Chocolate-Raspberry & Peanut Butter-Banana Hot Smoothie

Ok. Am I the only one that spells out 'banana(s)' by singing Gwen Stefani in my head?

every. single. time.

Anyway.. Who doesn't love smoothies? What's great about them is you can literally throw in whatever you have around your kitchen & it usually comes out pretty tasty. This time of year when the weather is all "polar vortex" on you, it's a great idea to switch it up from your usual ice cold smoothies to something nice & hot! It's also a wonderful way to take in your fruits, veggies, & protein. I may very well be the only one here, but I can't stand the texture of most fruits. Love the taste, hate the texture... All smushy & slimy... yuck. BUT - with a smoothie, everything is nicely blended. I can handle that.

So I began experimenting. Please keep in mind, I don't own a fancy-schmancy blender/smoothie-maker/juicer-type thing. I got mine from WalMart. Like 5 years ago. For about $15. Whatever works, am I right? No need to be fancy here, folks.

In my experimenting, I found this to be one of my favorites! (And a real crowd-pleaser with my kiddo!) A Chocolate-Raspberry & Peanut Butter-Banana (did it again) Hot Smoothie. YUM!

STEP ONE: Ingredients/Directions

Makes 2 servings (+ 1 kiddo size)

1 peeled RIPE banana

{must be ripe. otherwise it'll be grossly lumpy. unless you have a juicer. shove it.}

1.5 Cups Frozen Raspberries

2 heaping tablespoons peanut butter*

1 packet dry hot chocolate

1 mugful hot milk**

I know what you're thinking.. "FROZEN" raspberries & "HOT" milk.. I promise they don't cancel each other out. It turned out just right for me.

*May be replaced with almond butter or left out! Up to you!

**Dairy-free? Lactose intolerant? Replace with soy milk, almond milk..etc. Play around to see what you like!

Directions

-Place a mugful of milk into microwave & heat for 2-3 minutes.

-Cut up banana into big chunks

-Throw everything into blender!

STEP TWO: Blend it up!

You know your blender best! With mine, I pulsed a few times to get things moving & followed it with the smoothie setting. I had it going for a solid 2 minutes. I like it smooth, y'all. I don't know about you, but I don't want to chew my smoothie. Otherwise it'd be called..a....chewie....;)

STEP THREE: Serve & Enjoy!

SO good. Maxx had his gone in seconds!

I hope you try it out & let me know how you like it! Do you have a go-to smoothie that you absolutely love? I'd love to hear from you!

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xo, tracy