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Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Banana Nut Smoothie Recipe

This is a yum-o recipe I just discovered and made this afternoon.

My kids always like an afternoon snack. However, they often don't go down for their nap until later in the afternoon. So, when they wake up and want a snack, it's closer to dinner. Today was one of those days.
So, we opted to try a new recipe.

I found it on the container of my Dannon All Natural Vanilla Yogurt. I buy the big 32 oz container every week. My kids LOVE yogurt. They often eat it after a bowl of cereal in the morning. They love to sprinkle ground flax seed on top. They call it "the poopy stuff" since that's what it makes you do! They also love it topped with homemade granola or honey or some fruit. The combination depends on what I have on hand. Today, I happen to have all the ingredients for the recipe on the container.

1 banana, frozen
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1/4 c. chopped walnuts
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. honey (optional)
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

Cut the frozen banana in 3 or 4 chunks and peel. (Personally, I peel the whole banana and then wrap in wax paper and put in the freezer. I just break it apart when ready to use.) Place in blender with all other ingredients. Blend on high for 2 minutes or until smooth.

I made the first batch with the walnuts and honey. I made the second batch without the walnuts. I didn't notice a big difference, so to save calories, I wouldn't put nuts in again.
With nuts and honey, this "1 serving" smoothie packs a whopping 570 calories, 22 g fat, and 19 g protein. Hence the reason I opted out of nuts. That saves you about 180 calories and 18 g of fat, but also drops the protein down by 4 g. I think that's a much better afternoon snack for my toddlers.

And, just FYI, I pour the "1 serving" into 4 little kid cups about 1/2 full. My kids asked for seconds, so I obliged. Still, I would think it would be a lot for one person to drink the entire single serving.
Enjoy!

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