Papaya Banana Blueberry Orange Hawaiian Smoothie

Blueberry Papaya Banana Orange SmoothieWell, we’re back in Hawaii, so it’s Fresh Fruit Smoothie time…they’re simple to make, they taste great and have the consistency of creamy soft serve ice cream. For this one, I took fresh picked papayas and bananas, cut them into 1/2 inch chunks and froze them overnight. To make the smoothie, put about a cup of frozen papaya chunks, a cup of frozen banana chunks,  6 oz. of  your favorite blueberry yogurt (I use Dannon) into a blender and add about 3/4 cup of fresh squeezed orange juice  (if you don’t have orange juice, V8 Splash is a great alternative…it’s available everywhere. I use their Tropical Blend, but any flavor will do). Pulse the blender for about 30 seconds, give it a quick stir (make sure the blades have stopped!), and repeat a few times. It should be very thick at this point, so to get the perfect consistency, take the top off the blender while it’s running (make sure all the fruit has been pureed before you do this or you may end up wearing some smoothie) and slowly pour in a little more juice until you see a vortex form in the center-you’ll know what I mean when you see it happen-and the Smoothie will be perfect. If you love peanut butter like I do, you can add a heaping tablespoon (I prefer chunky) and blend for a couple of seconds more…it’s incredible!

Cookhacker Goes Hawaiian

Morning's FruitCookhacker is fortunate enough to be spending the next  few weeks in one of the most beautiful places on earth…the island of Kauai in Hawaii (if you’ve seen Lost, Tropic Thunder or Jurassic Park, you know what the island looks like). We’ll be living off the land as much as possible…pictured is a portion of the first morning’s bounty. We gathered about 10 oranges, 8 avocados, 3 papayas, 2 grapefruits, 1 key lime (not pictured…3 fresh eggs, bananas, broccoli, mustard greens, beets, Swiss chard and assorted lettuces)…and that was all in the first day!

As the days go on, I’ll be posting our attempts to use all of these amazingly fresh ingredients to prepare our meals (I did go shopping and bought flour, spices, olive oil and other cooking essentials…things are really expensive here). Tomorrow morning’s breakfast…Fresh Papaya, Banana and  Blueberry Yogurt Smoothies…can’t wait!