Peanut Butter Cup Breakfast Smoothie
For most of my life I was a “cereal for breakfast” type person. And while I still love a nice bowl of Chex or granola, I made the switch to smoothie breakfasts almost 4 years ago and haven’t looked back. There were a few reasons I traded in my bowl and spoon.
I wanted to cut down on the amount of grain carbs I was eating.
I never stayed full for long and would end up eating more throughout the day.
I wanted a quick way to get vitamins and whole food minerals.
We bought a Vitamix. (I seriously use this machine 2-4 times a day, investment)
We spent about a year trying different recipes every few days and trying to write our own. This got to be overwhelming and too involved. I think this is why many people don’t feel like they could do smoothies for breakfast (or other meals). Then we found a glorious recipe that tasted like a Reese’s Milkshake. So good. I took the original recipe and made changes to it to simplify the process and shopping list and we have been drinking a variation of this smoothie almost every day for 3.5 years. I still haven’t gotten sick of it and it keeps me full for 3-4 hours till I can have a snack. I was also surprised to find almost this exact smoothie in Christmas Abbot’s Badass Body Diet!
Peanut Butter Cup Breakfast Smoothie
Serves 1*
1/2 banana
1 cup milk (almond, coconut or cow milk)
1 serving protein powder, chocolate is my favorite. (I use Orgain Chocolate Fudge)
1-2 cups spinach/ greens, fresh or frozen (a simple way to get a serving of veggies in!)
1 Tbs cocoa powder
2 Tbs peanut butter
1 cup ice
Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth! Drink up!
*This serving size is for a 5’2’ woman. If you are a dude, or bigger than 5’6’ use two cups of milk, another handful of greens and a whole banana.
Variations:
1 date (pitted) per person – These are a natural sugar chock-full of Potassium and Fiber!
Swap Peanut butter for Almond butter for a milder taste
Replace banana with ½ C fresh fruit (Strawberries and Cherries are awesome)
Play with your protein mix flavors!
Add a few teaspoons of Psyllium powder (nature’s colon cleanser), Spirulina (Protein and Essential Amino Acids) or Matcha tea powder (Caffeine and Antioxidants).
What about if you can’t make noise in the morning (kids/sleeping people) or are short on time?
Make it beforehand! Get all the ingredients out and make 6-7 smoothies. Put each one in a quart Ziploc and throw them in the freezer. All you have to do is take one out the night before and put it in the fridge. You can also throw it in your gym bag on your way to the morning WOD at CrossFit Livingston. Happy sipping!
Ps. Did you know that more than 500 million straws are thrown into landfills each year in the US alone! If you use lots of straws ( I think everything tastes better through a straw) switch to metal straws!
