Peanut butter & banana breakfast smoothie recipe

Last year I turned 26 and it transpires that that is the age at which you stop getting pre-birthday butterflies about new clothes and alcohol and instead, lose your mind over unwrapping a brand new food blender. As I peeled back the wrapping paper which my mum had so neatly tucked and taped around the box, I felt my youth slip away; stuck to the ball of screwed up sellotape like a relic of my wild past. Well all I can say is good riddance if it means swapping hangovers and unbearably high heels for multiple pre-programmed functions, super suction power and easy-clean components.

If the building was a-burning and I had to grab my most treasured possessions and run, I think my all-singing, all-dancing food blender might even make the cut before my Whittard hot chocolate collection and you know how much I love my cocoa. So in honour of my favourite kitchen appliance, I thought I’d share with you my easy peasy, protein-packed breakfast smoothie recipe.

You will need: (Serves 1-2) 

2 frozen bananas (chopped)

1 huge tablespoon of Meridian crunchy peanut butter

A splash (about 40-50ml) Alpro Hazelnut milk

1 scoop of whey protein (mine is vanilla flavoured and this step is totally optional)

1 tablespoon of chia seeds

1 tablespoon of granola

 

Here’s how to do it: 

• Chuck your banana into the blender with a splash of hot water to soften a bit.
• Plonk your peanut butter, hazelnut milk and (optional) protein powder on top.
• If your blender has an ‘ice crush’ setting like mine, use that for about 20 seconds to blitz your frozen banana. If not, don’t worry – just leave them to soften for a minute.
• Blend for 30-40 seconds.
• Tip in your chia seeds.
• Blend for another 30-40 seconds.
• Pour into a glass, top with a sprinkling of gluten free granola (or oats) and slurp away.

 

As well as basically running a smoothie bar from my kitchen, I also enjoy using my beloved blender to whip up a batch of nutrient-packed soup.

You can read my easy vegetable soup recipe in this post so I won’t bore you with the gory details here but I’ve found my blender to be the quickest and most efficient ticket to homemade soup success.

It’s particularly handy as I like to mix in a scoop of flavourless protein supplement before serving.

Blend in a generous scoop of unflavoured protein powder per portion and mix until completely combined. The protein powder will also act as a kind of thickening agent while it whizzes away for a creamy, luxurious soup.

If you think that’s cool, wait until you read about my bagel guillotine…

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This post was written in collaboration with Panasonic but all words, photographs, opinions, teeth, hair, boobs and nails are my very own.