I love smoothies.
While I normally make them with milk or yogurt, but when asked to come up with a recipe using Sunkist® Valencia Oranges, I thought a “dessert” smoothie was in order.
Substitute milk/yogurt with ice cream…and voila…a dessert smoothie!
OK…but first…have you heard of “re-greening”?!?
I haven’t/hadn’t. But I know what it means now!
Sunkist® Valencia oranges may occasionally “re-green” in warm weather. When Valencias ripen on the tree, they turn a bright orange color but warm temperatures may make their skin reabsorb chlorophyll as they hang on the tree causing the orange color to look partly green—although the outside is green, the inside remains ripe and delicious!
You can learn more by watching this quick video about the process.
Sunkist Valencia Oranges Re-greening Video
And a few more cool and interesting facts about Valencia Oranges…
- Fresh Valencia juice may be squeezed and refrigerated overnight. If tightly covered and immediately chilled, no loss of flavor or Vitamin C will occur.
- Fresh juice packs nutritional power and great taste into all kinds of fruit smoothies. Start with 1/2 cup of juice and 1/2 cup of diced orange in a blender. Add a peeled banana, some frozen berries and 1/2 cup of yogurt. Your body will thank you!
- Say “Valencia!” Valencias especially good to eat when cut into “smiles.” Cut fruit in half crosswise; then cut 3 or 4 wedges from each half.
- Peeling Valencias is easy: trim a thin slice from each end of the fruit, then set orange on one end. Cut away strips of peel from top to bottom, until all peel is removed
You can find additional Sunkist citrus recipes …now get to sneaking in these Vitamin C packed orange gems in more places than your dessert smoothies!
Orange, Mango, Banana Dessert Smoothies
Ingredients
- 2 Sunkist® Valencia Oranges, peeled
- 1 mango, diced
- 1 banana
- 1 1/2 cups vanilla ice cream
- 1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice (2 Sunkist® Valencia Oranges worth)
- 1/2 cup cold water
Directions
- Peel the oranges (see video above).
- Add all the ingredients to a blender and puree.
- Serve immediately.
Natalie @ Mango says
Smoothies are perfect for when it is so hot outside (it is averaging about 102 where I live.) So thanks for the smoothie post! I came across an article the other day about “the perfect HEALTHY ice cream.” It was from a mom who simply could not get her little son to stop craving sweets. So what she did, is she stuck a banana in the freezer, and then blended it up (not too much) and just put it in a bowl with a bit of chocolate sauce on top. Voila: healthy “ice cream.” I thought that was so clever, I went home and tried it myself. It was actually really good. And way cheaper than buying ice cream. If you want a real treat, with a few more calories than a banana, check out our post at Mango Money’s blog on making your own ice cream. It’s cheap and perfect for this summer heat! http://blog.mangomoney.com/cheap-fun/make-your-own-ice-cream-float
Jay says
I agree with [email protected] that freezing bananas before using them in a smoothie makes almost every recipe better by reducing the amount of water or ice required.
Rika Susan says
This looks like a great smoothie recipe. I love the color!!! I guess folks who don’t want to use too much ice cream for some reason, could replace part of it with something like almond milk? This is my kinda dessert – not too rich and really simple to make. Thanks!