Beating the Summer Heat, One Fruit Smoothie at a Time

One of my favorite parts of the summer is all of the delicious fresh fruit that fills our fruit bowl every week. We are lucky enough to live near a farmer's market and are able to get inexpensive fresh produce year round, but in the summer everything gets even cheaper.  I love it!

Smoothie's are wonderful because they are so versatile.  They can be used as a full breakfast, a snack, a side dish or just a way to cool off on a hot day.  You can make them as big or as small as you would like and they are ridiculously healthy.  Here is how I make mine.

Fruit Smoothies

1 cup Ice

1 cup Fruit

1/4 cup Oats

1/2 cup Juice

1/4 cup Yogurt

Ignore my pile of drying dishes on the right.

And ignore the poor quality of these photos - I took them before my precious baby camera was returned to me.

Measure and add ice to blender.

Wash and chop your fruit (strawberries for me today!), add to blender.

Add your oats.

Trust me on the oats - the resulting texture is incredible.

Measure yogurt - I used strawberry, but you can use any flavor you'd like, depending on the fruit you're using and the flavors you want in your smoothie.

(I eat Yoplait Original yogurt - I used to eat the light and fit stuff, but I really really hate artificial sweeteners and try to avoid them at all costs)

See that?

Deliciousness at work.

Add your juice.

(Again, you don't have to use orange juice, although it gives a fantastic tang to smoothies)

Blend.

Enjoy.

And then thank whoever bought you your blender.

Thank you, Maura!