BREAKFAST SMOOTHIES

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These little nutrient-packed beauties have risen dramatically in popularity and prevalence over the last decade or so. However, the fast food industry has managed to get their claws into the concept and have put a not-so-nutritional spin on the concept. Generally, if you have a blender at home, you're doing yourself a huge favor, economically and nutritionally, to make these yourself instead of leaving it to your local cafe, breakfast stop, or supermarket.

There are multiple benefits to making a smoothie for breakfast (or lunch, or even a snack). They're insanely easy to make. Most of us have the necessary basic ingredients already on-hand. Kids love 'em and adults do too because they're so darned tasty. And, as I mentioned before, they're pretty good for you too.

Basically, you want to incorporate the following:

Milk/Soy Milk
Yogurt
Fresh or Frozen Fruit

That alone will make a pretty delicious shake, in a jiffy. Most of us keep milk/soymilk and yogurt in the icebox. There's lots of different fruit options for adding flavor to your smoothie. I try to stay away from hard fruit like apples and pears and I'm not a big fan of pulp-ridden citrus fruits (although some strained citrus juice really adds a nice tang). We always keep a bag of frozen mixed berries in the freezer for smoothies (and pancakes and coulis and compote). This way, it's always available and never goes bad. Plus the frozen fruit tends to thicken it up and make the smoothie more shake-like than fresh fruit does.

There are a multitude of ways you can jazz up, thicken up, thin out, and just plain get more out of your smoothies. The following list is by no means comprehensive but will allow you to play around with flavors so you're not always treating yourself to the same ol', same ol'.

One idea I saw on the Food Network show, Fixing Dinner, with Sandy Richard, is to add baby spinach. I was initially taken aback, but after trying it found that, aside from the green tinge it lends the drink, it's barely detectable. Something to try if you have smoothie lovers who aren't vegetable lovers.

Mix your smoothie up with any of the following:

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Question about this recipe or additional suggestions for Smoothie ingredients?
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