SMOOTHIES!!

Keep some frozen fruit on hand and you will be able to whip up a quick, filling, nutritious breakfast or lunch at a moment's notice.  There's plenty of room for creativity.  It's easy to overdo it, though, with the sugar content just from the fruit.  Fructose is still sugar, even though it's contained in healthy foods.
So for the non-fruit ingredients, try to minimize juices and maximize plain yogurt and soy and nonfat milks.

Your Basic Smoothie

If you have more bananas than you can eat, when they are perfectly ripe (not over-ripe), cut into
thick slices (1/2 - 1 inch thick) and freeze.  This is great for a quick refreshing snack or to make the
best smoothies.  Over-ripe bananas make particularly sweet smoothies -- no freezing necessary.

Ingredients:
2 servings

1 cup low fat milk or soy milk
1/2 cup plain or vanilla fat-free yogurt
1 banana
1 cup mixed fruit - fresh or frozen - mixed berries, peaches, mango
3 ice cubes

If using plain yogurt, just a teaspoon or so of sugar may be added.



Atomic Smoothie
 from Men's Health
2 servings

Ingredients:

1 cup fat-free milk
1/2 cup OJ
1/2 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt
1 Tbsp peanut butter (use natural -- only ground peanuts)
1 banana, cut into pieces
1 small kiwi, cut into small pieces
1 Tbsp toasted wheat germ
2 Tbsp sunflower seeds

Directions:

Blend it, drink it!  That's it!!
Per serving: 300 calories, 10 g fat, 13 g protein

Banana Split Smoothie
2 servings

Ingredients:

1 banana
1/2 cup lowfat vanilla yogurt
1/8 cup frozen OJ concentrate
1/2 cup 1% milk (plus some chocolate soy milk if you wish)
2 tsp whey powder
6 ice cubes crushed

per serving: 170 calories, 8 gm protein, 33 gm carbs

Tropical Punch
3 servings

Ingredients:

3 big chunks of pineapple
1 lime
1 small mango
1/4 cantaloupe
1/4 cup sugar
4 cups water

Blend and strain
Per serving: 210 calories; 1 gm protein, 55 gm carbs, trace fat

Pina Colada

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups pineapple juice
1/3 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup frozen pineapple chunks
1 Tbsp shredded unsweetened coconut  (or 1.5  cups frozen banana slices)