Banana Smoothie with girl scout Almond Bar !!

I got the recipe from a friend of mine. I tried it and it came out well. But my girls love to eat banana by itself, instead of drinking a smoothie. So I am not doing it anymore. Here is the recipe for my friends.

Ingredients:-

1. Banana - 1 (freeze it for half an hour)
2. Milk - 1 cup (skim milk)
3. Girl Scout Almond chocolate bar - four small squares.

Blend the above said ingredients till it turns smooth and enjoy. In this recipe, adding sugar is optional. Because banana by itself is sweet and i added chocolate bar to make my girlies drink it.  Also we can replace chocolate with honey which is very good for health.

Sweet Lassi

This is my all time favorite. I still remember I had this sweet lassi in Dhaba (in cenatoph road, chennai - if I am right), when I was in college.Now recently while staying in Intercontinental, Delhi, I got a chance to drink this sweet Lassi and I should admit the fact that Lassi in Delhi is the best. I got this recipe from my landlord here in Delhi.

Ingredients:-

1. Yogurt - 1 cup
2. Thick Butter - 2 tsp ( I used unsalted)
3. Salt - a pinch (optional)
4. Sugar - required amount (I used 6 tbsp)
5. Rose Water - 1 tsp

Blend all the ingredients , till it becomes frothy. Pour it in a glass. . Chill it  and enjoy. I somehow don't feel like adding ice cubes in it. If you prefer to add one.  I did not know that we can add butter in lassi.  It was so yummy. Since I wanted it thick, I didn't add water to yogurt. We can also garnish it with pistachios too. I didn't have them.

I am sending this Sweet Lassi along with my Mango Lassi & Strawberry Smoothie to Srivalli's Thanda Mela

Watermelon Juice

I was on liquid diet for the past one week. I bought a big chunck of watermelon the week before last, and my husband didn't even bother to give that to my girls when I was lying down last week (which I expected pretty much from him:D). Luckily, it didn't spoil and I made this juice day before yesterday, in large quantity, so that I could drink it very often. I tried giving juice to my girls but they are not a big fan of juices. So now a days i am filling up popsicle cups with these fruit juice which i make at home and giving it as popsicle sticks which they love to eat. Infact, i made complan yesterday and filled it in the popsicle cups and gave my girls as complan popsicle which they really liked. They will not drink anything except milk(which i am forcing them now a days). Well coming back to this recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Watermelon - 1 cup(Remove the skin and chop it)
2. Honey - 2 tbsp (acc to taste)
3. Ice cubes - 1 cup
4. Water - 1 cup

Just put everything in the blender and blend it. Filter it if you want to and Enjoy!

I am sending this entry to Anu's Refreshing Drinks - RD for summer event

Lemon Juice

This is the lemonade we make during summer. Here is the recipe

Ingredients:-

1. Lemon - 1/2
2. salt - a pinch
3. Sugar - 1 tsp
4. Water - 1 cup
5. Ice cubes - few

Squeeze juice from the lemon without seeds. Add salt, sugar, water and ice cubes to the juice and enjoy...

Strawberry Smoothie

This is my all time favorite. Here is the recipe for strawberry smoothie.

Ingredients:-

1. Strawberry - 8
2. Ice cubes - 1/2 cup
3. Milk - 1 cup
4. Sugar - 1/4 cup
5. Icing - (optional)
6. Strawberry Ice cream - 1 or 2 dallop (optional)

Just put every in a mixie jar and blend it into fine smoothie. Garnish it with icing or coolwhip. Enjoy

Banana Stem juice

In order to reduce obesity, we use this banana stem. It is good to drink this in the morning before breakfast(after brushing). Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Banana Stem - 1/4 cup
2. Salt - a pinch
3. Water - 1 cup

Chop the banana stem finely. Put it in the blender with water and salt. Blend it nicely. Drain it and enjoy...

Gooseberry Juice

My MIL used to tell me that consuming gooseberry in the form of juice will give shining to the skin. I am not sure whether it is true or not(!), but whenever I get gooseberry, i try to make this. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Goose berry - 3
   
2. Water - 1 cup
3. Salt - a pinch

Take the seeds from the goose berry, grind it into a fine paste. Drain it and will get 1/4 cup of goose berry juice. Now add water and salt to it and enjoy...

Bitterguard Juice

This is a very famous juice in our In-laws place. My MIL being a diabetic takes this juice everyday.

Ingredients:-

1. Bitterguard - 1 (chop it)
2. Salt - a pinch
3. Lemon Juice - few drops

Just put bitterguard in a blend, add a glass of water and blend it finely and drain it. Now add salt and lemon juice and drink it. Drinking 4 to 6 ounce of bitterguard juice everyday helps to reduce diabetics.

Carrot Juice

This is a common juice we make. Some kids don't eat vegetables. For those kids, we can try giving this juice. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Carrot - 1/4 cup (shredded)
2. Water - 1 cup
3. Honey - 1 tsp
4. Cardamom powder - a pinch

Put the shredded carrot in a blender, blend it into a fine paste. Drain the juice from it. Add water to it. Add honey and cardamom powder to it and mix it well and enjoy...

Cucumber Juice

The next few recipes are vegetable juices and I got those recipes from my MIL ( a homoeopath) and I am trying one by one. Here is the first one...

Ingredients:-

1. Cucumber - 1 cup
2. Lemon Juice - a drop
3. Salt - a pinch

Just put the cucumber in a blender and blend it and get the juice after draining it. Add the salt and lemon juice and enjoy. Its really refreshing.

Sapota Milk shake

Chikku - This is how they call it in Hindi. This is my all time favorite juice. I still remember, in second line beach(chennai) there is a very very small juice shop and they serve this juice. I have never tasted that much yummy juice after that... here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Sapota(ripe) - 2 cups (seedless)
   
2. Milk - 1 1/2 cups
   
3. Sugar - 1 cup
4. Ice cubes - few

Put all the ingredients in a blend. blend it till frothy and enjoy

Simple falooda

My MIL is an expert in making this falooda. I am still trying to learn from her. Here is the recipe..

Ingredients:-

1. Apple - 1 cup (chop it into small cubes)
2. Water melon - 1 cup
3. Chikku (sapota) - 1/2 cup
4. Banana - 1/2 cup
5. Mango - 1/2 cup
6. Grapes - 10
7. Vermicelli - 2 tbsp
8. Milk - 4 cups
9. Cashew - 4
10. Almond - 4
11. Honey - 1 tbsp
    
12. Diet coke or Pepsi - 1 tbsp
13. Ice cream - (your favorite flavour) - 3 scoop

First soak, cashew and almonds in water for 15 to 20 mts. Peel off the skin from almonds and grind them into fine paste. Add this paste to milk and boil the milk for 10 mts. Let it cool. Now take the roasted vermicelli, add required amount of water, microwave it for 3 to 4 mts. till it is fully cooked. Keep it aside. Take a bow, mix all the fruits and keep it aside

Now take a serving glass(big) for falooda, put 1 tbsp cooked vermicelli first, on top of it add 1 tbsp of fruits. Now on top of it add one scoop of ice cream. Again on top of the ice cream add 1 tbsp of fruits and pour 5 tbsp of the boiled milk, add another scoop of ice cream. Again add 1 tbsp of fruits and the remaining cooked vermicelli and5 tbsp of milk and on top of it add the last scoop of ice cream and pour honey on top of it. Now pour the diet coke or pepsi from the side of the tumbler, till it reaches the end. Enjoy the simple falooda.

Note:- the above given quantity of fruits and milk will be enough for 5 people. Just add the quantity of ice cream, vermicelli and coke according to the wish of the individuals.

Pomogranate Juice

This is another favorite juice of my family members. Its very simple to make and very very healthy to drink. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Pomogranate seeds or pearls - 1 cup
2. Water - 1/2 cup
3. Sugar - Required amount
4. Ice cubes - few (optional)

Take out the pearls(or seeds) from pomogranate, put it in the blender add water and sugar and blend it nicely. Drain it if necessary. Add ice cubes and enjoy. If you don't want to add ice cubes, then refrigerate it for half an hour and enjoy.

My MIL asked me to use honey instead of sugar while making this juice. I have never tried it that way. If somebody want to try it with honey, pls lemme know how it tastes !!!

Mixed juice Cocktail

I tried this cocktail when we went on a short trip to Las Vegas. Here is the recipe..

Ingredients:-

1. apple juice - 1/4 cup
2. Grape juice - 1/4 cup
3. Orange juice - half of 1/4 cup
4. Pomogrante juice - 1/4 cup
5. Water - 1/4 cup (optional)
6. Ice cubes - few

Just mix all the juices, add water and ice cubes and enjoy. We can also replace sprite in the place of water. It will give more soda taste. I like this cocktail very much. Some people may not like this stupid combination, but I like this cocktail adding sprite or diet coke in the place of water. Its much more refreshing...

Carrot-WaterMelon juice

I like water melon juice, I tried making it adding shredded carrots to it. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. WaterMelon - 2 cups (nicely chopped)
2. Carrot - 1/2 cup (chopped or shredded)
3. Honey - 3 tsp
4. lemon Juice - 1 tbsp
5. Salt - a pinch

Blend all the ingredients in a blender, chill it and enjoy. We can also replace, sugar in the place of honey. Also adding lemon juice is optional.

Tomato-Orange juice

I got this recipe from a magazine. I tried it and it came out well. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Tomato (nicely riped) - 1
2. Orange - 1 (2 if its small like cuties)
3. sugar - 2 tsp
4. Salt - a pinch

First grind tomato in a blender and drain it. Also take juice from orange and mix both the juices. Add sugar and salt. chill it in the refrigerator and enjoy.

In this juice, we can also replace electrol in the place of sugar.

Salt Lassi

This is another drink which is very common in south Indian families, during summer. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:-

1. Plain Yogurt - 1 cup
2. Chilled mIlk - 1 cup
3. Lemon Juice - 1 teaspoon
4. Salt - 1/2 tsp
5. Ice cubes - few (optionl)
6. A dollop of plain yogurt for garnishing.
   

Just blend everything(except No.6) in a blender, till it becomes frothy. Add a dollop of yogurt and serve chill. Again, here also, adding ice cubes is optional. In one of my north Indian friend's family, they even add fried cumin powder in it. If you like the taste, then you can add it also.

In all these, yogurt and milk using recipes, try using fat free milk and yogurt.

Mango & Banana Juice

This is one of my favorite juice. Here is how I make this juice.

Ingredients:-

1. Banana - 1
2. mango - 1 cup (cut it into cubes)
3. Ice cubes - few
4. Sugar - 5 tbsop
5. Milk - 1 cup

Freeze banana for an hour. After an hour, put everything including banana in a blender and blend it nicely. Enjoy!

Mango Lassi

Today I made mango lassi for my buddies. It was really good and here is the recipe.

Ingreditents:-

1. Mango - 2 cups
2. Yogurt (curd) - 1/4 cup
3. Milk - 1/2 cup
4. vanilla Ice cream - 3 tbsp (optional)
   
5. Sugar - Required amount
6. Water - 1/4 cup (water)
   

First grind mango once, then add yogurt, milk, ice cream sugar and water and grind it again. Serve it with ice cubes. Enjoy!!

If you use fat free milk, then avoid using water and increase the quantity of milk.

Pineapple Juice

Pineapple is one of my favorite fruit. I still remember, when I was a school going kid, my dad used to buy pineapple juice for me every monday. Here is the recipe for pineapple juice.

Ingredients:-

1. Pineapple Pieces - 1 cup
2. Sugar - required amount
3. Water - 2 cups

Just grind everything in a blender into a fine juice. Drain it if necessary and enjoy it adding ice to it.