Review and Giveaway: Dole Frozen Summer Smoothies CLOSED

Down here in New Orleans, we are always looking for the best ways to beat the heat.  We go swimming and love to eat snowballs, but if you are not careful, those snowball calories can add up really quick.  Luckily for us, this summer we were asked to try a new way to cool off, with Dole Frozen Summer Smoothies!

Dole asked if I would host a summer smoothie party at my house, and I agreed, since I knew the kids would have a blast.  I have always been hesitant when it comes to making my own smoothies, since they never seem to be the right consistency, but I thought I would give it a try.   

Dole sent me coupons for their frozen fruit line, some fun neon glasses, straws, coasters, and an iTunes gift card to help me host my party.  Then came the hard part, figuring out which smoothies to serve.  I went to Dole.com to check out their available smoothie recipes.  I then printed out a few so that I could narrow it down to 3 recipes to make.  Then it was off to the store to buy the rest of the ingrediants that I needed.  This mostly consisted of juices and non-fat vanilla yogurt, which was never in my smoothie recipes that I had tried before.

The 3 flavors that I made were:  Orange-Peach,  Pineapply Berry, and Pineapple Berry with no bananas.  I used stawberries for both my Pineapple Berry batches and I left out the nutmeg in the Orange-Peach.  Other than those changes, I followed the recipes and found these smoothies super easy to make!  Here is a picture of the Pineapple-Berry in the blender:

Both recipes came out really smooth and creamy!  I was so happy to be able to serve up yummy smoothies that my guests really enjoyed!  I even had a few ask me for the recipes so they could make them at home.  Here is what the orange-peach smoothie looked like:

We had no leftovers of any smoothies, but after polling the guests, their favorite was the pineapple berry with bananas!

Here are some tips from Dole about using their frozen fruit:

·         Using DOLE Frozen Fruit is a more economical way to cook since you can use a little and save the rest for later, ensuring nothing goes to waste!
 
·         DOLE Frozen Fruit is more uniform in size and flavor, which optimizes recipe outcomes.
 
·         DOLE Frozen Fruit is ideal for toppings, baking, fruit salads or simply as a healthy snack.
 
·         DOLE Wildly Nutritious Heart Healthy Mixed Fruit is a colorful mix of pineapple, strawberries, peaches, honeydew and mangoes.
 
·         DOLE Wildly Nutritious Immunity Blend – Tropical Fruit is a delicious mix of pineapple, mango, golden kiwi, papaya and strawberries.
 
·         DOLE Wildly Nutritious Antioxidant Blend is a nutritious mix of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. Each serving of DOLE Wildly Nutritious Antioxidant Blend provides double the industry standard of effective antioxidant activity.

Thanks to Dole for giving me the confidence to master smoothie making!  Since hosting the party, I have made smoothies for my family at least 3 more times and they keep asking for more.  I love that these smoothies are made with no added sugar or coloring, which make them a healthier choice for my kids and I. 

Would you like to try making smoothies for your family?  Dole is offering FIVE lucky readers the chance to win TWO coupons each good for one bag of frozen fruit.  For your chance to win, just follow the rules below.

How to Enter:
1) Tell me which Dole  frozen fruit you would use in your smoothie recipe.

Additional Entries: (please leave a separate entry for each)
2) Subscribe to my blog.
3) Favorite me in technorati.
4) Follow me on twitter (whatmommiesneed) and tweet about this giveaway. (once daily)
5) Blog about this giveaway and link back here to https://whatmommiesneed.com/ (10 entries)
6) Put my button on your sidebar.
7) Follow Dole on Twitter.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS REVIEW IS MY OPINION. THANK YOU TO DOLE FOR SUPPLYING THIS PRODUCTS NECESSARY FOR ME TO HOST A PARTY AND REVIEW THEIR FROZEN FRUIT LINE.