too. Besides the fruit, I only use honey to sweeten it, so it’s pretty healthy to boot. I don’t know if all of the hype about Greek yogurt vs. regular yogurt is true, but I do use Greek just for the quality and consistency if nothing else. It seems to be creamier, thicker and richer and you can definitely tell the difference when making smoothies with it. This last time, the store was out of regular pineapple juice, but they did have pineapple-orange and wow was it ever good!  So you can use whatever you’d like and what your store happens to carry. I buy them in the packs of the little 6 oz. cans and it’s the perfect pre-measured amount. Just play around with whatever fruits you have on hand, adding enough for consistency and you’re good to go!  I’d say this recipe makes enough for 2…but it never does! 😉 Soooo good you’ll want it all for yourself! Have a great day all, don’t get overheated, and enjoy! 

TRIPLE FRUIT SMOOTHIE with GREEK YOGURT

1 large frozen banana, cut in half, peeled, and cut into 2″ chunks

1 (6 oz.) container Chobani Greek Yogurt (plain, non-fat), or yogurt of choice

1 Tbl. honey

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cups frozen mixed berries

1 (6 oz.) can Dole Pineapple or Pineapple-Orange juice

1/2-1 tsp. almond extract, optional

Directions:

Place all in blender in order and blend on high until smooth. Pour into tall chilled glass. For any icy drink, 1-2 ice cubes can also be added to blender first before the banana.