Smoothies are often made in this house. Let's face it, they are the healthy milk shake. I love to keep frozen fruit on hand: strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, mango, whatever I can find. As with most of my smoothies, I prefer to use frozen fruit as it alleviates the need to add to ice to the smoothie. For sweetness I added some organic apple juice and some almond milk. For creaminess, I used 0% Fat Fage Yogurt. This is where I inform you that, as a selected blogger, I have been entered for the chance to win a trip to Greece courtesy of FAGE. You too can enter to win one of three trips to Greece by entering the FAGE Plain Extraordinary Greek Getaway here: http://www.fageusa.com/community/fage-greek-getaway (look FCC, I did it in red!). Again, Fage did not require that I use their product and save for the legally mandated statement avoid I need not even mention their product, but I'm gonna mention it anyway, because I love Fage yogurt. Honest and for true, I do.
This recipe was inspired by a story someone told me about a trip they took to Greece. This person and some friends had been on a tour of Crete and after a long day of sightseeing they were hot, and thirsty. On their way back to ship (they were on a cruise of the Greek Isle) they came upon a man selling yogurt and fruit smoothies. My friend chose the mango flavor and her description of how wonderful this drink was on that hot, tiring day has stayed with me over a decade. The tang of the yogurt and mango was perfectly balanced with the sweet of the fresh fruit juices the vendor used to make his beverages. Of course the chill from the frozen fruit was exactly what was needed to combat the heat of this summer-time Mediterranean location. It truly must have been an amazing drink to transcend both time and translation. I can only hope that I came close to re-creating it. Even on this relatively cold November day, my youngest son was more than willing to sneak up behind his most beloved mother as she cleaned up the kitchen to steal this drink directly from it's photo shoot location. Of course in doing so he became part a prop in the photo~more on that below:
Ingredients
1 cup frozen pineapple
1 cup frozen mango
1/2 cup organic apple juice
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup 0% fat Greek-style yogurt
Place the frozen mangoes and pineapple into a blender.
Pour the apple juice into the blender.
Pour the almond milk into the blender.
Last, but not least add the 0% fat Greek style yogurt.
Blend until completely incorporated and smooth.
