On mornings when my day starts in town, on skis or in a sailboat, I make a smoothie before I leave my house. My fridge and freezer – and in summer, my garden – hold so many ingredient options that I never drink the same smoothie twice in a week.
A smoothie recipe seemed unnecessary until I taught my first smoothie workshop and realized I do have an ideal balance of flavors and thickeners. The options I spread out for the workshop were diverse and colorful, and they featured local fruits and vegetables, rather than the distant bananas, mangoes and avocados that dominate many cookbook chapters, and entire books, on smoothies.
Out of season, smoothies can feature frozen homegrown fruit like whole berries and cherries, halved plums and sliced pears, as well as dry-stored fruit like apples. If you make fruit syrups like Roasted Raspberry Syrup, freeze the remaining seedy pulp in cubes and drop those into the blending cup. Substitute three 1-ounce cubes for 3/4 cup of fresh or frozen whole berries or other chopped fruit.
Leafy greens give smoothies a nutrient boost and balance fruity sweetness. Mince kale, chard or spinach and freeze it in cubes, with water to cover, for easy green smoothies. Frozen cubes of grated raw cucumber or golden beet bolster an all-veggie smoothie. Some of my favorite fruit-and-vegetable pairings include strawberry-chard, blueberry-kale and apple-beet. A pinch of fresh herbs in summer, like mint or basil, or a sprinkling of ground cinnamon or ginger gives these smoothies more complexity.
A high-powered immersion blender, upright blender or all-in-one smoothie blender and cup easily breaks down froze ingredient cubes and smooths out chunks. If your tool lacks the necessary pureeing power, fill the smoothie cup the night before and place it in the fridge so that the cubes thaw.
I prefer smoothies with homemade, live-culture yogurt to dairy-free ones and usually round out the cup with milk. For a nondairy yogurt replacement, soak chia seeds in water and let them thicken the smoothie. Top off the cup with a nut milk, water or other liquid.
Fresh Yogurt Smoothie
Makes 16 ounces
1/2 cup Homemade Small-Batch Yogurt
3/4 cup fresh or frozen berries or other fruit
1/4 cup fresh or 1 1-ounce frozen cube leafy greens (optional)
1 tablespoon honey or agave syrup (optional)
Fresh herbs or ground spices to taste
About 1/2 cup 2% milk or other liquid
In an upright blender or in a 24-ounce or larger cup or container that can hold an immersion blender, place the yogurt. Add the fruit and leafy greens, if using, along with any sweetener and herbs or spices. Pour in the liquid until the blending cup is filled to 16 ounces. Place the lid on the upright blender or insert the immersion blender into the cup.
Puree on the lowest setting for one to two minutes, until completely blended; increase the speed of the blender as needed if you can do so without spilling the cup’s contents.
Julie Laing is a Bigfork-based cookbook author and food blogger at TwiceAsTasty.com.