Magical* PB&J Smoothie — Allie Becker

*this term, magical, has not yet been approved by the FDA.

The hubs gifted me a Vitamix this Christmas, which was an exciting upgrade from my $20.00 Oster blender that took a cool half hour and a crowbar to make a fruit smoothie. Now, I have blending, mixing, and crushing capabilities beyond my wildest imagination. I imagine this is what it would feel like to be a time-traveling pioneer from the Oregon trail, plucked from your wagon and dropped into the driver's seat of a Maserati. Or something like that. Anyways, t his is the guy I'm working with, from now until the end of time.

The acquisition of this new appliance is greatly effecting my lunchtime game. The most substantial change being that I'm drinking my lunch, something I wasn't too keen on doing pre-VM days.

I'm a protein hound by nature, and this miraculous gadget is making it an actual snap to blend up some pretty magical, mythical concoctions. The last three days, I've been satiating my inner eight-year-old by whipping up a PB&J Smoothie, jammed full of potion-like extras. When it is all said and done, this lil' drink tastes exactly like my childhood favorite (crusts off, in triangles).

I'm not a huge recipe poster (thus far), but I warn you now that I ascribe to a "general measurement" rule. Life is too short to pull out measuring cups every day. I similarly believe that life it too short to memorize exact addresses. I just basically guess (now you know why I tend to be tardy to the party). Where I find the exact measurement to be important, I'll include it, but otherwise just play around with your own drank until it's the consistency you desire.

Magic PB&J Smoothie Ingredients

~1 cup of milk (of your choosing. I’m a fan of mixing cashew milk with Ripple vanilla pea milk)
~1 cup of frozen strawberries
1 scoop of protein powder (I’m loving the vanilla powder from the Tone it Up! girls)
2 tablespoons PB2 (or any other powdered peanut butter)
1 scoop collagen powder
1 teaspoon Moon Juice Sex Dust
1 teaspoon Manuka honey (go get this at Trader Joe's. Best price I can find on UMF 10+. You could go higher, of course, but I started there)
1 teaspoon Maca
a splash of water for consistency’s sake

To Prepare: Dump it all in, then blend, baby, blend!

Those last four ingredients are obvs. optional, but they have been some of my favorite superfoods/adaptogens/supplements thus far. Quick words on their efficacy in my perception:

Collagen Powder: What wrinkles, girl? That’s the reaction I’ve been giving myself in the mirror after nearly a month of collagen (& jade rolling). My hair is growing, nail game strong. I’m 100% on the collagen train. Very thorough article about oral collagen supplementation here.

Sex Dust: Sure, sure. Good for getting all sexy and stuff, but y’all—the energy curated by sex dust is really creative energy. So, if you are working on promoting a strong creative idea, this stuff is the business. Read more about it here.

Maca: I’ve been on the maca train for a year now. Maca is a Peruvian root, and it is a stamina & energy booster. Interested? Read more about it here.

Manuka Honey: This is new to me, but after reading all about the many and varied properties of manuka honey in particular, I knew it was go time. It's also a great natural sweetener with a good glycemic index, so I am down.

There you have it, my friends. Definitely just finished my whole smoothie as I wrote this, and I am feeling good to go for the rest of my day. Let me know if you try the recipe (with our without the added potions and powders), and let me know what you think!

Love and Infinite Gratitude,

Allie