Orange Smoothies

Have to share this cold, frothy recipe here…it is delicious, especially on a hot summer afternoon. And we’ve had a lot of those lately. In the past week we’ve picked buckets and buckets of blackberries and apricots, wheelbarrows of onions and cabbages, weeded the gardens, carried gallons and gallons of water to the newest garden that has no hydrant…here’s hoping we can coax our melons and sweet potatoes to hang in there…

Orange Refresher (serves 4)

• 1 cup nonfat plain yogurt (I used vanilla yogurt)
• 1 cup water
• 6 oz can frozen orange juice concentrate, unsweetened
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 8-10 ice cubes

Blend in a blender until smooth! Did you know that the citric acid in orange juice enhances calcium absorption from the yogurt or from milk? Mm-hm.

You could also add in various ingredients for extra nutrients, like raw egg, 1-2 TB protein powder, 1/4-3 TB brewer’s yeast (B vitamins), 1 tsp.-1 TB flaxseed oil or olive oil (to assist in absorption of vits. A, D, E, K).

This recipe is from Sue Gregg’s Breakfasts cookbook.

Lastly, if you’ve had access to blackberries lately…you’ve got to try this scrumptious recipe for Blackberry Pie Bars from Joy the Baker’s site. Let me just say…the lemon zest rubbed sugar crust was incredible! This recipe is for my blackberry friend, TR!