As you probably have noticed by now, I love my morning smoothies!  Although my usual smoothie is a Banana Cocoa Smoothie, I like to try new flavors.  I don’t often find really ripe, organic strawberries, but I was lucky last week and found some, so I thought I would try some in my morning smoothie.  Did you know that strawberries shouldn’t be crunchy or white in the center?   That’s right, a really ripe strawberry–heavenly sweet–should have an inviting smell and there shouldn’t be a white center or a white shoulder around the stem.  Here’s how I made my strawberry smoothie with these beautiful ripe strawberries (there’s some in the photo):

Strawberry Smoothie

2/3 cup homemade raw cow milk kefir (would be good with goat milk kefir too)
2/3 cup sliced ripe strawberries, preferably organic
1 tablespoon coconut oil (I use Tropical Traditions gold label)
1 egg yolk, from pastured chickens
Stevia to taste

Put all ingredients in a blender. (I use a glass beaker and a hand-held, immersion blender but any blender will work.)  Blend until thoroughly combined.  Nutritious and delicious!  Enjoy!

To make this smoothie truly delicious, you must have really ripe strawberries.  Most commercial strawberries are picked when only partially ripened to reduce damage during shipping and increase shelf life.  Ripe strawberries are easily bruised and don’t last long.  Unripe strawberries will have white around the stem and, when sliced, will be white in the center.  They don’t have nearly as much flavor as ripe ones, and they don’t have that wonderful strawberry smell either.  The less white, the more ripe the strawberry.  If you can find locally grown, ripe strawberries, they would be the best.  Sometimes you can find local farms that let you pick your own.  We may have some local strawberries here in Houston soon.

You might also be interested in these other smoothie recipes:

Banana Cocoa Smoothie
Persimmon Kefir Smoothie
Mango Coconut Kefir Smoothie

This post is shared on Fat Tuesday and Real Food Wednesday.