Our family has a lot of smoothies when the weather gets colder and quality fresh produce is severely lacking locally. While it seems that we should be enjoying the naturally sweet drinks during the peak of summer, I just can't bring myself to puree fresh, flavorful, delicious fruit. Instead we eat a lot of fruit salad and plain, cut up fruit during the warmer months of spring, summer, and the beginning of fall, and I spend time preparing what's in season for when the weather turns. I wash, hull, and freeze strawberries whole by the flat. Any other fruit that looks good gets frozen too...blackberries and raspberries were plentiful this year, and I put up a few bags of organic cherries also. During years when I have gobs of peaches (which sadly wasn't 2010), I save some from canning and freeze slices for smoothies and impromptu cobblers.
We buy a lot of fresh mandarins, pomegranates, apples (until they start to get mealy), and occasionally bananas, but much of our fruit intake comes from healthy smoothies. I used to go by a standard recipe, using about 10 strawberries, a scoop of frozen orange juice, a little honey, and milk blended together, but now I almost always toss in whatever looks or sounds tasty at the moment. It makes for a super fast, healthy, vitamin packed breakfast that is great alone or with a warm muffin or scone.
Weelicious featured a smoothie for Halloween that consisted of almond milk, 10 oz of spinach, two bananas, and honey. Almond milk is so heavily processed and sugary that I never buy it, so I used cow's milk instead. The smoothie was ok, I thought, but my daughter didn't like it at all, refusing to drink her share. Taking the idea of adding spinach, though, I made my standard strawberry smoothie this morning and added just a handful of fresh spinach (frozen would work too), along with some vanilla yogurt. The color wasn't as bright pink, but the smoothie was really, really good. Both kids inhaled it, and my daughter asked for more!
If you haven't experimented with smoothies already, making them at home is a fun way to involve your kids (they can drop the fruit into the blender) and children think they're having a milkshake for breakfast. Any fruit works, yogurt or soft tofu adds protein, and you're in control of how much sugar is added. Adding a handful of spinach is a great way to incorporate more veggies into your, or your child's, diet, without making it seem like you're eating salad for breakfast! And if the creaminess from milk doesn't sound good, try making smoothies with sparkling water (frozen berries and/or mango chunks, honey or agave, and seltzer to cover, blended until smooth). That's like having sorbet, only with a fraction of the sugar!
Instead of using dairy as a base (and to add in more protein for longer sustenance), I often use whole raw cashews and water. Put them in the blender first... I don't know what the real ratio is supposed to be, maybe 3x1 water to cashews? Blend those up till it's creamy white, then add your smoothie stuff in. The cashews give it a nice natural sweetness as well. Experiment with your ratio though - as I usually just toss a handful into my magic bullet :)
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