Cooking Tips: Stock Up on Smoothies

You love not cooking breakfast in the morning, and your kids love drinking homemade smoothies, but cleaning the blender every day makes you feel like an underpaid under appreciated food service worker. (Oh wait, that's part of a parent's job description, right?)

Follow these tips to save time by making an extra big batch of smoothies and freezing them for later. Next time your kids want a smoothie they can just thaw and serve ... and you can leave the blender cleaning mess to the folks at Orange Julius.
Here are some easy cooking tips for making a mega batch of smoothies:

• Mix up your smoothies with your favorite liquid ingredients: milk, yogurt, soy milk, coconut milk or juice.
  
• Blend in some classic "boosters": peanut butter, flax seed, wheat germ, chia seeds, nuts, protein powder, silken tofu, and even kale or spirulina (for that special green that screams "HEALTHY!").
  
• Use fruit that's been cut into small pieces so it will blend more easily. Use frozen fruit for a nice thick consistency and to jump ahead on the freezing process. You can buy frozen bagged fruit or lay cut fruit out onto a sheet pan and freeze it. Then these frozen pieces can be thrown into a freezer bag without the dreaded clumping.
  
• Pour your finished smoothies into freezer safe containers such as plastic bags or cups with airtight lids. Individual servings work best. Allow some space in the container because your smoothie will likely expand when freezing.
  
• Experiment with thaw times to reach your desired consistency. Stir a few times as the smoothie freezes to minimize all those nice hunks of fruit from settling to the bottom.

Now you're cooking! With these smart smoothie tips, when you or your kids are jonesing for a refreshing homemade smoothie, you can whip one out of the freezer rather than lugging out the blender beast!