So...clearly I’ve been slacking on the food blog lately. I’ll blame it on a combination of moving to Lisbon, Portugal (my favorite city in the world thus far), work and just general life. Regardless, I’ve made many recipes in the meantime and therefore have a backlog of tasty dishes (okay, okay, mostly desserts) to share with you all, my tiny readership.
Now, however, I’m posting a tasty, but simple, smoothie recipe which I suppose falls under the breakfast category. Whenever I’ve made this smoothie I’ve gotten great reviews and people are always shocked by the ingredients, especially the one which makes this so creamy. Avocado. Avocado in a smoothie, you ask? Why yes, avocado in a smoothie.
I first learned this trick of adding avocado, instead of the usual yogurt or banana, when I lived in a co-op in college. Our resident assistant, Sara, suggested it and had discovered that it worked well in smoothies if you happened to be out of yogurt. She couldn’t have been more right. The thing that really works about it is its neutral flavor. Avocado is super mild and adds no real flavor of its own to this smoothie, simply creaminess.
The other two ingredients are simple too, frozen berries (or fresh if you have them) and oranges. I use the oranges (squeezed into juice) purely for adding the liquid needed to make everything blendable instead of apple juice or other juices with lots of sugar added to them.
The Best Berry Smoothie (recipe by La Cocina Colibrí)
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients:
1 ½ cups of mixed berries, fresh or frozen
1 avocado
2-4 oranges
Fresh mint (optional)
Straws (optional)
Directions:
1) Add the berries, either fresh or frozen, to the blender. Keep in mind that they don’t have to be mixed berries, they can also be just raspberries, just blueberries, whatever type of berry your heart desires.
2) Cut the avocado in half, vertically and split apart using the half without the pit. Remove the avocado half from the peel and place in the blender along with the berries. Put the other half, with the pit still intact, in the fridge and save it for your next smoothie or for later use. It will stay good for a couple of days with the pit still in it.
3) Squeeze the oranges and add their juice to the blender. The amount of oranges you will need depends on their size, how juicy they are and how liquidy you like your smoothie.
4) Blend all together until the berries are well crushed and the consistency is as you like it. If you’re using frozen berries, this smoothie can be fairly thick and you may need more orange juice.
5) Serve with straws (if you have them) and some fresh mint on top for color.
