Smoothies...

[fireweaver]

hmmm, smoothies at my house generally involve a handful of ice, a big dump of plain yogurt, a dash of vanilla, some spices (i'm a nutmeg superfan, my bf hates the stuff...all the "pie" spices like nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, ginger really bring out fruit flavors), a squirt of honey/honey powder/demerara sugar, and the fruit. no juice, definitely no soda. to get it really thick, use frozen fruit - waiting for bags of the stuff go on sale at the grocery store is a great plan. buying spotty bananas, like gadzooks said, or grabbing any past it's prime fruit on the sale rack to freeze is another great idea. when the blender is going and all things are blended, if it looks too liquidy, toss in ice cubes one at a time. the cube that makes the vortex vanish for just a sec means stop, it's perfect. yes, ice cubes melt and they'll make it watery later, but if you're only making a few glasses worth, or you don't have your fruit frozen, the texture is lovely anyway.

[Goat Stew]

Originally Posted by GotGarlic

I agree - too much liquid, and not enough fruit.

My favorite smoothie is strawberry/banana. I cut a banana into one-inch pieces and put them and 2 cups whole or halved (depending on size) strawberries on a cookie sheet and freeze. If you do this, you don't have to add ice, which is just water and dilutes the flavor.

When frozen, put in blender with 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt and 1 cup juice (orange would be too strong - apple juice would be good). Whiz till smooth. Makes two 1-1/2 cup servings. HTH.

I would put the whole banana in there and blend it.

[larry_stewart]

My usual smoothies contain
Frozen banana
Frozen strawberries
canned pineapple + juice
That coco goya sweet coconut stuff
Whatever fruit juice i have laying around
ice cubes ( if the frozen fruit isnt enough to give it a good consistency
Blend until smooth