Take the heat out of the kitchen

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I don’t know about you, but these high temperatures and humid summer mornings have been making it difficult for me to turn on the stove. The extra heat from the burners is simply too much right now. Lucky for you, I have been looking for some solutions.

Smoothies are the way to go, but you must be sure to add ice, that is the most important ingredient. It adds to the texture of the drink and will also keep you cool and refreshed. Smoothies are extremely versatile, so if none of these recipes appeal to you, feel free to substitute any fruit or veggie and blend away.

As I sometimes do when I am cooking, I looked up the history behind what I was making. I found out that smoothies popped up in the 1930s on the West Coast of the U.S., but have been around for much longer than that. The concept originated in Brazil and other countries in South America, where fruit juices and slushies were all the craze. Once the refrigerator and the blender were invented and widely dispersed to the public, smoothies became even more popular. After the health food wave that began years ago, smoothies took off even more. Innumerable smoothie recipes have now been invented by people in all different corners of the world. In your spare time, check out all the different recipes available to you online. It is pretty cool to see the different kinds of ingredients used and the different variations of the blended fruit drink that people come up with.

I love making up my own recipes, experimenting to see what fruits go together the best to create my next obsession. I am stuck in a pattern of creating a new smoothie, making it for breakfast every day for the next two weeks, and then retiring it for the next year after drinking it too often. The chocolate protein smoothie below is one of my all-time favorites, one that when I first started making, I think I had for breakfast for a month straight. I inevitably ended up getting tired of it, but have recently reintroduced it into my breakfast meal rotation. It’s fast, easy, a go-to.

If you prefer 100 percent fruit smoothies with no added protein, the berry blast is the one for you. The natural sugars of the fruit blend well together, creating a nice, slightly sweet flavor. This balances well with the tanginess of the greek yogurt and orange juice.

If you are on the health food wave, try out the green goddess. The pineapple and ginger add to the acidity of the drink, which combines well with the sweetness of the mango and apple. If you are not on the health food wave, but you still want to give it a try, don’t let the bright green color of the smoothie deceive you — you can hardly taste the baby spinach.

If you are melting like me right now, try out some of these recipes. No heat required.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Protein Smoothie

1 banana
½ scoop of chocolate protein powder
1 Tbsp. peanut butter
1 cup ice cubes
¾ cup oat milk (any nut milk or regular milk can be substituted in)

Throw all the ingredients in a blender and mix well.

Berry Blast Smoothie

3 whole strawberries
Handful of raspberries
Handful of cherries, pitted
1 nectarine, pitted and cut into small pieces
½ cup greek yogurt
3 ice cubes
¾ cup oat milk
Splash of orange juice

Throw all the ingredients in a blender and mix well.

Green Goddess Smoothie

1 cup baby spinach
½ cup frozen mango chunks
½ cup pineapple
½ of an apple
1 Tbsp. fresh ginger, grated
3 ice cubes
1 cup coconut water
Splash of orange juice

Throw all the ingredients in a blender and mix well. Stay cool and enjoy!