Berry Smoothie

The perfect berry smoothie recipe! The thickness of this smoothie is just right. The kefir bumps it up a level from yogurt or any type of milk. (Sometimes Greek yogurt makes a smoothie too thick, and it ends up needing to be thinned with milk.) I like the tartness of the pomegranate juice and kefir and a teaspoon of agave syrup was just enough to smooth it out. If you have all the ingredients on hand, this is really about a 10-minute process. Next time I’ll try it with a banana added.

I’ve never used kefir before so this berry smoothie recipe was new for me. I used no sweetener and it was just perfect without it. The combination of the sweet frozen berries and the tart pomegranate juice and kefir was refreshing and filling. The fiber element of the small seeds of the strawberries is good. I debated really blitzing the smoothie with my VitaMix but decided to just leave well enough alone. I may re-blend the remaining portion and see how that goes. All in all, this is a smoothie recipe I will be making again and again.

Something as quick and easy as this berry smoothie recipe almost feels like a cheat, but getting the proportions right often takes some guidance. The beauty of such a flexible recipe is that it allows you to take advantage of what you have on hand and have a delicious smoothie in 5 minutes. My blender is not exotic or super powerful. I deliberately keep a classic beehive-style Oster on hand, with a toggle that goes from OFF to ON or PULSE. I always start with the liquid ingredients, so the yogurt went in first, then some fruit, a bit more liquid, and then the rest of the fruit. (I used a Strauss non-fat Greek-style yogurt to keep the protein value high). Don’t let it sit very long, as you don’t want the frozen fruit to seize up as a solid block. For my blender, a better strategy might’ve been to add only half the fruit, blend, then do the rest. Adding strawberries AND blueberries made my blender freeze up a little, so I paused, stirred, and added a little coconut milk (start with 1/4 cup) to thin out the slushy consistency. I added a bit of honey to the berry smoothie recipe—1/2 teaspoon seemed sufficient—and served this with a spoon. The deep purple color just screamed antioxidants to spare with a nice-and-not-too-sweet flavor.

I made this berry smoothie a second time with a pourable yogurt (Siggi’s raspberry) and half a frozen banana instead of honey for sweetness along with the blueberries and strawberries. In both cases, the pomegranate is a supporting player, not a standout flavor. Since I find frozen strawberries contribute quite a seedy texture, I tried making a third batch with just the frozen blueberries and a whole frozen banana (cut into 4 pieces), and no extra sweetening. I still added some coconut milk to improve the smoothness. I almost always have both blueberries and bananas in the freezer for smoothies. Fresh strawberries work better for me when they are available, and I wouldn’t miss them in this. For future blending, I will add half the fruit through the top (my blender has a removable center part) while the rest is blending, and I think that will avoid the ice jam.

I doubled the berry smoothie recipe since there were 3 of us at home for breakfast this morning. I’d picked up plain kefir instead of vanilla so I added 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. I used 4 cups frozen berries, 1/2 cup pomegranate juice, and 2 teaspoons agave nectar. The mixture was too thick to completely blend, so I added another 1/2 cup juice, and it blended completely. We divided this into three 12-ounce servings, as we were all on the run. According to my math, this would’ve made four 8-ounce servings with a bit left or six 6-ounce servings to accompany something else for breakfast. Two of us added another tablespoon of syrup as we preferred ours on the sweeter side. It was filling and delicious. This berry smoothie recipe can be adapted to your choice of frozen fruit and juice. It would also be great with maple syrup or brown rice syrup as the sweetener. I think the blender will be staying on the counter as long as I have kefir or yogurt and juice in the fridge and fruit in the freezer. Delish. And good for you, too.

This berry smoothie recipe is creamy goodness for a nice pick-me-up or breakfast. It’s easy to make and the ingredients are easily found. Can be adjusted to your taste or whatever fruit you have on hand. You could also substitute apple or white grape juice for the pomegranate juice. Overall, the recipe is a nice starting point that you could change to suit whatever produce is in season.

This berry smoothie recipe makes a basic, tasty smoothie. I used Greek yogurt in place of the vanilla kefir. The smoothie was very thick, so much so that after sampling it, I added milk to the mixture to thin it out and make it easier to drink, although it was still very thick. I added a small amount of honey to the smoothie and I liked the touch of sweetness that it brought to the drink.