Strawberry Satsuma Greek Yogurt Smoothie Recipe

Sunday was the hottest day we’ve had all year. It hit 32 degrees (90 Farenheit), and we were all hot, sticky, and kind of irritable. We had a plan to take the girls out to the opening weekend of our local Night Market – a fun family-oriented community event put on every summer weekend with lots of deliciously unhealthy food stands, vendor tables, and rides.

The kids have been looking forward to going for weeks, but the time kind of got away from us and we ended up having to postpone our visit at the last minute. The kids were so disappointed. I felt really bad about letting them down so I decided to make a special bedtime snack for them. After poking around in the fridge, fruit basket, and freezer, I found the ingredients to put together a healthy, delicious, and refreshing summer smoothie.

The creamy base for this smoothie is plain, full-fat Greek yogurt. We buy Greek yogurt by the tub. Like, literally by the 1.75 kilogram (3.8 pounds) tub. I love Greek yogurt because it’s high in protein and healthy fats, but it’s really important to pay attention to the sugar content. Most yogurt, including Greek yogurt, has extra sugar added, and that adds up. The brand we buy (Olympic) doesn’t contain any added sugars (just the naturally occurring milk sugars from lactose) – a much healthier option.

I also used full-fat coconut milk in this for the extra creaminess and flavour. If coconut milk’s not your thing, you can use regular dairy milk or any other milk substitute you like instead. Different milks will change the taste of course.

For the fruit flavours, I was inspired by my favourite Orange Julius drink: half strawberry and half orange. I had a box of sweet satsuma oranges so that’s what I used. Most of the varieties of mandarin oranges will work (e.g., clementines) but it would be best to stick to seedless varieties. Tangerines usually have seeds so I would avoid those. I used frozen strawberries for that icy texture, but fresh is fine too.

The most labour intensive aspect for me was peeling the individual satsuma segments. If you have a powerful blender you might be able to get away with not peeling off the membranes, but my blender can’t quite get it all. Citrus membranes are packed full of fiber and flavonoids, but they may be less than appetizing floating in your smoothie. Table for 2…or More suggests blanching the individual segments in boiling water for about 10 seconds, cooling them in cold water, snipping one end of the membranes, then peeling them right off. If all else fails, you can cheat with a tin of canned mandarin segments, but try to find ones in water, not syrup AKA added sugar.

I used a little bit of pure maple syrup as a sweetener – I am Canadian after all! If you don’t have any, raw honey is another healthier option. Ripe satsumas are naturally really sweet though, so give your smoothie a taste before adding sweetener. You may find you need less than you think!

The girls absolutely loved their icy, frothy, creamy strawberry satsuma smoothie. They clamoured for more once their glasses were all gone, but by that time I’d already polished off the rest. It was delicious! #SorryNotSorry

Not to worry, I’m sure I’ll be making apology smoothies again in the not too distant future. After we make it to the Night Market of course!

This post is linked up to some fantastic recipe link parties. Check out my Link Parties page to see where I’m linking up and to find some wonderful blogs and more amazing recipes!