Fruit Smoothies and Freshly Ground

“Find something you're passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it”.

- Julia Child

Today is my 31st post to My Eats and Beats. Which means I have blogged a month's worth of food and music! I have truly loved every minute of it; as I hope you have.

For a split second, I thought I would not have a recipe to feature today. With family in town this week, there hasn't been much free time for me to cook. But fear not my foodie friends! There is one recipe I have up my sleeve that is perfect for concocting before bedtime because it refrigerates overnight and provides you with a healthy breakfast!

These are Alton Brown's Buff Smoothies. The recipe calls for frozen fruit, so it's ideal for blending before going to work in the morning. Plus all the prep is completed the night before. And now that the temperature here reaches 95 degrees by 9 a.m., smoothies are a cool way to get your daily serving of fruit into your diet.

You can substitute blueberries, peaches, strawberries or bananas for any of your favorite fruits. Perhaps you prefer honeydew or pineapple? I also don't care for yogurt based smoothies, so I like that Alton uses grape juice and soy milk for substance.

The South African group Freshly Ground accompanies these fruitful smoothies. Both are colorful, refreshing, energetic and makes a great start to your day. My sister introduced me to Freshly Ground about 5 years ago. She was living in Paris at the time when I went to visit for spring break. The song "Doo Be Doo" woke us up every morning and sang us to sleep each night. I love the lead singer's voice; so beautiful and unique. Recently the band sang with Shakira in "Waka Waka" (This Time for Africa) - the official 2010 FIFA World Cup song. Click here to listen.

Creating this blog has taught me a lot about my passions in life. Here's to many more months (and years) of good eats and beats.
 
Cheers!
Julia
 

Buff Smoothies:
1/2 Cup grape juice
1/2 Cup low fat or non fat soy milk, plain
4 oz frozen strawberries
4 oz frozen blueberries
4 oz frozen peaches
1/2 banana, or one full banana depending on
 
Combine all ingredients into the carafe of a blender. Cover and refrigerate overnight or up to 8 hours. In the morning, put the carafe on the base of the blender. Start at the lowest speed and slowly go up to medium. Blend on medium for 1 minute. Increase the speed to high and blend for an additional minute. Serve immediately
 
*Note: You could easily use fruit that is not frozen, blend and serve immediately.