Peanut Butter-Banana Green Smoothie

This smoothie is so incredibly easy and so delicious. The peanut butter flavor over powers all of the veggie flavor, and it's super creamy and sweet from the bananas and dates. I love to have this smoothie for breakfast, or even as a post-workout meal. It holds you over for hours.



I use an organic, non-GMO powered peanut butter because it's lower in fat and calories spoonful for spoonful than regular peanut butter, but you can use any type of nut butter you like. The great thing about this smoothie is that it's super versatile, you can throw in pretty much any veggies you like, given that the flavor is not too over-powering. Some great add-in's are kale, spinach, avocado, zucchini, or any mild tasting vegetable or fruit. However, using banana is key in this recipe as it allows for the smoothie to be creamy.




Ingredients: 1 serving

1 chopped frozen banana
1 date (optional)
1 cup almond milk
1 cup spinach
1/2 cup chopped zucchini
1 tablespoon peanut butter powder (or regular peanut butter)
sweetener to taste (stevia, honey, maple syrup, agave, etc)

Place all ingredients into a blender and blend on high until smooth and creamy.

Kale Chips

I had never tried kale prior to this little snack. My friend Megan had always told me that I NEEDED to try kale chips and that kale was SO good. I was skeptical. I mean, how could a baked vegetable possible be that good. But indeed, she was right. It's a delicious little snack that I believe will become part of my weekly routine. I added garlic salt and cayenne to them for a little kick. Yum.



Ingredients

A bunch of kale
olive oil
salt
garlic granules
cayenne pepper

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Clean and tear the kale into chip size pieces. Coat in olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and set them on a cookie sheet in an even layer. Bake 18-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with garlic granules and cayenne pepper.