Tropical Fruit Smoothies

By Lucy M. Fel, Courtesy Veglatino.com

If you ever come to Puerto Rico you will come across many carts that sell Frappes or Smoothies. I started getting into making smoothies after talking with one of the employees of Veggie Fruity, a vegetarian cafe in Santurce, Puerto Rico. She stated that you could make them with whatever fruit you had and make them to your liking. So I decided to purchase a bag of CampoVerde Frozen Fruit and make some smoothies.

Since I am nursing my three month old, I am a bit more hungry than usual after feedings. To stop from craving something  sweet or salty, I decided to replace that with fruit smoothies.

When we can get fresh fruit such as blueberries, bananas, oranges, papaya, pineapples, mangos, or strawberries, I found that CampoVerde has several frozen fruit combinations that one can use for the smoothies.

We are fortunate enough that we can get papayas, bananas, mangoes, nonis, parcha aka passion fruit, and local citrus fruit such as limes, mandarins, and oranges from my dad and cousins property when they are in season.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of Orange or Parcha (Passion Fruit) Juice from Suiza (Any other brand or juice will do)
• 1/2 cup of Frozen CampoVerde Tropical Mix (mangos, papaya, pineapple, grapes or fresh mixture of these.)
• ¼ cup of blueberries
• ½ of banana (make sure to cut into pieces)
• 1 tablespoon of honey (Omit if you are Vegan)
• Ice (if you are using fresh fruit)

Instructions:

• Measure out 1 cup of Orange Juice or Passion Fruit into your blender.
• Cut the frozen or fresh fruit in order for the mixture to be smooth and not chunky.
• Add 1 tablespoon of honey or omit if you are a vegan.
• You can use brown sugar instead or leave it out.
• Add ice if you are using fresh fruit.
• Blend all ingredients.

I get about two cups of smoothie with this mixture. You could make a pitcher of this for a party to serve to friends.