I saw this smoothie at Food.com and was kind of intrigued by the blueberry/green tea combination, wondering just what that would taste like. I had plenty of green tea on hand, some blueberries in my freezer, and vanilla yogurt in my fridge, so I didn’t have to buy a single thing to make this, which was nice! You do have to plan ahead a little before you make it though, because it works best if you brew the tea the night before and refrigerate it so it’s chilled in the morning.
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It’s really been warm lately, so I’ve been making lots of smoothies–they just taste so good on a hot day! One fruit that I really love but haven’t used that much in smoothies is honeydew melon. They’ve always been a little challenging for me to cut because I don’t have the greatest cutlery (watermelon is the same problem, but I usually don’t buy a whole watermelon; I buy the ones that are already cut). But my melon-cutting problems were over when I received two samples from the Gunter Wilhelm™ Executive Chef™ Cutlery Collection. I received an 8″ Chef Knife and a 3.5″ Paring Knife to try out, and I decided to put them to the melon test!
I bought quite a large honeydew melon, which would have been really hard to cut with my old knives. I used the 8″ Chef Knife to cut the melon in half and it worked like a dream! It cut so smoothly and was really easy to handle. The Paring Knife worked great for cutting the melon into smaller chunks. I read that these knives have an ergonomic handle which is especially nice when you have recipes that require a lot of chopping. And this cutlery is made with high-carbon stainless steel that won’t wear out–in fact, it has a lifetime warranty.
So I decided to use my chunks of honeydew melon in a smoothie with some frozen blueberries, and it tasted great! The frozen blueberries make the smoothie nice and cool, and there’s some banana and yogurt in this that make it creamy. Here’s the recipe…
BLUEBERRY-HONEYDEW SMOOTHIE by NancyCreative
Makes 2 (8-ounce) servings
- 1 cup frozen blueberries
- 1 cup honeydew melon (cut melon into small chunks–you can substitute cantaloupe if you want)
- 1/2 medium or large size banana, peeled and sliced
- 1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
- 1/2 to 1 Tablespoon honey
- Optional: 1/2 Tablespoon ground flaxseed
Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth (if you want extra fiber, add the ground flaxseed into the blender, too). Pour into two glasses and serve immediately. Makes 2 (8-ounce) servings.
Cutting and chopping fruits and veggies is so much easier with this cutlery. Do you have a favorite set of knives you like to use, or have you ever tried the Gunter Wilhelm™ brand?
Linked to Full Plate Thursday, Thursday Favorite Things.
I’ve been seeing lots of fun patriotic-themed recipes the last few weeks, and here’s one I found at Midwest Living that’s easy and festive…decorate white-frosted cupcakes with raspberries and blueberries for a yummy red-white-and-blue treat!
Are you making any special recipes for the 4th?
Have a safe and happy holiday!
Here are a few yummy desserts I found over at MarthaStewart.com. All of these great photos are from Martha’s site, too. Some of these don’t involve any baking, so even if it’s really hot out you can still make some yummy no-bake treats! The Red, White, and Blue Berry Trifle (shown above), is one of the no-bake desserts, and it’s so fun and festive, even without the sparklers! (The sparklers shown are special cake sparklers, recommended for outdoor use only!)
I love these Flag Cupcakes, decorated in a simple and easy way with piped blue buttercream dots and red licorice stripes!
These Pretzel Sparklers are a lot of fun, too! All you do is melt 4 ounces of semisweet chocolate, then coat the top third of each pretzel rod with the chocolate, using a pastry brush. Cover with sprinkles, stand upright in a glass and refrigerate about 5 minutes, or until firm. You could also use white chocolate instead of semisweet chocolate and add some edible glitter to make them more sparkly if you want.
Here’s another Red, White, and Blueberry Trifle…this one is made with cream cheese; the other trifle (the first photo in the post) is made with mascarpone cheese.
These Red, White, and Blue Parfaits look cool and refreshing with their red and white striped layers!
I like the idea of using raspberries and blueberries to decorate these Fouth of July Cupcakes…such a simple and easy idea, and so pretty!
These are just a few of many ideas at MarthaStewart.com…there are 30 fun and patriotic ideas for you to take a look at!
Wishing you a sweet Fourth of July! What kinds of treats will you be making for your celebration?
NancyC 