I love getting magazines in the mail and at this point I’m receiving quite a few thanks to gift subscriptions as well as a few good deals I found myself.  It really brightens my day to open my mailbox and see a new magazine waiting for me!  Sometimes I don’t find time to flip through them immediately but when this month’s issue of Cooking Light arrived, I plopped down on the couch and read most of it.  A short article on smoothies and several accompanying recipes caught my eye and not too long after, I was in the kitchen making one for breakfast. 

I went with the banana breakfast smoothie first because it was the only one for which I had all of the ingredients on hand.  It’s really simple – a frozen ripe banana, milk, ice, nutmeg, honey and some Greek yogurt.  I only made half of the recipe so I used a small banana as opposed to the large one the recipe calls for.  I have a huge bag of ripe bananas in my freezer that I’ve saved for baking so I grabbed one of those, let it defrost just a bit until I could peel it then dropped it in the blender.  This smoothie was delicious and very creamy!  It’s definitely going to be a repeat here (especially if I don’t start baking with those frozen bananas soon – they take up a lot of valuable freezer space!).  That said, I also can’t wait to try the others in the magazine, especially the one that combines peaches and mangoes – yum!

Banana Breakfast Smoothie
from Cooking Light, May 2010 (also available here)

1/2 cup 1% milk
1/2 cup crushed ice
1 tablespoon honey
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 frozen sliced ripe large banana
1 cup plain Greek yogurt (I used nonfat)

Combine milk, ice, honey, nutmeg and the banana in a blender.  Press the top on tightly then process for 2 minutes or until smooth.  Add the yogurt and process just until blended.  I grated a bit of extra nutmeg on top for garnish, but that’s obviously optional.  Serve!

Yield: about 2 cups