Simple Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Have I told you lately how much I love summer? Maybe I have mentioned it a time or two.  As a continuation of my ode to summer, today I am going to share with you one of my favorite fruits: the strawberry.  Strawberries, like tomatoes, are only good for a short time every year.  True strawberry season is really only a month long- it's the month of May.  Only in May will you find strawberries so sweet and succulant that they are red to the core, but for several months afterwards, they are still pretty good if you know what to look for.  Not only that but the price tends to drop almost in half.  This is a great time to stock up on organic strawberries and freeze them for use throughout the year.

As much as I love fresh strawberries, I actually prefer them frozen when I make my favorite smoothie.  Having the strawberries frozen makes the smoothie thicker and colder than if you use fresh.

Now, odds are, if you can find strawberries on sale in the summer, they are much cheaper than buying pre-frozen ones.  Just this week I brought some home and this is how I froze them:

First, cut the stems off of the strawberries and place the trimmed strawberries into a collindar.

Rinse the strawberries under some warm water.  This will remove all the little seedlings.  You want your strawberries to be dry when you freeze them so you can let them air dry for quite some time or if you have a salad spinner you can do what I do and spin them dry.

Notice I have placed a towel around the rim of the spinner.  This makes the spinning action a little more gentle.

Next, spread your strawberries cut side down on a baking sheet.  Make sure they are in a single layer and not on top of one another.

Then place them in the freezer and leave them there for about 8 hours.

Once they are frozen they will look just as delicious and red as they did before you froze them!  Just put these in a ziploc freezer bag and try to remove all the air so as to prevent freezer burn.

Now that you have frozen strawberries, you can make my smoothie.  This is a great on-the-go breakfast and if you have a Magic Bullet, your mixing bin doubles as a mug.

Simple Strawberry Banana Smoothie
Makes 1 serving
Start to finish: 5 minutes

5 medium frozen organic strawberries
1 banana
1/4 cup organic, plain, non-fat greek yogurt
1 oz orange juice
1/2 tsp agave nectar for added sweetness

Toss all these ingredients into a Magic Bullet, or blender, and let her rip until all the ingredients have broken down into a smooth liquid.

 I like my smoothies thick so I only add an ounce of orange juice but if you like yours a bit thinner feel free to add more.

So simple yet so delicious!  What do you like to put in your smoothies?