(NaturalNews) Don't you just love a healthy and refreshing smoothie treat?

Make sure you don't fall for the "real fruit" claims made by many commercial smoothie makers. Ask to see the entire list of ingredients, and you may be surprised at what else is lurking in those supposedly healthy drinks!

Luckily, smoothies are really easy to make at home. And making them yourself is a great way to avoid the junky ingredients that are often added to commercial varieties.
When you make your own, you can even opt to include health-promoting ingredients like raw honey, fresh herbs and avocados by using recipes like the two recipes included here!

Each recipe included here makes one serving (about 2 cups). Enjoy!

PB&J Smoothie

With this recipe, you can enjoy all of the great flavors of a peanut butter 'n' jelly sandwich...without the bread!

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup water
1 TBSP raw honey
1 TBSP peanut butter*
1 1/2 frozen bananas, broken into chunks
1 cup frozen strawberries

*Note about peanut butter: Look for a variety that contains just "peanuts" (or just "peanuts and sea salt"). You can use almond butter instead, if you prefer, but that won't technically be PB&J. If you're using a high-powered blender, you can substitute whole nuts, instead of nut butter, by using 2 TBSP of nuts instead of the 1 TBSP of nut butter listed in the recipe.

DIRECTIONS:

Place all ingredients into a blender in the order listed above. (If you're using nuts instead of nut butter, it's best to blend those with the water, first, before adding the other ingredients. That way you won't have nut chunks in your smoothie.)

Blend on high speed until desired consistency is reached, and enjoy!

Creamy Strawberry-Mint Smoothie

This smoothie is so creamy and delicious, you won't believe it's dairy-free! And you won't even taste the avocado, which is what gives this smoothie its dairy-like creaminess!

INGREDIENTS:

8 ounces frozen strawberries
1/4 of a large avocado
6 large fresh mint leaves*
1 heaping TBSP honey (or more to taste)
1/2 cup water

*Fresh mint is available in the produce section of most grocery stores. Just ask where the fresh herbs are sold - often in a refrigerated section.

DIRECTIONS:

Add all ingredients to a blender. Blend on high until desired consistency is reached, and enjoy!

Sources:

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About the author:
Christy Pooschke is a natural health advocate who became passionate about avoiding food additives after healing from years of chronic illness. Want more simple & tasty natural recipes? Check out her e-book, Eating Additive-Free- a natural cookbook packed with 160 recipes and a complete additive-free grocery shopping guide!