frozen raspberries

I think this is the creamiest smoothie I’ve ever had. This is the first smoothie I’ve made with coconut milk, and I love how super creamy and smooth it turned out! I modified a recipe from Del’s Cooking Twist by adding some banana and sweetening it with honey. Yum! I made this smoothie on a very warm day and it was so refreshing. Now that I know how great coconut milk is in smoothies, I’ll have to try more flavors with it!

RASPBERRY BANANA COCONUT MILK SMOOTHIE by NancyC, adapted from Del’s Cooking Twist

Makes 1 serving (about 10 ounces)

3/4 cup frozen raspberries

1/2 of a small to medium size banana

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 Tablespoon honey

Fresh raspberries or some flaked coconut for garnish, optional

Put frozen raspberries, banana, coconut milk, and honey in blender; blend until smooth. Garnish with a few fresh raspberries or some flaked coconut, if desired.

Are you a smoothie-maker and have you tried using some new flavors and ingredients lately?

Linked to Inspire Me Monday.

When I posted my Lemon Raspberry Muffins recipe recently, I promised you I’d share the recipe for the Raspberry Lemonade I made to go with them…well, here it is!

It’s very, very lemony! And the frozen raspberries that are mixed in with it give this lemonade a rosy pink color. A perfect beverage to make in the spring and summer…or how about Easter weekend?

I used a new favorite pitcher of mine to serve the lemonade in–and one thing I love about this pitcher is that it has a chalkboard decal, so you can write the name of the beverage you’re serving right on the pitcher! As I mentioned in my muffin post, this pitcher is part of the Daily Grace Collection by (in)courage (sold at DaySpring.com) and each piece has some inspiring words about gratefulness and God’s grace in the design–so nice to look at when you’re enjoying a meal or snack at your table!

Like I said, this lemonade is very lemony, so if you’d like it a little less lemony you can just use 3 cups of lemon juice–or add more water (and maybe a little more sugar) to the mixture. You can easily adjust the amounts to suit your taste. Hope you get a chance to try it out!

VERY LEMONY RASPBERRY LEMONADE by NancyCreative, adapted from FoodNetwork.com and Ree Drummond

Makes about 13 to 14 cups

4 cups fresh squeezed lemon juice (it takes about 7 to 8 lemons to yield 1 cup of lemon juice, so you will need 28 to 32 lemons! Or you could use 2 cups fresh-squeezed lemon juice and 2 cups bottled lemon juice)

2 1/2 cups sugar

7 to 8 cups water, divided

1 (12-ounce) bag frozen raspberries

3 lemons, sliced into thin slices

ice cubes for pitcher and glasses

Squeeze the lemons and pour the juice into a pitcher. Mix together the sugar with 2 cups of water and stir to dissolve to make a syrup. add the syrup to the lemon juice and top it up with 5 to 6 cups of water. If this is too lemony and sweet for you, add another cup or two of water–you may also need to add a little extra sugar to taste. Then add the frozen raspberries. Mix the lemonade together and let it chill in the refrigerator for at least a half hour. Just before serving, add about 1 lemon’s worth of slices to the pitcher and stir (use the rest of the lemon slices in the glasses). Fill glasses or mason jars with ice cubes and a lemon slice; pour in the lemonade and serve.

You can halve this recipe, too, if you want to make a smaller amount. I also have a recipe for Fresh-Squeezed Lemonade, if you want to try that out. Do you have a favorite lemonade recipe?

Linked to Inspire Me Monday.