Did someone say Smoothies?!!!

Oh yeah! It was me! Because on a semi dank and dreary day like today and it being close to Valentines day,who wouldn't want to cuddle up next to their Honey (aka a good book) and a large cup of frozen yumminess?

As I'm sure you are all aware, there are thousand of smoothie recipes out there but for some reason when I go into a smoothie place I always try to find one that does not contain Banana...

Now,some would ask, "But why not Banana?! All smoothies must have Banana!" And I would say to them "NOO, you are mistaken my friend. For my smoothies shalt not contain Banana because Banana is the bully of all fruit kind. The flavor takes over everything!" Not that I have anything against Banana, I just have to really be in the mood for it and when I find that it was slipped in without my knowledge it's like an angry assault to my taste buds. ...so moving on.

Some people think that smoothies are expensive but being the frugal and forward thinking person that I am, I've found a way around that. I buy fresh fruit like strawberries and blueberries when they are on sale and in mass quantities and then I freeze them. If you aren't quite as enterprising (paranoid some may say) as I am, you can just as easily buy the frozen stuff in the store. If it's out of season it's usually way cheaper to buy than the fresh stuff anyway.

And now for a little background story....
When I was in college, I used to go to Jamba Juice when I wanted to treat myself. I thought they were the BEST EVER. That is until a few years ago I stumbled across a small coffee/smoothie chain called Jolt and Juice in Ontario, OR. (Jamba, I still like you like a friend)


It was there that I weighed my options and ordered their "Cruisin Todd" (apple juice, blueberries, strawberries and heavy cream) with a shot of Mango syrup....and then, of course whip cream on top. It was like Manna from Heaven. And due to it's yumminess I craved it often. Unfortunately at the time the closest Jolt and Juice was about 45 minutes away and even then I could rarely convince my husband that stopping was truely necessary. So I had no other choice but to make my own...but in a not quite so "heavy whip cream" way. And this is what I came up with.

Here are my Ingredients:

(most of these measurement are approximate so you just have to go with it and hope it turns out close to mine)
1-2 handfuld of Frozen Blueberries
1 handful Frozen Apple slices (peeled, the skins do not blend well)
1 handful or 3-4 large Frozen Strawberries
1 inch piece of Frozen Mango (they are behind the blueberries)
about 1/4 cup of Plain Greek yogurt ( you could use Vanilla if you want)
about 1/4 cup of Apple sauce
1/2- 1 scoop of Vanilla Whey Protein powder
I also add about half a dropper of Grape flavored Stevia extract. it helps with the tartness of the yogurt.


Put all that in a food processor or blender and pulse once or twice to get it mixed a bit before putting it on high speed for about 20 seconds. Make sure to stop every few seconds and scrap the sides to ensure there are no giant bits.

The longer you blend it, the smoother and less thick it will become.

From there you just poor it into a cup and start popping a vein...or you could get a spoon until it melts a bit. Either way, Enjoy!