Scrummy Breakfast Smoothie

Strawberry, Kiwi & Banana Smoothie, originally uploaded by Sunshine Hanan.

Okay, I've borrowed the picture, but this pretty much resembles the breakfast smoothie I make for myself most days (when I've added strawberries to it, as I did this morning). Because my concoction contains ginger root, it's great for giving you a bit of 'zing' and also especially good now the winter is drawing in.

To make one of your very own, this is how you do it:

First, take the dry ingredients (I've listed them below) and whizz them in a blender until finely powdered. Add the fruit, yogurt and just enough liquids to make it pourable, and give the mixture a good top speed whizz until it's all nicely slopping up the sides of the blender. If you're new to smoothie-making, add just a small amount of juice or milk at first, until you have the desired consistency. I personally prefer my smoothies to be really thick, so I don't put that much juice or milk in.

Of course, the fact that I have a big crack in my ancient Braun food processor means it all slops on the kitchen counter as well, but I have got into the habit of using a tea towel to patch up the crack while I blend. I'm not sure how long I will continue this behaviour until I get fed up and invest in a new machine (and it has given me a good 15 years so I can't fault the appliance - I'm going to get another Braun, eventually).

Anyway, once it's all thoroughly blended I do of course drink it. And I especially love the slightly (very slightly) chewy bits of date which make it lovely and sweet. Here's the stuff I put in (liable to be changed at any given moment depending on the contents of my fridge and what I feel like):

Dry ingredients:

2 stoned dates (Medjool are the nicest)
1 sliver of peeled fresh ginger root
Pinch of cinnamon
Tablespoon organic porridge oats
Few nuts (about 4-5, almonds are nice, although I tend towards mixed)

Wet ingredients:

I small banana
Either 5-6 strawberries or 1 kiwi fruit or 1 small soft pear
2 tablespoons natural Greek yogurt (this morning it was organic vanilla yogurt)
Apple juice or milk, enough to make the mixture drinkable rather than spoonable.