Blueberries are my favorite fruit next to apples. You can be assured that if you visit, you will find blueberries in the freezer and apples in the fruit bin. I rely on these for healthy snacking.

A Blueberry Banana Smoothie is a low calorie, nutrient dense snack.

Bananas are quite an opposite fruit of blueberry, yet when paired together give you the best of both fruit worlds. Banana uniquely adds a creamy texture to just about everything. I have a friend who puts some banana in his butternut squash soup. No kidding.

The best way to make smoothies is to freeze the fruit. In this case, freeze the blueberries and bananas, and use some fresh orange to brighten it all up.

I use a Vitamix, but you can use a very strong blender as long as it has the power to crush the fruit into liquid. We love our Vitamix because it is built to last a life time.

I’ve been telling you about my Every Other Day Diet lifestyle. This fits perfectly, as it’s low cal, and a great sweet pick me up. You can add non-flavored protein powder to make this a complete meal.

More Smoothie Recipes from Spinach Tiger

You May Like this post: Dairy Free Smoothies from Spinach Tiger

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Blueberry Banana Smoothie (dairy free)

Low Calorie, Easy Snack or Breakfast, using frozen fruits, banana, blueberries, orange.

Course Smoothie

Cuisine American

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 minute minute

Total Time 11 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 cara cara orange peeled
• 2 cups frozen blueberries
• 1 frozen banana
• ½ cup water may need more
• 1 cup ice

Instructions

• Start with 1/2 cup water. Put in first. You may need to add more.
• Put ingredients into Vitamix or super blender.
• Makes two servings

Notes

You can add in some frozen or fresh spinach to boost the nutrient density.

The post How to Make a Blueberry Banana Smoothie appeared first on Spinach Tiger.

The cara cara navel orange, a cross between the Washington navel and the Brazilian Bahia navel, made it’s way to the United States from Venezuela in the early 80’s, but I’ve only just become familiar with them, taking on a two a day habit and putting them into everything.

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The cara cara  has a short season from January to April, but fills the gap well between apples and the summer fruits. It can find it’s way into cocktails quite nicely and is simply a treasure when just eaten by itself.

While even a typical navel orange can be a bit acidic,  grapefruit sometimes a tad too tart, and Meyer lemons a bit to perfumey, the seedless cara cara has a unique, sweet taste with a hint of berry. The color is gorgeous and vibrant, and the taste is surprising, because the acid is so low that you can don’t’ have to pucker up when you take a bite.

The Process for the Cara Cara Fennel Salad

This is but a simple, nearly no recipe, salad but why not share it with you, if just to look at how pretty it is. In the early days of Spinach Tiger (almost 7 years ago), I posted an orange fennel salad and used ricotta salata cheese, a pressed salty sheep’s cheese and would be a perfect addition to counter the sweetness, so I’ll list that as an option.

I thinly sliced the fennel,  and dressed it with olive oil, salt and pepper, then added a splash of champagne vinegar. Now in hindsight, I should have added a bit of the zest. I’ll note that in the recipe. Just make it to taste.

So tell me, have you had a cara cara orange. Do you cook with them?

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Cara Cara Fennel Salad

Fennel and sweet cara cara orange come together to make a vibrant salad.

Course Salad

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 2

Author Angela Roberts

Ingredients

• 1 stalk fennel thinly sliced
• 2 cara cara oranges save the zest of one
• extra virgin olive oil
• champagne vinegar
• sea salt
• freshly ground pepper
• 4 ounces ricotta salata optional

Instructions

• Clean the fennel well. Trim and slice.
• Toss fennel with olive oil, zest vinegar to taste.
• Season with salt & pepper
• Peel oranges.
• Cut into sections.
• Add optional ricotta salata

The post Cara Cara Fennel Salad appeared first on Spinach Tiger.