Healthy Pina Colada Smoothies

I have a confession to make. Remember when I told you about Panama? And how we all slept together in a room with bunk beds with limited running water? That was all true. What I didn't tell you was that my last day in Panama was spent like this:

After leaving the compound at 2:00 in the morning so that some of our group members could make their early morning flight out of Panama City, and after a particularly harrowing 2 hour van and then taxi ride (in which both my friend and I thought we were either (a) being kidnapped and ransomed for money or (b) going to be flung out of the car and into oncoming traffic) we arrived at our hotel in Panama City. Our flight didn't leave until the next morning, so we thought we'd have the whole day to sight see around Panama City.   Instead, exhausted by our morning's misadventures, we proceeded to eat an enormous brunch and pass out by the pool with the best pina coladas. 

A traditional pina colada is made with heavy cream, coconut cream, or coconut milk, all of which are extremely delicious but high in fat. To get the coconut flavor in these, I used coconut water, (kind of like these smoothies from way back when) and to get the creaminess factor I used vanilla Greek yogurt. 

I didn't add rum because I'm, uh, studying, but if you want to make a healthy alcoholic version of these, add a shot (or two) of your favorite rum and maybe swap out the Greek yogurt for some vanilla frozen yogurt. 

Adam's been grilling outside a lot lately (which I love!) so I used some grilled pineapple that I froze. Regular frozen pineapple is all you need though. 

When I'm sipping on one of these, I like to pretend I'm still relaxing by the pool in the sunshine instead of inside having daily meltdowns about how much I don't know about Con law. 

One can dream…..

Healthy Pina Colada Smoothies

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh or frozen pineapple*

3/4 cup coconut water

1 5.3 ounce container of vanilla Greek Yogurt (or slightly less that 2/3 cup)

*You can grill it or roast it beforehand to boost the flavor. If not using frozen pineapple, add a few ice cubes into the mix

Directions: 

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. 

Makes 2 servings.