What's great about this concoction is it's completely fruit-sweetened and the modest amount of protein and hearty fat from the coconut milk and peanut butter help slow down the sugar spike and provide some good nutrients. I used to use a scoop of rice protein powder in this to make a completely balanced meal with plenty of protein to balance the sweet banana, but I recently learned that many of the protein powders on the market have been found to contain harmful levels of heavy metals like lead, cadmium and arsenic. With more digging I discovered that even my carefully-selected protein powder, free of GMOs and pesticides and chemical processing, was still found to contain questionable levels of lead in just a one scoop serving. Knowing that research is continually finding links between heavy metals (and other environmental toxins) and chronic disease, this didn't sit well with me, so I've cut the extra protein out of this and won't be using protein powder anymore. While it's probably impossible to avoid all heavy metal exposure in this modern world of ours, reducing intake by cutting out protein powder is one helpful choice I can make. In this smoothie, most people wouldn't even need it anyway! It's still a very sustaining snack or light breakfast, and for those that need dairy-free or gluten-free, it's an extremely tasty option!
I freeze my coconut milk and bananas and use a "just add water" approach so that everything can be kept stocked in my kitchen without worry that an ingredient will spoil before getting used up. This has been huge for us because when you're trying to use fresh ingredients and cook from scratch, most everything has to be planned and used up quickly. That means if you didn't plan well you may be up a creek without a....anything to eat. It's a lifesaver to know there's always a snack that can be pulled out and whipped up in just a couple minutes! Plus, the frozen milk and bananas give the smoothie a slushy and refreshing twist which we love, especially in the warmer months.
Vanilla Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie (dairy-free)
Yield: 1 serving
INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup water
1 frozen banana
4 large ice cubes (or 1/2 cup water frozen into cubes)
3 large frozen cubes of full-fat coconut milk (or about 1/3 cup)
1 heaping Tablespoon natural peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS
A little prep work: Stock your freezer with frozen bananas, frozen milk cubes, and ice cubes. I peel my bananas, split them in half and freeze in a large ziploc bag. Splitting in half rather than multiple chunks makes it easiest to keep track of how many pieces to grab for a smoothie - two. I use an ice cube tray to freeze my coconut milk, then transfer into a large ziploc bag. Each well in my ice tray is about 2 tablespoons. I measured so I'd know how much I was putting in each smoothie, you can do the same or just wing it :)
In a blender, combine all the ingredients and puree on highest speed until all frozen chunks are broken down. Because the mixture is thick and does not have a lot of liquid, use a tamper (i.e that stick that comes with some blenders to help you push food down into the blade) to assist in pushing the frozen ingredients down to get completely blended. Alternatively, if needed, add more water so the mixture will puree (however this will yield a thinner, less slushy consistency).
NOTE
Our ice-maker has been broken for ages so we use the old-school trays. That means our ice cubes are the really large square ones. I'm taking a guess here, but you may need two ice cubes (or one and a half) for each of my one listed if you have typical-sized ice-maker ice.
Also, I sometimes increase the peanut butter in this to beef up on calories when I need a bigger snack or I'm eating this for breakfast. You could use more milk and less water as another idea, but I usually start with the PB.
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