Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Shake

Let me start by saying that in my college days, I drank a lot of Jamba Juice. In the beginning, I preferred the fruit smoothies but I had a friend who would always get their "Peanut Butter Moo'd." It sounded disgusting to me so it took me a long time to be coaxed into tasting it. But after my first taste, I was hooked. It was something akin to a chocolate shake with a hint of peanut butter. Then, on one of my first visits to my husband's childhood home, my mother-in-law made us chocolate banana shakes. Basically, you blend up some frozen bananas with milk, cocoa, and sugar-and voila! Magic. I liked it. I liked it a lot. So much so that I started making them on a regular basis for me and my husband. For some reason, however, they were never quite as good as I thought they should be. The cocoa makes them taste kind of chalky. And I never understood why I was adding sugar when the bananas were definitely sweet enough on their own. Then, I remembered those "Peanut Butter Moo'ds" of yesteryear and I knew what needed to happen. So I omitted the sugar and added a spoonful of peanut butter. To be honest, I like this recipe better than the jamba juice version. Maybe it's because I can make them as thick as I want to. Maybe it is because I don't have to pay 4 bucks for them. Who knows. I've seen similar versions of this recipe online so apparently others have figured out the goodness, too. But for those of you who haven't, here is a delicious, cold, chocolaty treat that is relatively healthy and wonderful if you can't have dairy and/or soy:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Shake

1 very ripe banana, frozen
1 cup milk (or almond milk)
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 tablespoon peanut butter (if you are going soy-free, check the peanut butter labels. There are some that don't have soy.)

Blend everything in a blender and enjoy.

Tips: This recipe is for one serving. However, the size of the banana really does make a difference. There are  some bigger bananas (and I'm not talking about plantains) that I have purchased that make almost twice as much as a normal sized banana. For those, you will want to add more milk and a little extra cocoa. Also, it helps if you peel and break apart the banana before you freeze it.