Making a Chocolate - Peanut Butter - Banana Smoothie

I'm sure I had you at Chocolate and Peanut butter.  I might have lost you at Banana Smoothie. But before you go judging this one, I want to say that if done right, it is down right delicious and completely curbs my milkshake cravings.

Now, I can easily make a delicious Chocolate Peanut Butter Milkshake by combining Ice Cream, Peanut Butter, Milk and possibly chocolate syrup in the blending, but it's not a very healthy thing to eat multiple times a week.

So, I went in search of a healthier alternative, since I am making a concentrated effort to eat healthier.  Not to find the magic number on the scale, but simply to live a healthier lifestyle, so that I can teach my girls to have a healthy body image. When I step on the scale every morning, they copy me and want to see how much they weigh, just like Mommy. To me, nothing is sadder than seeing a toddler on a bathroom scale.

I was very skeptical of using frozen bananas to replace ice cream. I usually only eat the occasional banana, but once again, Pinterest convinced me to give frozen bananas a try.

Chiquita Bananas has a great website where you can look up recipes based on banana ripeness levels using their Banana Ripeness to Recipe Tool. (Check it out, it's pretty cool!) I based my recipe on their Best Creamy Peanut Butter Chiquita Banana Smoothie Recipe.

My recipe calls for blending frozen banana, milk, peanut butter and chocolate milk flavoring. The result is a deceptively Milkshake-like smoothie.

Recommendations:

Expect to still taste the banana.  You will mask it in chocolate, peanut butter goodness, but it will still be there.  Don't set yourself up for disappointment thinking it will be completely gone, because it won't.

For the thickest smoothie/shake, use banana that has been frozen solid. The softer the banana, the thinner the smoothie/shake.

If your banana is too green to eat by its self, then it is too green for a smoothie/shake. As bananas ripen, their starch turns to sugar, making it taste better and easier for your body to digest. I haven't tried using overripe bananas for this smoothie/shake, so I don't know how good it would be. If I have a banana at the perfect stage for eating, I freeze that for my smoothies.

You can throw a whole banana in the freezer, peel and all. The peel will come off easy if you slice the banana in chunks right before use in a smoothie.  However, Chiquita recommends you peel and slice your bananas before freezing. Either way works for me.

If you have a food processor, use it! I think the milkshake illusion is better completed when made with a food processor. Most kitchen blenders don't have the processing power to thoroughly puree the frozen banana to a perfectly smooth texture. That being said, I have make larger batches in my blender, and I just had some tiny banana pieces in my smoothie.

I have used both Hershey's chocolate syrup and Nesquik chocolate milk flavoring powder to make these smoothies/shakes. I like them both. Per serving, Nesquik powder has fewer calories than Hershey's syrup, for those of you who are calorie counting.

The Recipe:

1 banana, sliced and frozen
1/2 c milk
2 tsp peanut butter
2 tbsp chocolate milk flavoring

Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender.  Blend until well combined and smooth. Enjoy!

Select Nutrition Facts (based on 2% milk, Nesquik Chocolate Milk Mix, and Skippy Smooth PB):  Calories 290, Total Fat 8.5g, Cholesterol 10mg, Sodium 140mg, Total Carbs 50g, Dietary Fiber 4g, Sugars 35g, Protein 8g