Ever since getting my hands on a high powered blender, mixing up smoothies has been a fun experimental process. It’s made me interested in the endless combinations of ingredients one could add to create a healthy, sweet, and enticing beverage.
Over the years I’ve built smoothies at home and built memories of trying some delicious blends that take me right back to sipping them under the warm, tropical sun. Imagine a smoothie with creamy papaya or vibrant dragon fruit, popping with pink and tasting like a blend of the tropics. (For those who have wondered what dragon fruit tastes like, it’s often described as a mix of kiwi and pear).
In all these smoothies I’ve tried and ingredients I’ve experimented with, there’s one I keep coming back to.
Citrus is one of those fruits that packs a punch in your dishes, taking a flavor from basic to bright, tangy, and complex with something as simple as a squeeze of lemon. So it would make sense that when added to a smoothie, it would have the same pleasant effect. I now consider it to be my little “smoothie secret.”
My favorite smoothie creations this summer have been a cherry lime and lemon strawberry banana. They really hit the spot on a hot summer day.
Each contain 4 frozen fruits: cherries, peaches, bananas, and lime or strawberries, bananas, blueberries, and bananas.
Adjust the amount of liquid (in my case, oat milk) to allow you to control the texture. I opted to add less liquid to my strawberry banana smoothie, making a thicker consistency, more like a smoothie bowl.
Cherry Lime Smoothie
Ingredients
- Approximately 1/2 cup frozen cherries
- Approximately 1/2 cup frozen peaches
- Approximately 1/4 cup frozen banana
- Juice and zest from 1 lime
- Approximately 1/2-1 cup milk of choice (more if you like your smoothies thin, less if you’re more interested in a thicker smoothie bowl texture)
Directions
- Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
Lemon Strawberry Banana Smoothie
Ingredients
- Approximately 1/2 cup frozen bananas
- Approximately 1/2 cup frozen strawberries
- Approximately 1/4 cup frozen blueberries
- Juice and zest from 1 lemon
- Approximately 1/2-1 cup milk of choice (more if you like your smoothies thin, less if you’re more interested in a thicker smoothie bowl texture)
Directions
- Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
*I usually do not measure ingredients to an exact amount when making smoothies. As long as the approximate ratio of ingredients stays the same, exact measuring is not very important.