If I bring a “yogurt drink” with me to after-school pick-up, Felix’s face lights up with happiness. I don’t do it very often, as the sugar and other preservatives bother me. The idea of a yogurt drink seems good, though, so I decided to figure out how to make one that would taste the same but with fewer ingredients.
RECIPE: Strawberry Yogurt Drink
Yields approx. 300 ml.
Ingredients
¾ - 1 cup fresh strawberries, washed and hulled
1 cup natural yogurt
2 tsp maple syrup
1 tablespoon water (if needed)
I suppose this is a “smoothie” at heart (but thinner); still, as I wanted to replicate the yogurt drink as close as possible, I started by making a purée and straining the fruit. No lumps!
You may be thinking, “Yeah, because I have so much time to be puréeing fruit...” But honestly (HONESTLY) it took under 10 minutes. That includes washing the food processor. And: It worked!! I bet if I poured this into an empty plastic “yogurt drink” container, Felix would be none the wiser.
Felix always chooses the strawberry-flavoured drink, so I went with strawberries. To make just over 1-cup final drink you need about ¼ cup purée. Start with ¾- 1 cup fresh berries.
Purée the berries in your food processor. You can certainly use any type of berries or even a mix of berries. (How gourmet!)
Strain the fruit through a fine sieve using a wooden spoon (or any mixing spoon). Discard the pulp and put the purée into a blender. (This is a great point where kids can help, by pouring ingredients into the blender and pressing “mix.”)
Add 1-cup natural yogurt (I used whole milk but 2% would still be creamy) and 2 teaspoons maple syrup. Blend until frothy. You could also use agave or honey or even simple syrup to sweeten this.
At this point, the yeild should be thin enough to drink through a small straw. If not, add a tablespoon of water and blend again.
You should end up with just over 1 cup of this fruity drink. If you want to make a bigger batch, just multiply the recipe and go for it large scale.
Felix also likes the vanilla version. Easy-peasy: skip the fruit and just add a teaspoon of vanilla — or be super-fancy and scrape in a vanilla bean. Now that’s a post-workout treat!
RECIPE: Strawberry Yogurt Drink
Yields approx. 300 ml.
Ingredients
¾ - 1 cup fresh strawberries, washed and hulled
1 cup natural yogurt
2 tsp maple syrup
1 tablespoon water (if needed)
Instructions
In a food processor, purée the berries.
Pour into a fine sieve and strain. You should have about ¼ cup purée.
Add purée, yogurt and maple syrup into blender and mix until frothy.
Add water if you need to thin the drink.
Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Sue Riedl is a Toronto-based food writer with a passion for cheese who writes a column called The Spread for The Globe and Mail. She loves to push stinky cheese on her 3-year-old.
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by Sue Riedl