TOO MUCH SUMMER FRUIT? MAKE SMOOTHIES.

Are you buying too much summer fruit, too? Believe me, I feel your gain.

Every time I go to the market — be it grocery or farmer’s — I succumb to the Siren Song of Summer Fruit: cherries, watermelon, peaches, nectarines, strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries.

I have no willpower when it comes to ripe, seasonal fruit (to be honest I really have no willpower, period), so it all goes into the basket.

So my kids picked a surprisingly good time to be felled by a crazy cold that came out of nowhere; not only are we in the midst of a break between camps and trips, but head colds mean the most appealing thing to them is TV reruns and icy cold drinks.

Enter fruit surplus.

Time to pull out the Vitamix and go to town. I like to use a mix of both frozen and fresh fruit in my smoothies.  If I use only frozen fruit it’s hard on the machine and brain-freeze-inducing, and if it’s all fresh fruit, the smoothie doesn’t quite have that icy refreshing quality.

I eat whatever fresh fruit we have on hand for a couple days, and then off it goes into the sunset (in this case the smoothie making bag in the freezer), making that fresh-frozen ration easy to manage. If you’re using all fresh fruit, throw in a couple ice cubes.

Here’s one we had on Monday: a watermelon, mango and strawberry smoothie.

Because the watermelon has so much water in it, this smoothie was thin enough to enjoy as a refreshing beverage — just the thing with a grilled cheddar cheese for lunch.

Tuesday’s offering used up some of the fruit I had from last week’s farmer’s market: blackberries, two kinds of raspberries plus some POM pomegranate juice and vanilla yogurt.

My kids liked these blackberry-cherry smoothies so much that they didn’t shake me down for money for the ice cream truck trolling the neighborhood.

I swear that ice cream truck is like a shark with blood in the water — it senses fresh meat, dropping blood sugar levels and weak resolve and makes a beeline for our street every day around three o’clock.

(Can you tell that I’ve been OBSESSED with Shark Week on Discovery this past week?

If I had spent as much time doing something constructive this week – messy house much? – as I did watching every single shark documentary that aired, my life would be dramatically different right now.

Alas.)

Behold the blackberry-cherry smoothie with vanilla yogurt swirl.

It was just the thing to occupy the kiddos while mama sat down for a well-deserved blackberry cocktail and to catch up further on her hammerheads, great whites and tiger sharks.

And finally, yesterday’s offering, and perhaps my kids’ favorite.

Knowing that my kids love creamsicles (and that Orange Julius at the mall), I thought that I’d try to make a smoothie that was healthier and yet still delicious.

I had tons of ripe peaches, a little bit of this orange juice concentrate, and quite a bit Greek yogurt. I also had a couple frozen tangerines so I threw those in too with a little bit of milk and a small splash of vanilla.

Peach-Tangerine-Vanilla Creamsicle Smoothie.

It was equal parts peach and orangy with a vanilla kiss, loaded with vitamins and cold-busting nutrients.

Take that Jamba Juice — just because I sit and impatiently wait for a sample every single time I hit the mall doesn’t mean I can’t make my own smoothie magic at home.

Another farmer’s market this Saturday? I’m ready.