Apricot Banana Smoothie

Rita~'s Note:

This is a thick smoothie made with dried apricots and nectar, cashews, raisins. You'll be getting a rich source of calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium and carotenes. Now that's the way to start a day! Or a healthy lunch. Be sure to use fresh plump dried apricot and raisins. If not be sure to rehydrate.

• Total Time: 10 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 0 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 1

Yield: 2.0 cups

• 1 banana
• 1 tablespoon raisins
• 1 tablespoon cashews
• 1 dried apricot
• 1⁄8; teaspoon lemon zest
• 1⁄3; cup powdered milk
• ½ cup apricot nectar
• 6 ice cubes

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients into a blender and blend at high speed till creamy smooth

Reviews

[mlok]

This is a great drink! The lemon zest really makes the flavour for me. I made two very minor changes - one, I added an extra apricot (the one looked so small all by itself) and two, I blended the fruit, nuts and nectar first before adding the other ingredients, since I wasn't sure whether my blender would get the nuts smooth enough otherwise. Texture was lovely and smooth in the end. Thanks for this recipe!

[* Pamela *]

This was a yummy morning treat. The only problem that I guess my rains and apricots were not plump enough, because they did not blend entirely and I ended up chewing some parts of my smoothie, lol! I also would add a touch of sugar as I like my stuff really sweet. Thanks for posting!

[UmmBinat]

I did change this somewhat and the taste was 5 stars, it was creamy, thick and sweet, but my Sunmaid Thompson raisins did not blend in properly and I would probably leave them out next time. I used 1/4 cup Balkan (thick) yogurt instead of powdered milk, my banana was really ripe and cold from the fridge, I liked the addition of lemon zest in this, I used 3 very soft dried apricots & mango nectar as that is what I had on hand. I did not add ice cubes but added a dash of spring water, plus the cashews. I may make this again without the raisins. Made for Veggie Swap 31 ~ February 2011.