More than likely, you already have what you need.

The teenagers (and staff) at the shelter never cease to amaze me.

We have one who is pregnant and she mentioned tonight that she’d love to have a smoothie. I said, “So, let’s go make you a smoothie.”

She said, “But we don’t have any smoothie mix.”

“I said,” “Smoothie mix?”

One thing led to another and it was revealed that she had no idea you could just make a smoothie. I assured her that provided one had a blender, ice, milk or yogurt, and fruit, one could make a smoothie better and healthier than anything coming out of a packet. (Truth to tell, I didn’t know they had smoothie mix.)

Fruit

So, I dragged out the blender. Then I hear another staff person holler, “Wait! I want to watch.”

It seems I was surrounded by people who hadn’t a clue you could just make a smoothie.

So. In the interest of nutrition and spreading important knowledge, I’m sharing my super secret (it appears) smoothie recipe.

Here it is:

Dump a cup of ice in the blender. Dump a cup of milk or yogurt in a blender. Toss in bananas, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, mango or any other fruit (or combination thereof) you think will rock your boat and hit the crush ice button. (Make sure you remember to put the top on the blender. It’s a fearsome mess to clean up if you don’t.) Let it whirl a bit. Open the top, dip out a spoonful and taste for flavor and texture.)

Ice

If it’s not thick enough, add more fruit. If it’s not fruity enough add more fruit. If it’s too thick or too fruity, add more milk or yogurt. Whirl it around some more and pour into glasses.

Ms. Pregnant wanted a banana-chocolate smoothie, so I tossed in milk, ice, bananas, and Hershey’s syrup in the blender and let it whirl and poured it into a glass. Dubious, she took a small taste and declared it, with some amazement, better than smoothie mix. (No shit, I thought.)

If you’re of a mind too, you can sneak stuff in there that you don’t like, but are persuaded you need – ground flax seed, protein powder, calcium (take it out of the capsule), etc. You can also use ice cream or sherbet. In the off-season, I find the unsweetened, unprocessed frozen fruit to work just peachy (lose the ice, in such cases).

I hate milk, but it's not bad this way. Plain yogurt is better.

I’ve been known to doctor frozen baby carrots with a ton of fruit and fruit juice (no milk, no yogurt). I like carrots, but I really like them this way.

It’s like making soup. Any combination of anything will work as long as it sounds good to you.

So, there you have it – my public service message of the day.

Bonus info: If you dump a jigger or two of vodka into the blender, hot summer evenings are greatly enhanced.