Ingredients and equipment
1 banana
A handful (80g) frozen mixed berries
A tablespoon of natural yogurt
100ml warm water
Food processor
Recipe
Put all the ingredients into the food process and whizz until smooth!
Notes
The frozen berries are great in this recipe as they make the smoothie cold without having to fuss around with ice. They are also much cheaper than buying fresh fruit (usually about £2 for 500g). Having said that, if you have any fresh fruit hanging around of course use it!
I have used warm water in this recipe as otherwise the frozen berries can make it too cold. If you prefer an ice cold smoothie however, use cold water.
Nutrition
The berries in this smoothie provide one of your five a day and a good variety of vitamins and minerals. I use summer fruits which provides all the goodness of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and redcurrants. Bananas are higher in carbohydrate content but contain high levels of potassium and vitamin B6 so shouldn't be avoided even by the waistline watchers!
Natural yogurt contains stomach friendly bacteria and low fat options can be used if you want to reduce calories.
The original recipe contains about 150kcals.
Variations
I sometimes add a handful of oats (and a bit more water) to this recipe in the morning to make a super healthy energy boosting breakfast! This ups the calories a bit but gives you a good portion of fibre and the heart-healthy benefits of oats without the effort of making porridge.
My housemate likes to make this smoothie with just banana and milk instead of water to make it more creamy. She adds honey and cinnamon to give it satisfying sweetness.
There are many other possible smoothie variations. For the mega calorie phobic readers, forget the banana and add fat free yogurt and some fruit juice to the berries, gym bunnies can add protein powder for a post-gym recovery drink and readers suffering from flu can add orange juice for an extra vitamin C boost...
