When I first got my own place and moved out of my parents’, I made the executive decision to leave most of my things at home and start from scratch.
I brought clothes, books, and personal belongings, of course, but things like furniture and kitchen appliances stayed put. I wanted a fresh start — to have a blank canvas so that I could make things look how I wanted them to look without having to worry about incorporating old pieces.
Now that I look back at it, though, I think I chose to leave most of my things at home so that I wouldn’t have to go through the hassle of packing them up and carting them across town. Moving is just a pain in the butt.
As is trying to get a pouring shot of a smoothie. But I digress.
The first room that I attended to in my new place was the kitchen. I was fine with sleeping on an air mattress on the floor in my otherwise empty bedroom and eating dinner using a cardboard box as a table, but I needed to be able to make my coffee and prep my meals.
Priorities, people! And the first two things to grace my brand spankin’ new counter space? A Keurig and a blender.
If you were to ask me what my favorite kitchen appliance was, my answer would probably be my blender (don’t tell my Keurig). But in all seriousness, my blender is what ends up seeing the most action, which may or may not have everything to do with the fact that I kind of have an obsession with smoothies…
But what’s not to love? First, they’re cool and creamy, making them a fantastic way to beat this summer heat.
They’re also extremely versatile, with a basically unlimited amount of possible flavor combinations you could use.
One of my favorite things to do when developing new recipes is to take desserts that I love and transform them into a healthier smoothie. Cakes, cookies, candy bars, pies… everything has the potential to be healthified and liquified.
Of course, it’s not going to taste exactly the same as the classic dessert, but it’s still going to be delicious and healthy enough to enjoy on a daily basis. Can’t complain about that, right?
Well, I made a batch of Almond Joy oatmeal cookies a few weeks ago, and kind of fell in love with the flavor combination of almonds, coconut, and chocolate. Here’s the part where I confess that I’ve never actually had an Almond Joy bar (we don’t have them in Canada!), but based on flavors, I’d say that this Almond Joy Cookie Dough Smoothie probably comes pretty darn close…
And the best part is that it’s actually good for you! With a base made up of bananas, oats, Greek yogurt, coconut milk, and cocoa powder, you can easily enjoy this for breakfast without starting your day off on the wrong foot.
It’s cool, creamy, loaded with chocolate coconutty flavor, and so thick you might have to eat it with a spoon. But that’s how I love my smoothies!
If you prefer something thinner, just add a little more coconut (or even almond) milk. Either way, this is a recipe you’ve just got to try!
- 1 small banana, cut into chunks and frozen
- ¼ cup raw oats
- ¼ cup coconut flavored Greek yogurt (vanilla works too)
- ½ Tbsp. cocoa powder
- ⅛ tsp. almond extract
- ½ cup light canned coconut milk (or ¼ cup coconut and ¼ cup almond)
- optional toppings: shredded coconut and chocolate
- Add all ingredients into a blender and blend on high until smooth and creamy.
- Transfer to a glass and enjoy right away or place in fridge to allow the smoothie to thicken up even more. If desired, you can combine all the ingredients and refrigerate them overnight before blending them up the next day. This will allow the oats to break down more, resulting in the thickest and creamiest smoothie.