Frugal Friday--Smoothies

Smoothies can be a great breakfast or anytime 'meal' espeically if you want something that is full of good things. 

You can make this a frugal option by taking advantage of fruit when it is on special and getting it ready for your smoothie so that when you have a hankerin, you're ready to quickly put one together. 

I found a dozen or so bananas on sale a few months ago when my HEB didn't sell as many as they thought they would and I picked up a bag full for $1.  I brought them home and sliced them into 1" rounds and then popped the whole container in the freezer.

I did the same thing with a few strawberries that I had leftover that were about to go bad and I knew wouldn't get eaten in time.  So instead of letting them go to waste I cut them up in 'bite' sized pieces and threw them into the freezer as well. 

When I'm ready for a smoothie I will add 6-8 slices of frozen banana to a 16 oz plastic cup (I know a picture would be nice, but I don't have one), plus some strawberries, if I remember that I have them--that's a whole other post.  Then I might add plain yogurt for a bit of protien or perhaps some protein powder, and then you need some liquid.  Others might choose to use milk here, but that idea just makes me absolutely cringe so I always use juice. 

Since my fruit is already frozen I don't have to dilute the whole thing with ice, but it will still be nice and cold and frothy and smooth. 

Then I get out my trusty new, bright green, handblender.  K, I had the brand wrong, turns out it was Cusinart.  Isn't it beautiful? 

How could anyone not think that is the most beautiful immersion blender ever?  How about that stainless steel part?  did you see the green-ness?  Then you completely understand now. 

This week I'm out traipsing around the other 'T' state for my day job.  It's fun to be with people that you usually only get to talk to on the phone.  We've had some funny conversations in the last two days and we had one about smoothies on the way 'home' from dinner tonight. 

I know I was just singing the praises of the color green, go ahead, you can scroll back up and look at it again... BUT there is a time and place for 'green' in a smoothie and it stops at the blender.  If you chose to put spinach in your smoothie, please don't gross the rest of us out and drink that in a clear glass.  We don't care that you can't taste it, we can see it.... Just sayin.