Even before I realized that smoothies were trendy, I was making smoothies. In my parents’ kitchen after school I would pull bags of frozen fruit out of the freezer and drop handfuls into the Cuisinart mixer together with milk to make a sweet, frozen snack.  My  M.O. hasn’t changed much since then. But I have come up with a few tricks and healthier options. Every couple of weeks, I buy a few bananas, peel them, cut them in half, and freeze them in a Tupperware container.  They make any smoothie creamy and substantial.  I also keep on hand organic frozen fruit, either bought in the bag in the freezer section of the grocery store, or I use fresh fruit that I’ve frozen and stored myself. I keep a stash of mini containers of unsweentened almond milk, and I almost always have organic spinach in my fridge.  A handful of the leaves adds a vegetable serving to any smoothie without overpowering the taste.  With those ingredients, I always have the option to make a quick smoothie for breakfast or a snack.  A nice blender is probably ideal, but my kitchen is tiny so right now I use a multi-purpose Cuisinart mini-prep  and it does the job.  I’ve been using this recipe lately since cranberries are readily available in the produce section of the market.

Ingredients

1 banana, frozen
½ cup frozen whole cranberries
½ orange, peeled and cut into chunks
½ cup cold filtered water

Cut bananas into 1-inch pieces and put in blender. Add the frozen cranberries and the orange chunks.  Pulse until coarsely chopped.  Add ½ cup cold water and blend until smooth.