Clementine Smoothie

A creamy clementine smoothie, with pineapple to make it sweeter. Have it with your breakfast, in place of orange juice, or turn it into a frozen dessert — among the variations for this recipe you’ll find directions for creamy pops and sherbet.

Ingredients:

• 6 clementines, peeled
• 1 cup crushed pineapple
• 1 (14oz) can coconut milk, unsweetened
• 6 ice cubes

Directions:

1. Blend all the ingredients, except for the ice cubes, in a high powered blender on low speed then high for 1 minute or until creamy smooth. Lower the speed, add the ice cubes, then blend until the ice has just melted.
2. Immediately pour into four 8oz glasses, and serve.

Variation:

1. If you you prefer, replace the clementines with 4 oranges, peeled, and if there are any seeds remove them. Oranges often contain seeds, but commercially grown clementines usually don’t have seeds.
2. To make it a clementine and berry smoothie, omit two of the clementines and add 1/2 cup of your favorite frozen berries. You might try strawberries, or blue berries.
3. To make it a banana smoothie, omit the pineapple and add 1 small frozen banana. In this variation you’ll taste the banana more than the clementines, but the clementines will still offer a hint of citrus, which is nice.
4. To make creamy pops, pour the smoothie into ice pop molds, insert the pop sticks, and freeze for 4 hours or until solid. Run warm water over the outside of the molds then dislodge the pops, and serve.
5. To make a sherbet, pour the smoothie into a shallow freezer safe container and cover with a lid or plastic wrap, then place in the freezer for 6 hours or until hardened. Remove from freezer, let sit 3 minutes or until soft enough to scoop with an ice cream scoop. Place one or two scoops of the sherbet in each dessert bowl, and enjoy!

Yield:
Makes 4 (8oz) serving.