Apricot Smoothie

The whole smoothie phenomenon has pretty much passed me by. I have not been making kale and chia berry smoothies for breakfast like much of the rest of the world. But a recent harvest from the backyard apricot tree had me wondering what to do with all of the fleeting fruit. I could make more preserves and can them but I still have jars from previous years in the pantry.

I sent a friend home with a batch of the recently harvested apricots. She texted later saying that she had made a yummy apricot smoothie for dinner. So the idea was planted.

I did some looking online for apricot smoothies. But I was disappointed that the smoothies only called for 2-3 apricots at a time. I needed to use them up more quickly than that.

Then my CSA provider recently shared this blog post about making and freezing smoothies in an ice cube tray so that you don't have to get out the mixer every morning.

So I gave it a try. I started with a NY Times article that appealed to me because of its simplicity. I then doubled the recipe (substituting vanilla extract for the almond extract). I drank a glass and then poured the rest into ice cube trays and stuck it in the freezer overnight. Pop the cubes out and stick them in a  freezer bag and keep it in the freezer until you're ready to use them.

The apricots kept coming so I kept making smoothies. I began to tweak the recipe, pretty much now following these guidelines:

Apricot Smoothie

• 6 apricots (pitted and sliced into quarters)
• 1 - 2 tablespoons plain yogurt (I actually used a plain Greek yogurt)
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1/2 milk
• 2 teaspoons honey
• few drops of vanilla extract
• 4-5 ice cubes

Put all ingredients into a mixer or food processor and blend until smooth. Drink immediately or freeze. 

Since then I've been making a variety of smoothies using other summer fruit as well. Tasty!