There are so many reasons to love smoothies. They can count as almost any meal of the day – breakfast, lunch, snack, dessert and even a drink at dinner. They are a great way to use up spotty bananas and any fruit you aren’t sure what else to do with. You can put in Greek yogurt for extra protein (or even peanut butter, for that matter) or fortified juice for extra vitamins. You can enjoy them any time of the year, adding more frozen ingredients in summer to cool down and more thawed ingredients in winter to not be so cold. They are even generally considered to be healthy.
Now, there are many different places you can buy smoothies. Even McDonalds has a fantastic one (I suggest the mango pineapple smoothie), but they are so easy to make that you should definitely try making one at home. The only real requirement is a blender. And the good news is, any type of blender will work! You do not need a ninja to get the job done.
I used to just make smoothies in a large cup, using an immersion blender. I now have more mouths to feed and so I use my larger blender. As for styles of blenders, the more blades, the easier it is to blend. If you, like me, only have one set of blades at the bottom, you might have to put in more liquid. This will allow the blender to pull down all the frozen / solid ingredients easily. If you have an amazing multi-blade blender, this step is probably not necessary.
The Perfect Smoothie
This makes enough for one or two people.
The basic ingredients for a great smoothie are:
a ripe banana
frozen fruit
a single-serving container of yogurt
juice
milk
To make it, I put the banana in the bottom of the blender, then put in frozen fruit on top until it is around the 3-cup line on my blender. Basically, put fruit in up to the amount of smoothie you want to have. Then I put the yogurt on top. I pour in juice until around the 1 cup mark. Then I pour in milk up to the 3 cup line. Blend away!
You can definitely modify this with different juices, different fruit / yogurt combinations and different amounts. As long as you start with a banana, it should taste fantastic!
cookingwithflourchild 
I agree… The perfect ingredient is a ripe banana! Or if you like pineapple, that’s a great think to add. Finally, if you want to add a dose of health, add spinach (very little taste) or kale (a little more of a distinct taste) to your very yummy recipe… You won’t even realize its there! 🙂
Ooooo! I love adding pineapple too. I haven’t tried spinach or kale yet, but I’ve heard it’s great too.
Yum! I freeze ripe bananas (I let them get to the very edge) and mix it with ground flax seed and spinach. Nabbed it off Green Monster Shakes, but I think I’ll try this one for variety.