Here’s a healthy twist on an old favorite, my Good Moo’d Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie. Compared against Jamba Juice’s Chocolate Mood, my homemade smoothie recipe has only 7 grams of natural sugars–from the banana and not added sugars–this is a great alternative as compared to Jamba’s 92 grams of sugar (equivalent to two Snickers bars!).
Why Balanced Macros?
As an integrative wellness expert and food scientist, I create all my recipes with balanced macronutrients–which means the perfect balance of lean protein, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats. Balanced macro’s digest and metabolize slowly, evening out your blood sugar so you’ll stay fuller, longer, avoid cravings and the inevitable blood sugar crash after a high.
Benefits of Ingredients
Unsweetened cocoa powder is rich in theobromine which helps reduce inflammation and can reduce the risk of certain diseases. It helps lower LDL (the unhealthy cholesterol), and increase HDL (the healthy cholesterol). The flaxseed meal and olive oil have the same effect. It’s also low calorie and rich in magnesium, copper, iron and calcium. This is one feel good smoothie to be thoroughly enjoyed.
Instead of using peanut butter, which can often be loaded with added sugars and too much salt, I use a powdered peanut butter that has 85% of the fats cold-pressed and removed. This lowers the calories tremendously, while still sharing all it’s robust peanut flavor. It allows me to add healthy fats back into the recipe–like flaxseed meal or olive oil, that are high in Omega-3’s to help boost your healthy cholesterol. If you don’t have the powdered peanut butter on hand, you can swap it out for almond butter, use the flaxseed meal, but not the olive oil.
You can adjust the amount of ice depending upon if you like a more liquid beverage or a frostier, thicker smoothie. So if you like, I suggest starting with fewer ice cubes and adding more as you need them. Then, you’ll know for the next time you make it.
Be sure to watch the video for more details here!
How You Can Use the Good Moo’d Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie:
- Make this smoothie the night before, just add ice and blend it in the morning.
- Drink it during your commute to work.
- Enjoy half for a pre-workout meal and the other half post workout.
- Freeze it into pops for a treat.
- Add a multi-vitamin boost (yes, an enormous vitamin will get pulverized in your blender and you’ll never know it’s there)
- Have it for an anytime meal. Smoothies are not just for breakfast anymore.
- Pssst! Hide a fist-full of leafy greens to bump up the nutrients. The family will never know!
One last comment before you launch into your coconut blueberry smoothie making endeavor and it’s a pro-tip from watching way too many smoothies expand into twice their volume due to over blending. I suggest adding the whey protein last, after you’ve blended the rest of the ingredients, then blending it on low just until it’s incorporated. This will give you a compact, not overly frothy concoction that will satisfy your hunger, and your palette!
Here’s my Good Moo’d Chocolate Peanut Butter recipe:
Makes 1 Serving, 5 minutes
What to Buy:
- 1 cup Unsweetened almond milk or favorite alternative
- ½ medium banana-frozen preferably
- 1 Tablespoon Flaxseed meal or 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons Powdered peanut butter (like PB2)
- 1 Tablespoon Unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 Tablespoon Natural sweetener of choice (like MonkSweet+)
- 7 Ice cubes
- ½ scoop Collagen Peptides powder (optional)
- 1 scoop Whey protein powder (vanilla, chocolate or plain)
What to Do:
- Pour almond milk into blender.
- Add banana, flaxseed meal or olive oil, powdered peanut butter, unsweetened cocoa powder, sweetener, and ice cubes.
- Blend on high until smooth.
- Add collagen peptides and protein powders.
- Blend just until incorporated, to avoid heavy frothing.
What’s in it for You:
If you liked my Good Moo’d Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie, you may also like my Coconut Blueberry Smoothie!
