Cherry Smoothie

Cherry Smoothie

  This cherry smoothie is made with juice, yogurt, frozen dark cherries and banana, all blended together into a creamy and delicious drink. A kid friendly smoothie that’s perfectly sweet and only takes 5 minutes to make.

    This cherry smoothie is full of dark sweet cherries, banana, juice, and yogurt for the perfect summer day drink. All you have to do is gather your ingredients and toss them into the blender. Blend the ingredients until they’re nice and smooth and you have your sweet cherry smoothie.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups juice cherry juice, cran-cherry juice, apple juice or white grape juice
• 1 banana cut in half
• 1 1/2 cups frozen dark sweet cherries
• 3/4 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
• fresh cherries and mint sprigs for garnish optional

INSTRUCTIONS

• Place the juice, banana, cherries and yogurt in a blender.
• Blend until completely smooth.
• Pour into 2 glasses and serve, topped with fresh cherries and mint sprigs if desired.

I use frozen cherries for this recipe because they’re readily available and make the smoothie nice and cold. You can absolutely use fresh pitted cherries, but be sure to add a handful of ice into the mix to maintain that frosty texture.

Be sure you’re using frozen dark sweet cherries, not the tart variety. I mean, if you like a little tart to your smoothie, by all means, add in some tart cherries but I enjoy mine sweet. I use vanilla Greek yogurt but cherry Greek yogurt works great as well.

If you can get your hands on some cherry juice or cran-cherry juice,  I would suggest using that. However, if you can’t find that juice, apple juice or white grape juice works just as well. If you want to add in something extra to boost the nutritional value of these smoothies, there are plenty of options.

Some added ingredients that would be great are

• Spinach
• Protein Powder
• Chia Seeds
• Flax Seeds
• Kale

WHAT ARE THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF CHERRIES?

Cherries have quite the list of health benefits. They not only help with arthritis but they also help with most inflammatory conditions. They help you sleep better and improve your memory. Further, they help lower the risk of heart disease and colon cancer, and can assist in lowering the blood pressure of those suffering with diabetes.

ARE CHERRIES FATTENING?

Cherries actually help in losing weight. They’re a low calorie food with about only 100 calories appearing in one cup of cherries. They’re a high fiber food as well which can make you feel full longer. In other words, eat more cherries, they’re one of my favorite fruits!