Red Banana Smoothie: Pure and Simple

Enjoy the creamy, milky goodness of a Red Banana Smoothie. It’s pure and simple, without any fussiness.

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Smoothies these days can be so complicated. It’s amazing how many different options are out there, how many ingredients, how many nutritional supplements and weird sounding items can make up a smoothie recipe.

Soaked almonds. Maca powder. Pea protein.

It’s a long way from Blenders, my college smoothie shop, where the weirdest ingredient (circa 1993) was probably tofu. Which I loved adding to my smoothies, by the way, for an easy way to get protein back in my salads-only phase.

I’m all for beefing up your smoothies and including extra nutrition, but sometimes it can feel like a bit much. Whatever happened to the simple, 5-ingredients or less smoothie that contained ingredients even your gramma could recognize?

Well, I’ve got such a smoothie recipe for you right here.

The Red Banana Smoothie

As I mentioned before, I cut my smoothie teeth at the flagship location of Blenders in Isla Vista, California. I was just home from a year in France and much had happened back home, including the arrival of the smoothie.

Short for Blenders in the Grass, Blenders was and still is a smoothie and wheat grass bar. And their smoothies are a meal in themselves. When I was pregnant with my first baby, Blenders was a frequent stop of mine, and continued to be so after the baby came. Lucky for me, there was a shop just a short stroller walk from my house. The Red Banana Smoothie was my all-time favorite — with a serving of tofu.

Today the nearest Blenders is a 3-hour drive away, but, even if Blenders were close by it wouldn’t be a regular thing, too expensive!

That’s why it’s luck for me that the Red Banana Smoothie is not difficult to make at home. It’s a pretty straightforward concoction: strawberries, bananas, and milk. Pure and simple, right?

One of Blenders’ distinctives is that they’ve always included one free nutritional supplement. How sad that they no longer offer tofu as an option! Keeping with tradition, I’ve included a few options for you to add in to give your Red Banana Smoothie an extra boost.

This is a great recipe for using up leftover evaporated milk you might have from another recipe. You might also include frozen milk cubes or even use frozen almond milk to make this plant-based.

How to make this good and cheap:

You know I don’t typically want to make something if I can’t make it good as well as cheap. Here are some of the strategies you can use to make this recipe more economical:

• Stock up on ingredients when they are on sale. When I find regular kitchen staples on sale, I buy a lot. I’m currently using a price book to track prices and that’s saving me money. For this recipe, keeping an eye on the price of berries is key. Stock up on strawberries when they’re on sale at a great price and prepare them for freezing. You can also freeze bananas when you find a killer deal.
• Buying in bulk – If you can’t freeze your own berries, buy frozen berries in bulk. Larger bags, which you can split into smaller bags if you prefer, are often cheaper than the smaller ones.

How I make this recipe easy:

One of the great things about smoothies is that you can make them in big batches and freeze them to enjoy later. Check out this tutorial for more tips.

You can also streamline your smoothie making by building a Smoothie Station in your freezer. With all the ingredients easy to find, your smoothies will come together very quickly.

This recipe really couldn’t be easier than it is, but having the right kitchen tools can really make your time in the kitchen more enjoyable. Over time, I’ve honed my collection so that they are perfect for my needs.

Here are the tools that I use for this recipe:

• a high speed blender – that’s pretty much all you need. You can use a food processor or standard speed blender, but you do run the risk of frozen fruit not blending completely smooth.

After you’ve tried out the recipe, I’d love for you to come back and give it a starred review. This helps me make sure I’m developing recipes that work for YOU. Thanks in advance  for your feedback.