Recipe: Smooth Operators

Say hello to smoothie weather. Fruit is naturally refreshing as the temperature climbs, and it is a great source of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, and fiber.

A versatile and satisfying way to enjoy a piece of fruit is to juice it whole and mix it with other fruits that bring out its flavor. Liquefying whole fruit, as in a smoothie, is smarter and healthier than juicing fruit, as it retains nutritious parts of the fruits and all of the fiber. The fiber and other solids actually promote absorption of the fruit sugars ata rate that sustains mental energy.

You can add ice to a smoothie for an extra blast, but you can also get the same chilling effect by using chunks of frozen fruit, like mango or blueberries. The beauty of frozen fruit is that it is typically picked at the peak of ripeness. For that, you want to use a powerful blender, like a Vita-Mix. A Vita-Mix can also dispatch dense vegetables like carrots with ease, a nice addition to, say, an orange and ice froth with some ginger for zing.

While some like to load smoothies with powders and supplements, that violates the spirit of the enterprise: getting the goodies of a whole food as nature packaged it, all nutritional factors intact. With a wide array of fruit choices, there's no need to reduce your daily diet to a chemical concoction.

Here are some fruits that combine especially well into tasty smoothies, with or without ice:

• Green grapes, orange, pear, banana

  Zing Factor: Squeeze of lemon

• Kiwi, banana, honeydew melon

  Zing Factor: Squeeze of lime

• Cherries, strawberries, pear

  Zing Factor: Mint leaf

• Blueberries, plums, frozen banana,

  Zing Factor: Fresh ginger

• Watermelon, raspberries, apple

  Zing Factor: Squeeze of lemon

• Peach, pineapple, mango

  Zing Factor: Fresh ginger

Cool as a Creamsicle

Servings: 2

Total Time: 5 minutes

Servings: 2

Total Time: 5 minutes

Most recipes for smoothies can be varied according to personal preference. This one is no exception; feel free to add more or less of any of the fruits. Vanilla flavoring gives this drink a dessert-like appeal, but be sure to use just a dash.

Ingredients

• 1 cup cantaloupe cut in large dice
• 1 orange, peeled and cut into quarters
• 1 fresh peach, pitted and cut into quarters, or 1 cup frozen peach slices
• dash vanilla extract
• 4 ice cubes

Directions

Place all the ingredients into the bowl of a powerful blender. Blend together on high speed for 30 seconds to a minute. Pour into two glasses.