Strawberry Watermelon Breakfast Juice

I am fortunate to have received a Vita-Mix blender as a gift last December along with a great book full of juice and smoothie recipes. For Mother's Day this past weekend I decided to make a fresh juice for everyone to start the brunch I was hosting at my house.

J found a juice recipe that sounded simple to make and delicious to drink, Watermelon Breakfast Juice. With just four ingredients (watermelon, ginger, mint, and lime juice,) it couldn't get any easier. So on Sunday, I followed the recipe and got some great feedback from my family: "it could be a little colder" - so I added some ice in the second batch - "too much ginger" - so I grated a little less in the second batch, and it was delicious. Everybody was happy. This juice was a hit and I've made it twice since then, with some modifications.

When brunch was over on Sunday, J and I were left with an abundance of watermelon - I bought a whole watermelon and only used about a third of it for the juice on Sunday, and an abundance of strawberries - due in part to my lack of planning. I asked my sister to bring dessert without any specification, so she brought angel food cake, strawberries, and whipped topping. And I asked my sister-in-law to bring fruit, again without much specification, so she brought a couple pounds of strawberries. Do you see where I'm going with this?

I decided to modify the watermelon breakfast juice recipe to try and use up some of the strawberry bounty in my kitchen, so now it's

Strawberry Watermelon Breakfast Juice
3 1/2 cups watermelon, cubed
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice (~1 juicy lime)
7 or 8 fresh strawberries, untrimmed
1 Tbsp fresh mint, chopped (optional, but recommended)
1/2 to 3/4 inch piece of fresh ginger, grated
1/2 cup ice

Add watermelon, lime juice, strawberries, mint, ginger and ice to a blender and pulse until smooth. Do not blend for too long or it will get frothy. There is also no need to trim the leaves from the strawberries but do be sure to wash them first. For those with a powerful blender like a Vita-Mix or Blendtec, you probably dont even need to chop the mint or grate the ginger, but I do recommend it for better blending. I pulsed the juice six or seven times on the variable speed setting of 7 on my Vita-Mix and the juice came out perfect.

This recipe makes about two tall glasses of juice, or approximately 32 ounces.

Final thoughts: this juice is fantastic with or without mint, I've made it both ways; I do, however, think the mint balances everything out and adds some depth to the flavor of the juice. I also think this juice would be great with some vodka, rum or tequila, although I have yet to try it. Let me know what you think.

Mangoes and Bananas for Breakfast

I love summer in New England for fresh fruit and produce, warm, sunny days, and shorts and flip-flops. I also love summer in New England because the weather is just right for fruit smoothies! I make smoothies for breakfast at least a few days a week. I am always mixing up the fruit combinations but three ingredients always remain constant - plain non-fat yogurt, orange juice, and a banana. When I use Greek yogurt, which I did today, I always add in some honey to balance the tang of the Greek yogurt. The different fruits that I use include mangoes, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and peaches. Occasionally I'll add some protein powder to the mix but it changes the consistency of the smoothie and my wife Jeanine doesn't like it.

This morning I made a couple mango banana smoothies, one for me and one for Jeanine. A picture of a smoothie isn't all that sexy so I'm not including one, but here is the recipe I used for the smoothies this morning. So here is how to make mango banana smoothies:

Mango Banana Smoothie
1 cup non-fat, Greek yogurt
1 cup orange juice
1 banana, broken into a few pieces
2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 cups frozen mango

Put everything into a blender and blend until smooth. The consistency should be perfect for sipping through a straw and the balance of protein and carbohydrate should keep you going for a while.

Do you like piña coladas? Try this smoothie instead - replace the orange juice with coconut milk and the mango with frozen pineapple! Have the day off? Add some rum!