Smoothies

Smoothies, a boost of energy, from freshly blended fruits, berries, herbs and vegetables. A smoothie can contain many vitamins, and will do you really good. All that you need is a blender and the things you want in your drink. Smoothies are similar to milkshakes, but milkshakes are often made with ice cream.
As always, the season can mean a plenitude for some vegetables or fruits, and you can make good use of this, and buy cheaper goods.
Nowadays you can often find most or many products all year around, cultivated in other countries, on other continents.
But those being bought in your local area will mean less of many things, like transportation, chemicals for sustaining longer lifetime, and so on.
Of course, things in season also mean cheaper prices, and natural matured goods. So use locally grown plants as much as possible. And buy ecologically if you can.
The principal composition of a smoothie is blended fruits, either with juice, water, crushed ice, milk or plant milk, tea or yogurt. Added sweeteners like sugar, syrup, or honey can be used to sweeten the smoothie.
The examples of homemade smoothies you find here are all with yogurt, so you can use your own homemade yogurt, as described elsewhere in this book.

About how healthy a smoothie is, is down to which ingredients it contains. A smoothie is often made with sweet fruits. This is healthy, except if too much, cause of the large amount of sugar in the fruits. Banana is a favorite mostly for the smooth texture and taste, but also because banana contains many fibers. Also nuts and seeds can be added to the drink.
Green smoothies with for, example, spinach, celery, parsley, or broccoli and others, are often made with 40-50% of these greens, included raw. The rest being all or mostly fruits.
Smoothies are becoming more and more popular, specially among the food conscious people. But many things can be added for taste, that may not necessarily be healthy.
Strawberry Smoothie:

600 gram Strawberries, frozen or fresh
5 deciliter natural yogurt
2 deciliter Milk
Juice from half a lemon
Squeeze the juice from the lemon. Put it, with the rest of the ingredients, into a blender. Run and adjust it with more milk or yogurt as you please. Pour into tall glasses add a straw and you have a simple and fresh smoothie. Orange and ginger smoothie.
Orange and ginger smoothie.

Peeling and flesh from 3 Oranges
2½ cm Ginger, finely grated
5 dl Yogurt
2 dl Milk
4-6 Ice cubes
Grate the orange peeling. Put it in a blender with the flesh of the oranges. Add the ginger and everything else in a bender. Run it until the mixture is blended even.
You can either adjust the amount of yogurt or milk.
This is a really fresh smoothie. Try it and make your own adjustments.
Lemon/Lime smoothie.

Juice of 2 Lemons, grated peeling from 1
Juice from 3 Limes, grated peeling from 1
1 tblsp Honey
5 dl Yogurt
4-6 Ice cubes
Grate the citrus. Cut them in half, and squeeze the juice from them. Throw away the peelings. Now put everything in a blender and run it till it's even. Lovely.