Peach Crisp Smoothie or Popsicles

I made a double batch of this smoothie one night for dessert and we froze what we couldn't drink in popsicle molds.  This smoothie tastes just like it sounds - like a peach crisp! 

Peach Crisp Smoothie adapted from My Happy Place

1/2 banana- frozen

1 frozen peach - I used frozen peaches

small handful of raw walnuts

1 t vanilla

1 t pure maple syrup or pancake syrup

2 T  quick cooking oats

1/2t cinnamon

2 T unsweetened vanilla almond milk

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend on high until smooth. Add ice or milk as needed. Pour into a glass and serve immediately. Makes one large smoothie.

Hawaiian Smoothie

I was in the mood for a smoothie. Yeah. I realize it's December. Not exactly smoothie weather. It's not like it's been super cold or anything. I mean according to my Crocuses (Croci?) it's early spring. Sigh.

Anyhow, this is the Hawaiian smoothie from alla Poppy.

I made this version with 12 frozen canned mandarin oranges and 12 frozen pineapple chunks, also from a can. I omitted the coconut and marshmellows because I thought the smoothie was going to be sweet enough without them. I was right.

For me, this is a great way to get some fruit into my diet. I really don't eat enough fruit.  Yeah Mom, I know the canned stuff is loaded with sugar, but it's better than no fruit at all. 

Hawaiian Smoothie from alla Poppy
9-12 cubes of frozen canned pineapple
9-12 segments of frozen canned mandarin orange
about a half cup of yogurt
milk
flaked coconut
marshmellows

Put pineapple and orange in blender, add yogurt, and pour in a good amount of milk.(My blender needed about a cup.) Blend until smooth. Top with flaked coconut and marshmellows if you're feeling super fancy.

Orange Peach Mango Dreamsicles

I guess this is Blockette's dreamy face. Or maybe just her everyday weirdo face. What a goofball.

It's been so insanely hot for the past week or so, that I just wanted something cold. I delved into my recipe binder and came across this recipe for Orange Creamsicles.

This recipe is so old it is back from the days before I blogged, and kept notes about the websites I found a recipe on.  I don't have a clue who to credit this recipe for. For some reason I kept this recipe for years, even though it seemed like I had no intention to make it. Usually, if several years go by and I haven't attempted to make a recipe, I chuck it.  I must have known that this recipe would have come in handy on a day when it was too hot to even go to the store to buy popsicles.

Last week I wrote about the Fudgesicles and how sad I was that they only made 4 pops.  This recipe makes 8!  I only have 6 popsicle molds so I saved the extra "juice" in the fridge until we had eaten 2 of the pops.  The extra juice mix kept just fine in the fridge for a day. Just make sure to shake up your leftovers really well before pouring them into the molds.

The original recipe says to use a small can of orange juice concentrate.  I only had a large can of Orange Peach Mango juice.  I eyeballed half of the can and dumped that into the blender with the rest of the ingredients.  I think these pops would taste great with any sort of orange blend concentrate.


Dreamy, Creamy Orange Pops (source unknown)
1 small can of orange juice concentrate (Or half a large one)
1 c milk (I used skim)
1/4 c sugar or your favorite sugar substitute*
1/2 t vanilla
5-7 ice cubes

Dump all the ingredients into a blender and combine until smooth.  Pour into molds and freeze for at least 6 hours until they are solid.  This would also make a tasty smoothie, but I'd add more ice cubes to make it thicker.

*I thought these were on the sweet side, but Blockette disagreed.  Next time I will try it with slightly less sugar and see if she notices the difference.  Sweeten the pops to your own preference, but remember that things taste less sweet once they are frozen.

Nutmeg Banana Smoothie

One weekend afternoon I had plunked myself in front of the TV to induce a nap. TV was so boring that I did indeed fall asleep. I awoke to some lady on Everyday Food making a Banana-Nutmeg Smoothie. I'm not the biggest fan of banana's but that sounded really awesome to me.

I went on their website and their recipe is all kinds of messed up. It is missing ingredients and amounts that were different from the show. I happened to have 2 bananas in the freezer so I just used that. A half cup of milk was not enough liquid to process 2 bananas, let alone the 3 that the recipe suggests. I used a full cup and my smoothie was still extra double thick.

This is going to be my go to recipe for using up extra over-ripe bananas. I'd rather have this than banana bread.

Here's what I did:

2 large frozen bananas broken in eighths
3/4 c ice cubes
1 c skim milk
1 single serving size container of light and fit vanilla yogurt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 generous squeezes of Hershey's dark chocolate syrup

Toss all that stuff in a blender and mix it up until it is nice and smooth. Add more milk if you want it thinner.