7 Scrumptious Summer Smoothies for Hydration Healthy Girls Will Love ...

Despite the name, this first item from these smoothie recipes is not actually green in color. It doesn’t even use leafy greens, actually! The main ingredient here is green mango, which is one of the most delicious mango varieties available. If you can’t find green mangoes, feel free to use any mango that you have. This smoothie is so perfect for summer and is very refreshing. It almost tastes like a slushy because of the cold ice.

Ingredients:
2 green mangoes
1 cup ice, crushed
1T honey or agave
1/4-1/3 cup milk or almond milk

Directions:
Blend until smooth. Adjust the amount of milk until desired consistency is reached.

Source: manilaspoon.com

This smoothie is more substantial as a meal replacement than the last smoothie. This is because it contains actual leafy greens like kale, which will give your body a good amount of vitamins and nutrients like a typical meal would. It also uses yogurt to help give you lasting energy. This also makes the smoothie taste super creamy – almost like ice cream – and you can’t even taste the kale at all. This is the smoothie to convert all green smoothie skeptics!

Ingredients:
½-1 cup frozen strawberries
1 frozen banana
1c ice
6oz Plain yogurt
Kale, de-stemmed

Directions:
Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth and creamy. Start by adding kale one leaf at a time so that you don’t make the smoothie too bitter-tasting.

Source: tablespoon.com

This smoothie is absolutely perfect for summer. It is so refreshing, and it will remind you of a tropical place when you taste the pineapple and mango together. The vitamin C content of this smoothie is also good for summer, as vitamin C can actually help protect your skin from sun damage if you get it from whole food forms. I recommend using coconut milk in this recipe for an extremely delicious and exotic treat.

Ingredients:
1 cup frozen pineapple chunks
1 cup frozen mango chunks
1 medium ripe banana, peeled and frozen in chunks
1 cup milk (regular, almond, soy, coconut, etc.)
1 teaspoon+ vanilla extract
sweetener, to taste (sugar, agave, stevia, honey, maple syrup, dates, etc.)

Directions:
Place all ingredients in the canister of a Vita-Mix or blender and blend until smooth and creamy.

Source: averiecooks.com

This smoothie isn’t called the beauty smoothie just because it looks vibrant and orange. It is also called this because of the ingredients in the smoothie that can help your skin look rejuvenated and refreshed. It has a good amount of beta-carotene from the carrots to help your skin glow, as well as vitamin C from the mango and oranges to protect your skin from damage. The coconut water is also a superior hydrator for your skin.

Ingredients:
1 cup coconut water, chilled
1 cup fresh or frozen organic strawberries
1 cup organic baby carrots
1 cup fresh or frozen mango chunks
1 navel orange, peeled

Directions:
Puree ingredients in a blender until smooth. You can add some ice to make it cold if you’re using fresh strawberries.

Source: henryhappened.com

Watermelon is the epitome of summer, so I clearly had to pick a smoothie recipe with this hydrating ingredient. This fruit provides good hydration to your skin after it has been dried out all day from being in the sun. The addition of strawberries to this smoothie combines well with the watermelon to create a sweet, refreshing sip. You can even make extra amounts of this smoothie and freeze some of it into cooling popsicles!

Ingredients:
2 cups cubed watermelon
5 frozen strawberries
½ cup coconut water

Directions:
Add all ingredients to your blender and blend until smooth.

Source: healthfulpursuit.com

Raspberries are one of my favorite berries that simply taste better when they are in season during the summer. Blending them into a smoothie is a real treat if you have a high-powered blender or food processor (if you don’t, you may end up with crunchy raspberry seeds in your drink). This smoothie takes it over the top with the addition of coconut butter and coconut milk. Coconut butter is simply coconut flesh, and you can get it at Whole Foods or make it yourself by blending coconut shreds until smooth. The result is a creamy coconut spread that is too delicious for words.

Ingredients:
2 cups raspberries (I used frozen, but fresh will work too)
2 frozen bananas
4 T coconut butter (shredded coconut work work too)
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
1 T chia seeds

Directions:
Blend all of the ingredients until smooth.

Source: mywholefoodlife.com

The lime notes in this smoothie add a refreshing component to an otherwise creamy smoothie. This smoothie is great for summer because the vanilla and yogurt give it a thickness that makes it taste like vanilla ice cream. You would never be able to guess that this smoothie actually contains spinach in it based on the taste. It has a good amount of protein from the yogurt and nutrients from the spinach, so even though this smoothie tastes like lime ice cream, you can still have it for dinner without any guilt!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1 cup spinach leaves, packed
2 teaspoons honey
1/2 banana, best frozen
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (About 1 medium lime, depending on juiciness)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
1/2 - 1 cup ice (optional)

Directions:
Place all ingredients except the ice in a blender and puree until blended. Add ice and puree until smooth. Pour into a glass and serve with a straw.

Source: kitchentreaty.com

All of these smoothie recipes are so delicious and refreshing. I like to enjoy them out on the porch on a hot summer afternoon or evening. They all contain hydrating ingredients that are great for nourishing the body as a full meal. Smoothies seem to taste better during the summer to me, and they are great because you don’t need to heat up the house to make them – and they are so easy to whip up. What is your favorite smoothie combination this summer?