Chocolate PB Banana Smoothie

This smoothie will keep you full for hours. You can modify to what you have on hand, but the full deal is really dynamite.

You can make smoothie packs for the freezer with either zip top bags or these reusable containers I found on amazon. Im all about cutting down on plastic in my life, but these are cheap, washable, and stack. I let them thaw on the counter for 20 minutes just to make it easier to blend. I add everything but the liquid to the packs. I put in all the ingredients but the greens and then pack the greens to the top

Soaking the oats are really important. One, they help you digest the oats better and get more nutrients from them. And two, it helps the blender break them down better. This is really important if you don't have a high end blender like a Vitamix or Blendtec.

To soak oats, take 1 part dry rolled/old fashioned oats and 1 part filtered water. Add a splash of lemon juice or apple cider vinegar and cover. Let sit overnight. No need to drain. When I make the smoothies in advance in the freezer, I just make a large amount. If you want to make the smoothie one day at a time, just get in the habit of taking 60 seconds to do this the night before. The oats are really important in this to help keep you full. For one smoothie, I soak 1/4 cup oats and get roughly 1/2 cup once it soaks.

I get a large bag of ground flax seed from Costco and keep it in my freezer to keep it from going rancid. I would suggest doing the same or buying flax seed and a cheap coffee grinder and grinding it yourself if you want. Chia seeds would also work (but they are super not fun to clean out of the blender, in my opinion.

I use dark chocolate almond milk for the liquid. Its fast and is just sweet enough to make the smoothie perfect. However, if you are preferring a more "whole food" approach, I have also used plain almond milk or full fat organic milk with a tbsp cocoa powder and some sweetener. Honey, maple syrup, or dates.

For the greens, I generally use baby spinach, kale, or baby kale. I have also used the super greens blend at Costco. I generally can easily pack 2 cups of spinach into the smoothie, but generally use a little less kale because I find it a tad stronger.

Ok, enough talk.

Chocolate PB Banana Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 cup dark chocolate almond milk
1-2 cups greens, such as kale, spinach, chard, collards
1 banana
1 tbsp ground flax seed
1 tbsp peanut butter
1/2 cup soaked oats
Ice

Put the ingredients in the blender in the order listed. I start with just a little ice and add until I get the consistency I want. The level of ice I use depends on what ingredients are already frozen.