My Favorite Smoothie

......So far anyway. I have to say that smoothies are not really my favorite to make. I can't really seem to simplify the process. Pull out the blender, pull out the transformer (that, by the way weighs about 20 pounds), put ingredients in, blend, take apart blender and clean. YUCK. Too many bloomin' steps. I like smoothies when I can buy them... not make them. But in Germany, I am far, far, far away from my favorite smoothie joint (I'll give you a hint, it rhymes with Mamba Moose).

One of my husband's favorite flavors from this joint is a smoothie with peanut butter. It's pretty good however, it is freaking loaded with girth and calories. Usually after a person drinks this concoction, one feels as though they have a brick in their stomach.

After a little research and experimentation, I've created my own easy concoction that fits the bill. No, it doesn't taste exactly like the magical drink in the Styrofoam cup... however, like I said, it fits the bill and it's easy to make and I don't end up with lumps in my smoothie (do not like lumpy smoothies... a little bit of an oxymoron right?)

Whoever hasn't tried almond milk is missing out. Truly. It has a history. It's not just some new fandangled thing that has made it's way to the shelves. It's low in sugar and calories, and it's fabulous for baking too. It's now been voted in as a must for our weekend pancakes because my family has concluded it taste better than regular milk pancakes. I like it in my cereal but my kids don't. I tried to get my toddler on it but he was too far gone into the depths of moo juice. No worries though, I don't hate milk... just excited about being able to replace it from time to time in certain things.

Another thing I love, love, love about this is that it's vegan, raw, and parve... so, go ahead and have a smoothie and a "HN" hot dog, la'chaim!

My children don't like this recipe. My husband and I both enjoy this one A LOT. My eldest doesn't like bananas and my other one... well he doesn't even really like milkshakes (a strange, strange individual). Try it with your kids though, if they are the normal types... and see if they enjoy it.

The only complication in this recipe is that the bananas need to be sliced and frozen solid. I've done it with room temp bananas and I don't like the texture and temperature of it. What I've done in the past few years is just slice up my brown bananas and freeze them. One more thing to do with over-ripe bananas besides making banana bread.

So, here goes:

1 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
3 Tbsp. almond butter (regular peanut butter works in a pinch)
2 Bananas that have been sliced and frozen

Place all ingredients in your blender and liquify. Apparently this is two servings (p'shaw right)... I will sometimes enjoy this for lunch when I'm in a hurry.