Go online and google ‘smoothie recipes’ and you’ll literally get hundreds of recipes for making drinks to beat the heat. Sadly, many of them include ingredients we don’t get in Pakistan, or forget to use fruits that are our specialty in the summers.

Below you’ll find three smoothie recipes which will cool you down, keep you healthy and make your tummy happy all at the same time! You’ll note that all the smoothies use yogurt, milk or water as their base. This is to encourage the cooling of your system in these ridiculously hot days to come.

Tropical Fruit Smoothie

Ingredients:

  • 2 Chikoos (Sapodilla, in English)
  • 1/2 Papaya
  • ¼ Cup Orange Juice
  • ¾ Cup Yoghurt

Instructions:

  • Peel and chop fruits. Don’t be kanjoos in chopping…well chopped pieces of about ½ an inch blend better than large, chunky ones. If you prefer chunky pieces of fruit in your smoothy then go ahead and chop larger pieces.
  • Pour all the ingredients into a blender and puree until smooth. If you like you can add ice. I prefer to use chilled yogurt and juice.

Health Benefits:

The beauty of this drink is that it requires no sugar, thanks to the sweetness of the chikoo. Chikoo is extremely rich in dietary fiber and contains an antioxidant compound Tannin. Tannin has anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-parasitic effects. Talk about a healthy fruit! Again, high in fiber papaya also reduces cholesterol levels. Since many people don’t like papaya this smoothie is an excellent way to include it in your diet. Due to the high-fiber fruits in this smoothie it’s great to help in digestion!

Creamy Peachy Smoothie

Ingredients:

  • 2 Large Peaches
  • 1 Small Container Strawberry Yogurt
  • ½ Cup Vanilla Ice-Cream
  • 2 to 4 Tablespoons of Honey

Instructions:

  • Peel and chop the peaches. Be careful to remove all the skin since it’s usually bitter.
  • Toss all the ingredients except the honey into the blender. Process until smooth, but don’t process too much or you’ll lose the chill factor of the ice-cream. Add the honey as necessary and mix.

Health Benefits:

Notice that honey is used in this smoothie instead of sugar. Always substitute honey wherever possible for its health benefits such as building immunity, cleansing the body and cancer fighting antioxidants. The vitamins provided by peaches include vitamin A, C, E and even calcium.

Twisty Mango Smoothie

Ingredients:

  • 1 Medium Mango

Either one of the following for extra flavor

  • 1 Banana
  • 1 Small Container Peach Yogurt
  • ¼ Melon (Watermelon, Garma, or Cantaloupe)

Either one of the following for the base:

–      4 Ice Cubes

–      ¼ Cup milk

Instructions:

  • Peel and chop all the fruit
  • Put the mango, flavor item and base in the blender and puree until smooth

Health Benefits:

Other than being the king of fruits, mangos provide invaluable benefits to your health. These include improving digestion, lowering cholesterol and improving concentration and memory. Mango is also high in iron and helps in preventing cancer along with heart disease. So go ahead and enjoy mangoes as much as you want this summer!