Recipe Box - Smoothie 3: The Josiah

Smoothie 1 is here.
Smoothie 2 is here.

Every once in a while, Josiah pulls out our copy of Pampered Chef's Kids in the Kitchen cookbook and starts flipping through the pages, usually with pencil and paper in hand to make a list of what recipes he'd like us to make.  That boy is a list-maker for sure!  I'm always finding scraps of paper that he's written some kind of list on.  Fortunately, he's pretty good about knowing when a paper is meaningless and then throwing it away; otherwise we'd be soon buried in his lists!  ;-)

It was thanks to Josiah that we first started making a smoothie from that particular cookbook.  As an aside, the best part about that cookbook is the colorful, attractive pictures of some of the food items.  The worst part?  The nearly indecipherable instructions.  I understand that the cookbook is a form of advertisement for Pampered Chef, but it's a little overwhelming for my boys to read, "Slice banana using Egg Slicer Plus and place in Quick-Stir Pitcher.  Using Nylon Masher, mash banana until fairly smooth."  I can just imagine it now:  "Uh, Mom?  Where's our Egg Slicer Plus and Nylon Masher?  Oh, we don't have them?  Well, how can I make this smoothie without them??"  ;-)

When we make anything from that cookbook, I just simplify the directions.  So here they are:  easy instructions for...

The Josiah Smoothie!

Take one banana, some strawberry or raspberry yogurt (8 ounces is the suggested amount), and some pineapple juice (6 ounces or 3/4 cup is what the cookbook says).  Stick it in the blender.  Mix it up.  Or, do like we did yesterday and put two bananas in the blender, dump a bunch of strawberry yogurt in with them, then start pouring the pineapple juice until the blender is about 3/4 full.  Start mixing, and then drop ice cubes one by one into the blender.  (We like the extra coolness and texture that it gets from adding ice to the original recipe.)  Stop the blender to do a quick taste test; then, if it needs more yogurt or juice, add accordingly.  When the perfect balance of flavors is achieved and the blender is filled to the top, divide into five cups, do a quick mediation between boys who are sure they got less than their brothers, then drink with a smile on your face.  Be prepared for lots of slurping at the end, as the children try to get the last tiny bit sucked up through their straws.  But that's OK:  you just might be tempted to do some slurping yourself.  ;-)