World's (second) Greatest Smoothie Recipe

Now, you're probably wondering why this jerk is giving you the recipe for the SECOND best smoothie in the world, and not the first. So, just to make you feel better, I'll first give you the recipe for the BEST smoothie in the world:

Ingredients: 1 beach in Costa Rica; 2 mangoes, freshly picked from a nearby tree; 1 papaya, ditto; 1cup of homemade yogurt; a handful of ice; a blender; and a beautiful, scantily clothed person of the gender of your choice to deliver it to you on the beach, followed by a massage.

There.

Now, I've been making smoothies just about every morning for at least five years now (without a tropical beach, mango tree, and you wouldn't want to see me scantily clothed). And I've played around with recipes a lot. For a long time, all of my smoothies included frozen fruit -- berries, strawberries, mangoes, etc. But frozen fruit are expensive. So, recently, I started experimenting with banana-based smoothies. Here's what I came up with -- utter simplicity with a hint of the exotic.

Ingredients (makes enough for two)

2 ripe bananas (the miracle fruit)
1/2 ripe avocado (optional, but highly recommended)
1/2 cup yogurt (homemade is best, Brown Cow vanilla or plain are good, too. Add more if you want extra creamy).
1 cup orange or pineapple juice or similar blend
2 tablespoons flaxseed oil, flax meal or wheat germ (or a combination thereof)
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon curry powder (Yeah! Curry. I like it spicy).
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
handful of ice

Throw it all into a blender, and blend thoroughly (I've got a "smoothie" setting on my deluxe blender, which pulses the mix for a whole minute). For a thicker smoothie, add more banana or avocado. For a lighter one, add water or more juice.

My friend Amy, who is a practitioner of Ayurveda, likes the fact that I add curry and cardamom and ginger to my morning meal. You see, ginger gets the digestive fires going (along with a lot of other benefits), which is a good thing when you're all sleepy and stuff. The spicy stuff in curry gets the fires going, too. And turmeric (prime ingredient in curry powder) is good for everything from boosting immunity to increasing mental clarity.

Of course, Amy also recommends not mixing fruit and dairy, which this smoothie does (look for a later post -- after I interview Amy -- explaining why, and giving more details on Ayurveda). But I figure all those good spices, plus the great taste of this smoothie, offset whatever side effects there are.

Yummy.