A Dessert Blitz!

Today I learned that Brits use the term "blitz up" in their recipes like we use "blend." It comes from the "blitzkriegs"--the Germans' bombings of London during WWII that left so much of the city in rubble. That satisfies both the food nerd AND the history nerd in me!

So here's our favorite Blitzed Dessert: the Smoothie. Our typical one always starts out the same. Pile into the blender:

- two heaping T of plain yogurt
- pineapple juice (I always save the juice from the cans of pineapple chunks I put in our girls' lunches)
- a frozen banana or two (buy the cheap, overripe bananas at the grocery store. Peel them and freeze them and voila--smoothie fodder!)
- some frozen strawberries (I haven't bought them in years due to this little trick: When I buy them in season and serve them fresh, I pluck off the green stem, and when I slice the top off the strawberries, I save all the tops and freeze them, using them throughout the winter to flavor smoothies! I've got four containers of strawberry tops in the freezer as I type.)
- anything else you like: applesauce (used this tonight!), peaches, apples, pears, blueberries, etc. Remember that the firmer fruits will sometimes make your smoothie have a slight grittiness to it.
- Our favorite add-in is KALE! Yep, just cut the leaves off the stem and pop a few into your smoothie. It will make it the most brilliant green (unless you've used a LOT of strawberries, in which case it will be more brown and not so pretty), and I've always thought they would make great St. Patrick's Day drinks although I've never actually been organized enough to make it happen.

This recipe (give or take) makes three or four 12 oz. glasses, or you can stretch it into more using smaller glasses.

How nice to drink a glassful of as many as six or seven fruits (and even a vegetable!) as one dessert. Makes a great breakfast drink, too, as the yogurt adds protein. Note--no added sugar!! Pineapple juice (or mandarin oranges & their juice) is very sweet. We actually add no sugar to ours even when we have no pineapple juice on hand. The bananas and strawberries are sweet enough.

So...grab your blender and blitz away!