*The Chef Next Door*: Bye Bye, Smoothie King!

I'm a huge sucker for a smoothie. Back in my high school days when Smoothie King was a couple blocks from my house, I collected those frequent-buyer tickets like baseball cards! BUT, man are they expensive- and a 20 oz. Caribbean Way has upwards of 400 calories. You feel like you are indulging in a healthy, fruit-filled drink, but it's really just like eating 12 Oreos, with a tad bit more nutrition. Yikes! I also have trouble sitting down with a bowl of fruit in the morning with breakfast, not sure why, but it's never come natural to me. My solution to both problems: Make my own smoothies! It takes all of about 2 minutes to make (less time than you'd spend in the drivethru at a Smoothie shop) and you can control the flavors and sweetness and size. It's much more cost effective- a frozen bag of mixed fruit which easily allows you to blend up 5+ smoothies will cost you less than one of those sugar-packed wallet-drainers from Smoothie King.

Homemade Strawberry-Banana Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 ripe banana (fresh)
Handful of frozen strawberries
Handful of frozen mixed fruit (peaches, pineapple, grapes, raspberries, etc.)
1/2 cup of natural fruit juice, not from concentrate (I use V8 Splash)
*Optional for more sweetness: 1 Tablespoon of Honey

Directions:

Peel and break up the banana. Toss it into the blender.
Add in the frozen fruit.