Strawberry Orange Smoothies

Well friends, you've made it to "Smoothie Week"! Settle in for lots of fruit, yogurt, frozen goodness, and maybe... some chocolate! That's right, I don't play by the rules. Sometimes I feel obliged to throw caution to the wind and put a non-traditional ingredient in my smoothie. Hey, you'll never know how delicious it is if you never try it!

I figure Spring is the perfect time of year to roll out "Smoothie Week". We had our first summery day of the year last year, indeed it got up to 85º. The house was 79º at 9 pm last night, so it was also the first day of the year we had to turn on the AC. Boo. I hate the AC. But, if that's the tradeoff for sitting in a lawn chair in my backyard with a smoothie in my hand, I'll take it. There's just something so magical about sitting outside with a frosty concoction while the sun beams down on you.

I can also successfully report that all the fruit, yogurt, and frozen bananas have been liberated from my kitchen. A week of smoothies took care of all those supplies!

Although I really enjoyed all the smoothies I experimented with, this was one of my favorites. I'm such a sucker for anything with berries. I've been on a major strawberry kick as of late. Since they're in season right now, they've been on sale. Maybe it's the low price or that I have some sort of strawberry deficiency, but I've been wolfing them down by the pound. Yes, by the pound. I felt guilty the first time I realized I'd inhaled a pound of strawberries in a sitting. Then I googled strawberries.

There's 150 calories in a pound of strawberries.

That's correct.

You read that right.

You can eat a pound of strawberries for 150 calories. Is this a revelation to anyone else? I mean, what else can you eat a pound of for that little calories? There's not a lot. Strawberries also boost short-term memory, ease inflammation, promote bone and eye health, lower cardiovascular disease, and are high in fiber. They have many other benefits, but you have Google to look those up right? :) My point is, there are a lot worse things you could be eating.

So I suggest following along with my "Smoothie Week". I actually ate smoothies for lunch all last week after my workouts. I loved it! They were very filling, plus they were quick and portable. Portable makes me happy. It means I can do many, many other things whilst sipping away. Like making another smoothie...

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend! Happy Monday friends!

Ingredients (makes 2 smoothies):

1 cup strawberries, halved

1 orange, peeled and sectioned

1 cup vanilla yogurt

1 cup orange juice

2 frozen bananas, sliced

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth. Distribute between 2 glasses, and serve immediately. With a straw :)