Banana, Peanut Butter, and Date Smoothie with Curly Kale

This power smoothie is made from real ingredients--bananas, dates, and kale--and protein packed with peanut butter, milk and yogurt. It's a great way to get some veggies into your first meal of the day and gives you energy for your morning.

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What gets you going each day? Besides the caffeinated or decaf beverage of your choice, I mean. What powers you through a busy morning? Gives you energy to tackle a big To Do list without stopping to sit down and have a meal?


For me, it's a smoothie. As I'm getting ready for work I dump a bunch of real, actual, recognizable foods into a blender, add some ice, and hit the power button. After a few moments I'm pouring a tasty and nutritious drink into my cup and I'm ready to hit the road. Yes, I'm also armed with a couple of jars of my DIY Iced Chai Tea that I'll turn into Iced Chai Tea Lattes at work. Gotta keep the fluids going!

My smoothies aren't just for breakfast. This recipe makes about 5 cups, which equates to one giant cup for me to take to work plus a pint jar leftover in the fridge. I use these plastic storage caps (Amazon affiliate link) which fit on my canning jars and are much handier than a metal lid & ring for repeated access to the jar.


Who drinks the leftover smoothie? It depends. This smoothie is the perfect pick me up for my spouse after he bikes home from work. It's cold, refreshing, and hydrating as well as providing him a burst of sugar and protein to recoup what his muscles used on his commute.

My kids sometimes snag a jar for breakfast, after spending 5 minutes with the refrigerator door open staring at all the leftovers wondering what there is to eat. As if the contents of my fridge are a youtube video and they are waiting for it to load and talk them through their choices or something. Get a clue! Grab something and get that door shut. I am not running a convenience store here. No nacho cheez sauce in this house.


Regular readers will notice a similarity between this smoothie and my Peanut Butter, Spinach and Banana Smoothie. When I've got spinach in my Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share I'm all over that smoothie. But spinach doesn't love hot weather, so it's pretty hard to find some local spinach. Curly kale, however, has been making frequent appearances in the share.

It's interesting to me that the kale merely breaks down into ever increasing tiny pieces. The spinach just liquifies and makes the whole smoothie green. Not kale. Like the skin of a blueberry it keeps its shape and just gets smaller and smaller.  Will that help someone who doesn't want a 'green' smoothie? Who knows.


For more recipes using bananas, see my Banana Recipes Collection. For more recipes using dates, please see my Recipes Using Dates Collection. For more recipes using kale, please see my Kale Recipes Collection. These collections are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, the garden, the neighbor's garden, and great deals on ugly produce at the grocery store.


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Banana, Peanut Butter, and Date Smoothie with Curly Kale (makes about 5 cups)

Ingredients

• 3 Tablespoons peanut butter
• 1 banana
• 6 dates, pitted
• ¾ cup vanilla yogurt
• ¾ cup milk (you may need another ½ cup milk or water to make it blend)
• 2 cups torn kale leaves
• 2 to 3 cups ice cubes

Instructions

1. Place all ingredients in order listed in a powerful blender. I'm using my Vitamix that is nearly as old as my learner's permit-toting daughter. Push the kale down into the milk before topping with ice cubes.
2. Start the blender slowly to break up the fruit, then bring it up to high speed to incorporate the kale and ice. Blend until thick and smooth, adding more milk (or water) as needed to make the blades turn easily. 
3. If you feel your smoothie isn't thick enough, blend in another cup of ice.
4. Serve. This smoothie keeps at least 2 days in the fridge if you want to blend once and have multiple servings.

ready for work with my smoothie and my DIY Iced Chai Tea (I make it Latte at work)