There’s really not much to a banana smoothie. I don’t know how stores can stay in business doing nothing but throwing fruit and milk in a blender and charging four bucks each for it.
Oh, wait … I think that four bucks each might be the secret. Okay, so what I don’t get is why would anyone pay four bucks for one of these.
Ingredients
banana
milk
yogurt
Directions
Peel the banana. Yeah, I know you knew that, but I’m being complete here, okay? Break it in half and drop it in the cup you want to use.
Fill the cup with milk up to about a half-inch from the top. This is the best way to measure, since every banana is a slightly different size.
Hold the banana in place while you pour the milk into your blender. Otherwise it will splash. Then carefully add the banana.
Add a couple spoonfuls of yogurt.
This was really supposed to be plain yogurt, but they were actually out of plain when my wife went to the store. This lowfat vanilla was the plainest she could find. And I’m not going to pay four times as much at the health food store. Okay, that’s my rant for the day.
Blend on high speed until the banana is completely pulverized and everything is foamy on top.
Pour it back into your cup.
And that’s it.
Just a couple more days until my free online mini-course starts. And I’ve come up with a name for it.
How To Cook Like Your Grandmother: Starting From Scratch
Registration officially opens on the 23rd, but if you drop me an email now at basic-course@cooklikeyourgrandmother.com with “Register me for the free mini-course” in the subject line, and your name in the email, I’ll be sure to reserve a slot for you!
Registration is open! Enter your name and email in the form at the top of the column on the right.
Want more like this? For more recipes like this, that you can hold right in your hands, and write on, take notes, tear pages out if you want (Gosh, you're tough on books, aren't you?) you might be interested in How To Cook Like Your Grandmother, 2nd edition, Illustrated. Or to learn your way around the kitchen, check out Starting From Scratch: The Owner's Manual for Your Kitchen.
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16 Comments
Hey, I’m making smoothies this morning! Get out of my head! Heh.
my favorite banana smoothie is a banana, milk, honey and peanut butter. soooo good.
You really are famous – you’re on a bus! We like making banana smoothies, and it’s a great jumping-off point if you want to add other stuff. Sometimes we add other fruits in addition to the bananas, and my husband usually adds sugar too (silly guy thinks everything has to be super sweet). I like the picture of the cup all the way full with the bubbles on top. So cool!
Bob, now I’ve got Little Anthony and The Imperials stuck in my brain. “Going out of me heeeaaaaad … over you-ou … Out of my heeeaaaaad … over you-ou … Out of my head day and night, night and day, and night.” Arrrgg!
Anon, I’ll give the peanut butter a try. I bet the girls will love that.
Stephanie, you know the bus is a fake, right? Anyway, when I’m making these for myself it’s usually milk, banana, OJ and a raw egg. Basically an Orange Julius, old style, before they had to stop doing the raw egg.
2nd blog in a row I’ve visited that hails the banana–am I missing something?! Try roasting whole bananas at 350 degrees for 30 minutes and then use that. Intense banana flavor. (The roasted pulp freezes quite well, too)
And now I’m singing: “night and day and night!” Great–it can be dangerous coming over here lol
I love banana smoothies. I always just used banana, milk, and a tiny splash of vanilla. I’ll have to try a bit of plain yogurt next time.
Yeah, I thought the sign on the bus looked a little off. I decided to give you the benefit of the doubt – apparently unfounded.
Ooh, Orange Julius. My parents used to make those, and they’re delicious! Maybe I should thaw out some o.j. concentrate…
Jenni, when you say pulp you just mean the part you’d normally eat, right? Or does the peel become edible after roasting?
Jennifer, vanilla makes me think of dessert. I like smoothies for breakfast, so I prefer the fruit flavor.
Stephanie, I’m not big enough yet to get away with a sign that doesn’t have a URL on it. Give me another year and we’ll see.
One more thing to use all these bananas in. Weekly I’ll come home with a 3-4 pound bag of bananas for 99 cents. And they’re a bit brown so they’re nice and sweet. People just freak out when they see them in the store. “Brown bananas?”
Yum. I make smoothies in the summer a lot. I like cinnamon in mine. Or add a few frozen strawberries. Mmm.
I adore smoothies. I have a BlendTec Total Blender, the kind that Starbucks and Jamba Juice uses and I LOVE IT. I’ve had it for several years and use it at least once a week. For any smoothie I toss in frozen fruit (mango and pineapple are my faves), some vanilla yogurt and milk. Heaven!
I know your are a busy guy and don’t get out to visit my blog much (jab jab) BUT I did want to let you know that I’ve started a new blog event called Thrifty Thursdays if you are interested in blogging along! http://amandascookin.blogspot.com/2009/02/gauging-interest-thrifty-thursday.html
I’m a smoothies lover. Besides, banana. I also like Avocado smoothies. Yummy!
Stephanie, I’d do the same, except our local grocer seems to have this thing for green bananas. That’s all they ever put out.
Lyn, do you break up the strawberries first? Maybe it’s my ancient blender, but whenever I use frozen I get chunks no matter how long I blend it.
Amanda, is that the “Will It Blend” blender? Have you ever tried anything … unusual?
FP, I only recently found a guacamole recipe I like. I don’t think I’m ready for an avocado smoothie. Just the color … ecch.
Drew – I’m kinda boring that way, haven’t tried anything overly unusual. I did get a recipe booklet with it and haven’t really used it. I mostly do smoothies, and it works fabulous on crushing ice. I’ve had it a few years now, can’t remember how many, but before January of ’06 for sure.
Ok I just googled “Will it Blend” after I found the link to my blender http://www.blendtec.com/TotalBlender-White.aspx and yes, they are one in the same. I have never heard of the Will It Blend stuff LOL
I LOVE IT. it’s worth every penny. I used to replace my blender every year when I bought the $30-50 models from Walmart. I know it can do all sorts of things, but I haven’t done more than regular blending and making smoothies. Now you have me thinking I really need to dig out that booklet! It had all kinds of goodies in it
Look for the one where they do a handful of Bic lighters. I want that guy’s job.
We have a Majic Bullet to make our smoothies