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Milk shakes for breakfast? Treats do not have to be
expensive or unhealthy to be good! These fruit
shakes can be eaten for breakfast, snack or a
refreshing dessert. They can be tailored to any
dietary needs and take just minutes to make. Sound
too good to be true? You be the judge!
Fruit Shakes: Basic Recipe
Serves 1 adult or 2 kids
1 frozen banana
1 cup liquid
additional fruit or flavoring
optional sweetener- grapes, dates, honey or
sugar
To make, break frozen banana into pieces and put in
blender. Cover with liquid up to 1-cup line on
blender. Add any additional fruits, flavorings, or
sweeteners. Blend until consistency of milk shake
(usually 30 seconds). Serve immediately (banana
will start to brown if you don't). Enjoy!
NOTE:
Clean out blender and cups immediately after
drinking, since the fruit particles tend to get
stuck to the dishes.
The ingredients:
This recipe is extremely versatile. You can vary
them to comply with your diet or special needs.
These shakes are great alternatives for those with
diabetes, food allergies and intolerances, and
vegetarians. Experiment and have fun! And please
email me with your fun variations!
Here are descriptions and ideas for each
ingredient:
Frozen bananas - I buy them when they are
dirt cheap, peel and deep-freeze in ziploc-type
bags. In a deep-freezer, they will keep up to a
year without darkening, but in a regular
refrigerator freezer, they start turning at 3
months. Frozen bananas give these shakes their
creamy consistency, and you generally can't taste
them. If you don't like bananas and don't want them
in your drink, substitute crushed ice instead.
Liquid -You can use milk, water, soymilk,
rice milk or juice. All work just fine. Milk will
give you a creamier shake. If you use water, add a
little at a time until you get to the consistency
you like. Juice is a great way to sweeten these
drinks, and it adds some fun.
Additional Fruit and Flavorings:
Any fruit of your choice, extracts, drink mixes,
syrups, jams, or spices. You'll see lots of
examples below. The possibilities are only limited
by your imagination!
Sweeteners - if your shake turns out on the
tart side, you can sweeten it naturally with honey,
pitted or chopped dates, raisins, grapes or juice.
You could also use the traditional method- add
sugar. If serving for breakfast, try to keep it as
healthy as possible.
The
Recipes
Vanilla
1 frozen banana
1 cup milk/soymilk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Blend together. Yummy!
Chocolate
1 frozen banana
1 cup milk/soymilk
a few squirts of chocolate syrup
Blend.
Strawberry Cream
1 frozen banana
1 cup milk/soymilk
1 handful of strawberries, washed and sliced
1-2 pitted dates to sweeten (optional)
Blend.
Blueberry Fool
1 frozen banana
1 cup milk/soymilk
a handful of blueberries (use as much as you
want!)
Blend.
Purple Cow
1 frozen banana (or 1/4 cup crushed ice)
1/2 cup grape juice
1/2 cup milk
Blend.
Peanut Butter Dream
1 frozen banana
1 cup milk/soymilk
2 tsp of peanut butter, creamy or crunchy
Blend. (My oldest son loves this one - it tastes
like peanut butter ice cream! Great with chocolate
syrup too for a "Reese's" shake.)
Pina Colada
1 frozen banana
1 cup milk/soymilk
1-2 tsp. shredded coconut
1/4 cup chopped or crushed pineapple (fresh is
best, but canned is pretty good too)
Blend. One of my personal favorites!
Apple Pie
1 frozen banana
1/2 peeled, chopped apple
1 cup apple juice
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
Blend. Great substitute for applesauce! Control the
consistency by adding more or less chopped
apple.
Key Lime pie
1 frozen banana
juice of 1 lime, diluted with water or milk to make
one cup of liquid
Blend. Use milk if you want it to be creamy, this
one is really good!
PBO-Pineapple Orange Banana
1 frozen banana
1 cup orange juice
1/4 cup fresh or canned pineapple
Blend.
Melon Coolers
1-2 cups chunks of frozen, seeded watermelon
1/2-1 cup of water (enough to thin consistency to
milk shake)
Blend.
Note: Watermelon freezes very well and is ideal for
summer shakes. I like to deal with the storage
problem of melons by cutting into chunks and
freezing. If you don't want to seed the watermelon,
you don't have to - the seeds will float to the
bottom of the glass.
Julius Shakes
Basic recipe:
1 cup juice
1 cup water
1 egg white
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup ice (crushed is best)
Blend at high speed. Serves 2.
Note:
The egg white is to make the drink frothy, which it
is famous for. You can omit the white, or use that
powdered egg white (I think it's called meringue
powder) that is sold in the Wilton baking section
of most stores.
Here's what I do: I wait for a sale on eggs, then
get them home, separate into whites and yolks and
freeze. I freeze the whites in small ice cube
trays. I put the yolks into juice cans with 1/2-tsp
salt and once frozen, put in a Ziploc-type bag.
When I want to make a Julius or meringue, I take
out the white in cubes and throw them in.
Variations:
Try any juice. Some of my favorites are pineapple,
strawberry, lime or cranberry. Try mixing different
kinds too. Cranberry and orange would be great
together, and there are so many juice blends at the
store- experiment to your heart's content!
About the Author:
Kim Tilley, a tightwad at heart, is a wife, a
mother of three active boys and the founding editor
of Frugal-Moms.com.
Create My Own Soup
Children's meals have to be easy, delicious and nutritious. Getting kids to eat vegetables is a major task.
Finding a way to get vegetables into the mouths of kids is easy if they are part of the fun. Creating ways to
get kids to help with the preparation and the cooking of kids' recipes is part of the fun.
by Kim Tilley
Create My Own Soup 
