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They’re easy to make, good on the hips and, most importantly, they taste amazing – well, they ought to. Making a smoothie has never been easier, finding a smoothie recipe that suits your mood and taste buds is just as easy, and as long as you have a liquid base such as ice cream, protein powder mix, seaweed, or wheat grass juice you’re good to go.

Smoothie must haves

The three most important ingredients in a smoothie are fruit, a liquid base and ice. It goes without saying that you will need a blender or mixer in order to blend your desired ingredients together. Your blender must be able to crush ice, and have a capacity of a litre or more to hold as much of your smooth goodness as possible. Thankfully, finding a good blender is the easiest part.

Getting to know your ingredients

The core component to a great smoothie is your fruit, and a combination of two to three fruits is best for getting the most goodness out of a smoothie. A smoothie recipe you pick should have that as a bare minimum. Each fruit has a unique taste and consistency, meaning the best smoothies are those that bring out the best the fruit has to offer. Watery fruits should then be combined with yoghurt or denser fruits. Sour fruits should be married with a sweet base liquid like pineapple juice or a sweet fruit like a mango.

Determining what liquid base to place in you blender is as simple as choosing between milk (soya or regular), juice (litchi, apple, or orange are good options) and water– it’s a matter of personal taste. Finally, ice is vital as it keeps the smoothie crunchy and cool.

Time to get shaking

Finding a smoothie recipe is the only part of smoothie making that’s a challenge. Some excellent combinations include strawberry-mango-banana, pear-pineapple-mango, and blueberry and strawberry (with yoghurt), but the list of smoothie flavours is endless. Finally, pop all of your favourites in your blender, cover, blend and enjoy!

Tags: healthy smoothie, smoothie recipes, smoothies