April 11, 2010

Creamy Sweet Basil Smoothie

Hello, summer! That's what this smoothie tastes like, summer.  The weather in St. Louis is getting to be in the 80's nearly every day and while I do love my sun (hah, I wrote "son" at first... now that's scary), I could do without the humidity.  I really hate humidity but, this smoothie makes it tolerable; it's light and refreshing enough to cure the worst heat-induced discontent.  It's also a great way to use up extra fresh herbs.  I don't like buying fresh herbs because, for one thing, they're expensive, and for another, I usually only need a tablespoon or so, which means that a fair amount ends up going to waste.  Now, while I don't think a parsley or chive smoothie would be nearly as enjoyable (or even palatable), summer means basil and lots of it.  Don't let it go to waste!

Creamy Sweet Basil Smoothie
You can definitely tailor the amounts and ingredients of this to your taste.  Smoothies are flexible and the flavor of basil is strong enough to come through the fruit.  You can even add a little spinach for more green power! 
Serves 1

Ingredients
1/2 cup non-fat greek yogurt or skyr [I used Siggi's Orange Ginger skyr]
1/2 cup light coconut milk
1 large bunch fresh basil (about 15-20 leaves)
1/2 a frozen banana
4 chunks of frozen honeydew or mango [this time I used honeydew]
1/4 of an avocado [I actually have avocado chunks, which I've frozen, so I used those, but I realize that not everyone does this...]
3 ice cubes
juice of half an orange or lemon (optional)
extra basil to garnish (optional)

Preparation
Toss all ingredients into your blender and blend on high until the mixture is uniform. If you're blender isn't top-notch (and mine definitely isn't) you'll probably have to stop and take the top off a few times to mix around the ingredients yourself and scrape the sides. If it still doesn't blend up nicely try adding extra liquid (either more coconut milk or water, your choice) a tablespoon at a time.

9 comments:

coati said...

This sounds good. Like, really really good. I wish I had half of those ingredients!

Pamela said...

I LOVE the new layout!!! And that smoothie looks ridic. If I had a blender I would totally make it. :)

blahstudent said...

looks great! (both recipe and redesign)

oneordinaryday said...

This is such in interesting combination of flavors that it has me totally intrigued. So healthy!

Lori said...

This sounds delicious, a unique combo. I'm always looking for that in a smoothie. I get tired of the same old ingredients.

Azita Mehran said...

this sounds so refreshing!looks great! are those dried lemons/limes?

Lynna said...

Azita,
They are dried oranges; they're my roommates doing, so I'm not sure how long it's taken them to look like that. Pretty neat though!

Nico said...

my basil plants are growing now, I will have at least 30 of them so be sure I will have plenty of it to try different combination. You what goes really well with basil?? pineapple, yes, they complement very well..

Unknown said...

What a great idea! Sounds delish!