Thirsty Thursday - Peach Pineapple Orange Smoothie

This is one of my favorite smoothies that I make at home.  I came up with this recipe, but it was inspired by one of my favorites at Tropical Smoothie Cafe.  The fruit is sweet enough by itself, so you don't need to add any sweetener.  The frozen fruit allows you to get a frozen smoothie without adding ice, which I believe waters down the smoothie and doesn't taste as good.  The yogurt adds creaminess, and the orange juice adds enough liquid to make it blend-able.  The result is a tasty combination of fruit flavors, which makes for a wonderful healthy breakfast or small meal replacement.

Sorry, no picture. But here - have a clip art!
(I'll take a picture next time I make it.)

Peach Pineapple Orange Smoothie

Makes 1 serving

Ingredients

• ~1 C frozen pineapple chunks
• ~1 C frozen peach slices
• 1/2 to 1 container greek yogurt (I suggest vanilla or honey flavor)
• orange juice (1/2 to 1 C or more)
• optional: protein powder (I sometimes add a little BiPro protein powder, which is flavorless and unsweetened, so it can be mixed into just about anything without being noticed)

Instructions

Place all ingredients in blender, with a little bit of orange juice.  Pulse on ice setting until chunks are broken up, adding as much orange juice as is necessary to make it blend-able, a little at a time.  Puree until smooth.

Enjoy!

Thirsty Thursday - Wedding Punch

I decided to come up with my own punch recipe when we got married.  It took a little experimenting (I discovered that pineapple juice and soda cancel each other out, and it's just weird), but I finally came up with a recipe that had a good balance of flavors, and just the right amount of alcohol. It was a huge hit at the wedding, and it disappeared fast!

Wedding Punch

Ingredients

• 1 qt Hawaiian Punch (Fruit Juicy Red)
• 1 can pink lemonade concentrate
• 2 cans water 
• 1/2 can Peach schnapps
• 1 can Spiced rum
• 2L bottle of Sprite (or generic lemon-lime soda)

Instructions
Mix all ingredients except Sprite.
Add Sprite just before serving.

I typically store the mix in a sealed pitcher or a Hawaiian Punch jug until it's ready to serve.  You can also make this non-alcoholic and just leave out the schnapps and the rum, and it's still a tasty mix.

Sadly, I don't have a picture of the punch.  But here's a picture of one of our wedding toast flutes!

Thirsty Thursday - Dirty Monkey

I might start doing an occasional feature where I share drink recipes.  Now I'm not going to go mixing up new alcoholic beverages mid-week on a regular basis, as that may have unwanted side effects (working hungover is not fun).  I will, however, share some good ones that I have in my repertoire already, some of which are my own creation.  I might even expand the selection to homemade smoothies and juices.  We'll see where this goes.

A co-worker of mine recently came back from a cruise and told us her drink of choice while down there was something called a "Dirty Monkey".  From her description (frozen, brown, and yellow) I deduced that it must be some sort of chocolate-banana based drink (makes sense, right?). Yes, I just used the word "deduced".  I just finished watching season 3 of Sherlock, and now I can't wait for the next season!  But I digress...I looked for a "dirty monkey" recipe online, but every recipe I found was a little different, so I decided to take the idea and make my own.

Dirty Monkey

Makes 2 servings

• 1 banana
• 2 shots of rum (I used spiced rum)
• 1 shot of kahlua (coffee liqueur)
• 1 shot of Coco Real (a squeezable bottle of coconut cream that I was recently introduced to)
• 2 cups of ice (approximately, use your judgement here)
• Hershey's syrup

Mix all ingredients except chocolate syrup in a blender; blend well, until smooth.  Squirt chocolate syrup around the inside of the glasses you are going to serve in.  Pour blended mixture into glasses.  Serve with a straw, and garnish as desired.

It looks...dirty

Not bad!  The chocolate and banana flavors were prominent, with a hint of coconut, and coffee to cut the sweetness a little.  The alcohol was not very noticeable, but I did feel it by the time I finished the drink. The recipe could easily be adjusted a bit to use some different types of rum, maybe even some chocolate liqueur, and there are many options for garnishing if you're not lazy like me.

The Verdict

This one is a keeper!  (Although there are other frozen drinks I would prefer over this one.)  Maybe next time I will try it with some coconut rum.  Mmmm!