Summer has arrived, and with it comes long, hot afternoons. Sometimes, a cold and delicious snack is exactly what everyone needs. This dual-flavored smoothie recipe is healthy and refreshing—easy to make, and elegant enough to serve when entertaining. You will first need to make the two smoothies. Following the recipes below, blend together the ingredients for the two different smoothie recipes.
Strawberry-Banana-Flavored Smoothie
3 cups frozen strawberries
1 frozen banana (peeled)
1 cup sweetened vanilla yogurt
1 cup milk
Sugar or honey, to taste
Blueberry-Strawberry Flavored Smoothie
2 cups frozen blueberries
2 cups frozen strawberries
1 frozen banana (peeled)
1 cup sweetened vanilla yogurt
1 cup milk
Sugar or honey, to taste
(If you want the smoothie to be less thick, add more milk. For a low-sugar diet, use unsweetened vanilla yogurt and Splenda.)
When you are done, store the different-flavored smoothies in separate containers.
And now for the fun part:
In order to create the effect of having the flavors split vertically down the middle, you will need to pour in the two flavors at the same time—one with each hand. Since the containers that you are using to store the smoothies may be too heavy to lift with one hand, you may want to transfer some of each batch into smaller containers, and start off using that. Hold each container in your hands on opposite sides of the glass. Tilt your hands and pour the smoothies into the glass, doing your best to pour both flavors at the exact same time. When the glass is as full as you’d like, stop pouring; try to stop pouring both flavors at the same time. Repeat with as many glasses as you need to serve.
You can also fill some of your glasses with a horizontal layering effect. Alternate pouring in different flavors. For example, fill the cup up a quarter of the way with blueberry-strawberry flavor, then fill it up another quarter of the way with strawberry-banana. Then repeat until the glass is full.
When you are finished, refrigerate the smoothies if you are not serving them right away. If you would like to make the smoothies a few days in advance, avoid doing the pouring part until the day you plan to serve it, or the flavors may run together.
These smoothies can also be used to make delicious freeze pops. Pour the smoothie into freeze-pop molds and put them in the freezer until they are fully frozen. You can make cool layering effects with these as well, by pouring in different layers at a time and freezing them. For example, fill the freeze-pop molds halfway with blueberry-strawberry smoothie. Put them in the freezer for a few hours, and when they are fully frozen fill them up the rest of the way with strawberry-banana flavor. After putting them back in the freezer, they will be ready to serve and enjoy.
By Rachel Retter
Rachel Retter is a JLNJ summer intern and a rising senior at Manhattan High School for Girls.
