For a taste of the tropics, at breakfast! You can use virtually any kind of tropical fruit you like here and the possibilities are endless. For a virgin pina colada taste, use coconut milk, bananas, pineapple and shredded coconut. But mango, papaya and guava are also an option too. Dole makes a great frozen tropical fruit blend that includes mangos, bananas, strawberries and papaya that I like simply because tropical fruit can be expensive and hard to process if you’ve never had it before. While everyone is pretty familiar with bananas and pineapple, what do you do with papaya? Do you even know what a fresh one looks like? I didn’t think so. At least some of your fruit should be frozen when you make this smoothie (not all of it, it will not blend very well and be too icy), or if you don’t have frozen fruit, you can just add a cup of ice.
Did you know: There are so many varieties of tropical fruits most people have never even heard of. One such fruit, called Durian is a fruit with such a strong (and some say offensive smell) that it’s banned in some Asian countries and you can’t even travel with it in many countries. You can smell it from 100 meters (over 300 feet!) away, and once you cut into it, you can smell it on your hands and your clothes, and if you travel with it you can smell it in your car.
Ingredients:
1 cup coconut milk
1 banana
1/2 cup chopped pineapple
1/2cup chopped mango
2 tbsp shredded coconut
1/2 cup plain yogurt
Directions:
Add milk, banana, and rest of fruit to your blender. Follow that with your yogurt and coconut. Blend until smooth and creamy. If you really want a taste of the tropics, garnish your smoothie with a tiny umbrella and enjoy!
(makes 2 servings)
