Strawberry Almond Smoothie

Ingredients

 * 1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries
 * 2 cups plain or vanilla-flavored almond milk
 * 1 cup plain unsweetened yogurt
 * 1/2 cup orange juice
 * 2 tablespoons blanched slivered almonds

Instructions

 * 1) If using fresh strawberries, be sure to gently rinse them clean and pat them dry. Then hull the berries: insert the tip of a paring knife at a 45-degree angle from the side of the green cap; twist the strawberry around the tip of the knife to cut out the green stem end  and  the white calyx underneath. True hulling like this gets out that usually-not-great calyx without sacrificing delicious red fruit along the side of the top the way that simply lopping off the tops of strawberries does. See our advice on how to hull strawberries if you're still unsure of how to do this; once you learn how to hull strawberries properly and see how much more berry you end up with, you'll never go back to just cutting off the tops again.
 * 2) Put the strawberries, almond milk, yogurt, orange juice, and almonds in a blender. Whirl until smooth and frothy. This will involve letting the blender run a bit longer than you may think, especially if you're using frozen strawberries: you really want everything lovely and smooth, and breaking down frozen berries will take longer than simply pureeing fresh items would.
 * 3) Pour into glasses and serve.