Smoothie Saturday

Of late, I have taken to posting a recipe on Friday.  Not every Friday, just some Fridays.  But yesterday I was buried in an avalanche of exams to grade and I've spent most of January buried under an avalanche of sinus infection (yes, that's gross, I realize, but facts are facts and you've been warned of that future posting).  The exams are graded, the infection seems to be in retreat (for good, I dearly hope) and so I am declaring today Smoothie Saturday.

For Christmas, I received a hand-held stick blender.  I envisioned making many blended soups sans the tense excitement of having to pour boiling hot soup from my soup pot to my blender.  And I did set to work on those soups (recipes in the the month ahead, I promise).  But I was also diverted by the prospect of easy-prep, easy-clean-up milkshakes.  So JT and I ran through gallons of ice cream stirring up yummy milk shakes. 

These were tasty but I wouldn't say they were healthy, per se, and the amount of time my new milkshake diet would require on the elliptical was prohibitive.  So last weekend I set to work on the creation of smoothies.  With my shiny new stick blender, a smoothie comes together easy-peasy.  And, lo, a smoothie can induce a certain young man to eat fruit.  It's a smoothie miracle.

Today's recipe is so basic that the cats can make it for themselves while I am away.  It will make two cups of smoothie, plenty for an afternoon treat or morning breakfast.  I have even successfully passed it off as dessert.

1 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt (I use Stonyfields organic, which can be bought by the bucket)
1/2 cup milk

My blender came with a handy 2 cup measuring cup and I use that for the smoothies.  You can use most anything, though I find a cylindrical shape is best.  Put the blueberries in first and then the yogurt and the milk.

Then blend.

It takes less than a minute and then you're in the pink (well, in this case, you're in the purple).

Your tummy and your nine year old will thank you.  One warning: you must brush your teeth after drinking it, otherwise tiny bits of dark blueberry will adhere to your teeth, giving your mouth the look of a smile filled with an expanse of partially rotting teeth.  JT finds this quite handy for playing pirate, but I feel it detracts from my appearance, sketchy though I often am.