“I don’t like fruit.”

Growing up in an Asian family, I was constantly surrounded by fruit.  We eat it as a snack or as dessert after dinner.  So, I love most fruits, especially the tropical variety (mango, lychee, papaya, jackfruit, longan, you name it).  David, on the other hand, doesn’t like fruit – he prefers veggies.  Not only that, he’s also allergic to many fruits – mostly melons (watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew) and anything weird looking (see above).  Oh, he doesn’t know what he’s missing!  Secretly, I don’t think he’s allergic, but just afraid to try.  So, needless to say when he’s offered fruit at my parents’ place after dinner, his response is always, “I don’t eat fruit” or he would just eat one or two pieces of the “safe” stuff.

Due to our varying tastes in fruits, the fruits most commonly found in our place are the boring ones – bananas and grapes and the occasional mandarin oranges and pears.  And because of this disconnect, we tend to avoid the roadside fruit stands during our travels to sunny destinations.  We forgo the strange fruits, like these complementary dragon fruits from a hotel we stayed at:

Dragon fruit from Pimalai in Koh Lanta, Thailand

And instead, we have this:

David only eats pineapple, while I eat the mango and watermelon.

Something I’ve noticed during our travels related to David’s fruit eating habits is that he prefers to have fruit in desserts.

Frozen yogurt from Red Mango in Oahu.

Guava malasadas from Komoda in Maui.

Or he prefers to drink it.

Mango smoothie on Railay Beach, Thailand.

Coconut juice in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica.

Some sort of fruit cocktail in Lahaina, Maui.

Dessert drink from Hui Lau Shan in Hong Kong.

So, I decided to make a fruit smoothie in an attempt to increase his fruit consumption.  I eat fruit 2 or 3 times a day, while he eats it 2 to 3 times a week at most.  This also gives me an excuse to dust off my blender and use it for the second time.

The 3 year old blender that's been used once.

The one and only time I used it was to make mint and pea hummus, a part of a 3-course Valentine’s Day dinner that wasn’t so successful.  But that’s a whole other story.

Bright green hummus.

For the smoothie, I used banana, strawberry and mango.  Yes, mango!  Lucky me, I got to use mango because David recently discovered that he wasn’t allergic to it after all.  He claimed that he wasn’t allergic to the ones we had in Asia, but was allergic to the ones here.  Maybe he’s referring to the ones grown in Mexico.  See, what did I say about him not really being allergic?

The fruit.

Anyway, the smoothie is so easy to make.  Just throw some mango, yogurt, honey and lime juice in the blender and mix.

Step 1.

Repeat with the banana and strawberry.

Step 2.

And there you have it!

Layered fruit smoothie.

So good!  Perfect for breakfast, snack and dessert!  Better than Orange Julius, Booster Juice and Jugo Juice.  Now, if only I was having this on the beach of some tropical island……

Recipe (from Chef Mommy):

• 1 cup frozen mango
• 1 1/4 cups plain low-fat yogurt
• 2 tbsp honey*
• 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1/4 tsp freshly grated lime zest
• 1 banana (peeled, and chopped)
• 1 cup frozen strawberries
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp freshly grated lemon zest

1. In a blender, whirl the mango; 3/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt; 1 tbsp honey; the fresh lime juice, 1 tbsp of water and the freshly grated lime zest until smooth.
2. Divide mango-lime smoothie between 2 straight-sided glasses and set aside.
3. Rinse blender, then whirl the banana; the strawberries; 1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt; 1 tbsp honey; the fresh lemon juice and the freshly grated lemon zest until smooth.
4. Layer banana-strawberry smoothie onto mango smoothie, gently spooning mixture around inside edge of each glass to create a clean horizontal line. Serve Immediately.

* If you are serving this to children younger than 2, replace the honey with sugar.

Notes and Tips:

If using fresh fruit instead of frozen, add 6 ice cubes to each layer before blending or put the smoothies in the fridge/freezer to cool.  I used non-fat vanilla yogurt and did not add the grated lime or lemon zest.

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