By Komal Thakkar – George Washington University
I find that as a college student on an extremely tight budget, I only have about two or three different kinds of fruits and vegetables in my room at one time. Since I’m only cooking for myself, buying produce in bulk doesn’t make much sense. It goes bad rather quickly, and wasting food is truly one of my biggest pet peeves.
I’ve noticed that the one ingredient I always seem to have is orange juice. Over the course of the past week, this has been the base for all of my summer smoothies. Greek yogurt can be expensive, and I can only drink so much milk in one day, so orange juice is my new best friend. Combine it with some fresh or frozen fruit, and you’ve got yourself an incredibly filling summer smoothie!
Smoothie 1:
1 cup orange juice
4 large strawberries
1 banana
Ice (optional)
Cut the banana and strawberries into small pieces, and blend. Once you’ve achieved your desired consistency, enjoy! You don’t even need sugar because the banana is naturally sweet. If you prefer a more tangy taste, add some more orange juice to it.
Smoothie 2:
1 cup orange juice
6-8 pieces of mango
5-6 pieces of pineapple
Ice (optional)
The orange and pineapple give this an intense citrus flavor, so I always add more pieces of mango than I do pineapple. Again, the mango is so naturally sweet (if it’s ripe) that I don’t need to add any sugar.
Smoothie 3:
1 cup orange juice
6 slices of peach
4 strawberries
Ice (optional)
In this intense summer heat, the last thing I want is a complex recipe. These are so simple and only require three ingredients each! I’ve shared my favorite combinations of fruit and orange juice. Now it’s your turn! What’s your favorite smoothie recipe?
Image courtesy of Fruit Smoothie Recipes
Try freezing the fruit before throwing it in the blender. For some odd reason the smoothie turns out tastier that way!