The Smoothie Hack That Will Make Your Mornings So Much Easier
By Anna Stockwell. Photos by: Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell.
Small Plates is where Epi dishes out recipes and advice for cooking for families.
We love smoothies here at Epi Headquarters—especially for breakfast. So yes, you've seen us write about them a lot before, like when I shared my favorite no-recipe formula for green smoothies, or when we talked about an easy way to make smoothies more nutritious. And as we've said before, smoothies are a particularly great breakfast option for kids, since they can be packed with healthy fruits and vegetables that might ordinarily get rejected. (I know a few little tots who refuse to eat greens but just love love love a banana-kale smoothie.)
But—as busy parents know—sometimes gathering all those smoothie ingredients (where did I put those chia seeds again?!) can be too time-consuming on hectic mornings when every second counts. Enter: freezer smoothie packs. The key to going from just thinking about making super-healthy, nutrient-packed smoothies and actually doing it, freezer smoothie packs are pre-portioned bags of smoothie ingredients that you can stick in the blender at a moment's notice.
Best of all, they're really easy to make. Spend a half hour or so chopping and measuring ingredients into freezer bags over the weekend, and you and your family can enjoy daily smoothies made in the same amount of time it takes to pour cereal and milk into a bowl. Here's how to do it:
1. Line Up Some Freezer Bags
The concept is really simple here: all the non-liquid ingredients for your favorite smoothie recipe go into a freezer bag and into your freezer, where they'll stay fresh until you're ready to make your smoothie. Using frozen ingredients just means a colder smoothie—which is a good thing, especially on hot summer mornings.You can use sandwich- or quart-size resealable freezer bags: line up as many bags as servings that you want to make, then start filling them up!
2. Prep and Measure Your Solid Ingredients
Peel, chop, and measure out the fresh fruit and veggies needed for each recipe, along with any other ingredients. (And pssst: no prepping necessary if you use pre-chopped frozen fruit. Just make sure it's unsweetened so you don't add a ton of unwanted sugar to your kids' smoothies.) You can make several smoothie packs containing ingredients for the same recipe, or you can pick a few recipes and make a couple of packs for each one so you have a selection of smoothie options available in your freezer at all times. Some kid-friendly favorites include this peanut butter and grape smoothie, this carrot cake smoothie, and this almond, kale, and banana smoothie.
3. Pop All Non-Liquid Smoothie Ingredients Into Freezer Bags
Once everything's all prepped and measured, go ahead and pop enough of each ingredient for a single serving into each bag. Don't limit the smoothie packs to just fruit—almost any ingredient can be pre-frozen (think spinach or kale leaves, a teaspoon of cinnamon, a tablespoon of nut butter, chia or hemp seeds, shredded coconut, ground flax, etc). The only thing you should not put in your smoothie freezer packs are liquid ingredients or yogurt—you need those to stay in their liquid state so the smoothie blends easily in the blender.
4. Freeze for up to a Month
Label your sealed freezer smoothie packs with the date, then stash them in the freezer for up to a month. (They'll probably last longer than a month, but they'll be the best if used within this timeframe—so make only as much as you think your family can consume.)
5. Blend With Liquid Ingredients and Enjoy
When someone wants a smoothie, all you have to do is dump the contents of the freezer smoothie pack into the blender, add any yogurt or liquids (whole milk, almond milk, coconut water) that your recipe calls for, and give it a whirl. Isn't that easy? I'm looking in my crystal ball right now and I suddenly see a lot more smoothies in your family's future.
This story originally appeared on Epicurious.
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