Everyone loves smoothies, for the most part. My daughter on the other hand is a tough sell, she is a very picky eater. It is hard for me to understand because my whole life I was an explorer when it came to food. I asked to try everything and my mom would often say, “You won’t like it.” She was, also, often wrong. So as a food explorer it has been hard for me to find stuff for my little picky eater. I found a way with this one. 

Even though my daughter is picky I have learned two things about her eating. She weirdly like extremely healthy high fiber foods and juice and sugar. So this recipe was created from two drinks I had out and about. One was a highly sugary and unhealthy smoothy at a local smoothy shop in Boise and the other from a crazy healthy coffee shop up in Sun Valley.

The Boise smoothie was made a standard american diet smoothie. It had sweeteners and was heavy in animal product as the base was milk. My friend got it and said it was delicious but I wouldn’t try it because I will not consume dairy products due to the serious health issues they provide. I loved the idea of a peanut butter smoothie and thought I could recreate it at home. I bought all the ingredients that were on the menu but plant based and made it. It was okay, not spectacular, my daughter loved it because it was super sweet. This was an issue because I am trying to be healthier and sugar is also a very naughty ingredient. So I fidgeted with the recipe here and there and just was ehh…   

That is, until we went to Sun Valley for my daughter’s figure skating competition. In between her events we were hungry and decided to roam around to find a bite to eat. I feel like I got lucky because not a 5 minute walk from the skate rink was a coffee and sandwich shop. It didn’t have a few plant-based items but many, that is a rare find, at least in 2018 it was.

One of those options was very close to the Boise smoothie except with tons of healthy ingredients. These were ingredients I hadn’t really heard of and didn’t understand at the time, like hemp seed, but wanted to try. Now I have a rule in my house since I was so adventurous with food and my daughter was so picky, we call it the No Thank You Bite. I require my daughter to try everything I buy or make. If she doesn’t like it she can say no thank you to more but has to try one bite. The rule applies to everything time, so if I make chili and she tried it last time she still has to try it this time. I do this because I have read, not sure how true it is, that we train ourselves to like food and our tastes are always changing. I believe this to be some what accurate because, as I stated earlier I liked almost everything I eat, with one serious exception, coconut. But, I have learned to tolerate it because I keep making myself eat it when the opportunity presents itself. 

So after my daughter took the no thank you bite, which often happens now, she didn’t give the smoothie back. She loved this one, where I wasn’t a huge fan. It was good but tasted as many would think healthy tastes like, very, how do I put this, hearty and dense tasting, if that is a taste. It was a  16 oz cup and I don’t think I could have drank the entire thing but luckily my kiddo loved it. This one was packed with, well I honestly can’t remember all the ingredients, but they had the hemp seeds,  almond butter and I don’t think it had any kind of sweetener. I loved the idea of how healthy it was but I felt like it was something Ms. Kim would serve in her house like “Sprouted wheat muffins only good 24 hours!” 

One thing I noticed about the ingredients when making my test smoothies was the peanut butter, along with the PB powder, made the drink kind of smooth and very strong peanut flavor. The difference the almond butter or cashew butter makes is it gives a touch of texture and adds a slightly different flavor that enhances the flavors of the over all smoothie. I also use cocoa powder rather than coco powder because it has higher amounts of antioxidants since it is a raw form of chocolate rather than heat processed. I like to use raw honey as a sweetener because of its many natural benefits. Honey is the only, technically speaking, animal product I use because it does have many health benefits when compared to other sweeteners.

 

 

  • 1/4 c Hemp Seeds
  • 1/2 Frozen Banana chopped up
  • 3 cups Cashew Milk (or other form of non-dairy milk)
  • 2 tbsp PB Powder
  • 1 tbsp Cacoa Powder (or coco powder)
  • 1 heaping tbsp of almond butter or cashew butter (peanut butter makes it to strong)
  • 1 tbsp of honey (100% raw preferably)

Put everything in the blender.

Blend together and enjoy.

Tips:

Put the honey in after the cashew milk, it is less likely to stick to the side.

If you don’t like the idea of using honey a great alternative is agave syrup but if you want to stay healthy, add 3 mejjol dates. They add a great sweetness with the benefits of the water soluble fiber. 

 

This smoothie is packed to the brim with plant based protein. After more research I will find out which proteins. Until then, stay gold.