Banana Almond Smoothie

The recipe I am about to share with you will change your life. Okay, that might be a bit extreme, but I am pretty sure my life has significantly improved since I discovered (and have since perfected) this smoothie.  Last fall, I attemped a raw diet  and stumbled upon a banana almond smoothie during the process. This smoothie called for almond butter and my Mother helped me make homemade almond butter solely to use in this smoothie.  It was OUT OF THIS WORLD.

Fast forward from last fall to two weeks ago.

My training is beginning to increase (my first outdoor triathlon of the season is in eight weeks!) and am deperately trying to increase my protein intake.  A simple way I have gone about this is to make smoothies with protein powder.   To be honest, I am still not entirely sure how I feel about protein powder- I have heard both good and bad things about it....but what I do know is that I DO NOT use the standard serving size, which is TWO scoops or 56 grams of protein. I only use one scoop (23 grams of protein).  I plan to continue my research on protein powder, but while I do that, I need to share this recipe with you.  I ended up modifying the original banana almond smoothie and replaced the almond butter with vanilla protein powder.  I like almond butter, however, my graduate school budget doesn't support purchasing a jar of it for $12 and making it isn't exactly budget friendly either when almonds are $7.99 per pound.  After trying many different ingredients in this smoothie, I have perfected it.  The best part?  No measuring is involved.  As you can see in the pictures, I drink my smoothies out of a mug, with a straw.  I don't know why, but I love drinking everything, including water, out of old coffee mugs.  Everything tastes better this way, I swear.

I splurged on almond extract from the local coOp,
it was definitely worth the money.

Banana-Almond-Flax Smoothie
Ingredients
1 frozen banana - I cut up a bunch of frozen bananas at the beginning of the week and place them in a container in my freezer.  The broken up banana is easier for my blender from 1972 to to handle)
1 Spoonful whole flax seed
1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
A splash of almond extract
Almond Milk- I use the unsweetened vanilla flavor, only 40 calories in 8 oz.
A small handful of oats- if I had to guess, I would estimate 3 tablespoons

Blend all ingredients in blended until smooth. Pour into a coffee mug, find a straw and enjoy!

HEAVEN IN A MUG.