Papaya Licuado {Smoothie}

Being Latina means that I grew up enjoying a delicious "licuado" several times a week, it could be for a snack or as breakfast or along with a meal. Licuado is a drink in which you blend fresh fruit with milk, you can add all sorts of ingredients including tree nuts, dried fruit, vegetables and more. It is similar to a smoothie except it is milk based. The texture is a little more thick to a juice based smoothie. 

Since arriving in Costa Rica I had been craving a freshly made licuado and couldn't wait to get all my kitchen unpacked and settled to prepare one at home. It is super easy and I added some extra ingredients to make the consistency a little more liquid in addition to cooler -it has been super muggy here. 

INGREDIENTS

1 Cup of cut into bite size pieces Papaya

1/2 Cup of fresh strawberries {stem removed}

1/4 Cup of steel cut oats

1 Cup of skimmed milk {you can use any type of milk you choose}
1/4 Cup of apple juice

5 Ice cubes

*Sugar to taste

PREPARATION

1.- In a blender pour milk and papaya, blend in high speed. Slowly add strawberries one by one so they are completely blended. 

2.- Add steel cut oats and continue to blend. Add ice cubes one by one until they are all completely blended. Add the apple juice. Enjoy!**

*Fruits are naturally sweetened but everyone has different taste, you may add sugar if you want your drink to be sweeter. I sometimes do. Also the Cuban in me sometimes adds a pinch {very small pinch} of salt. As Cubans say "el puntico de sal!"on this occasion I didn't add sugar or salt. ;)

**For this licuado I added apple juice because I wanted a more liquid consistency. ;)