chaobell | is that a frozen banana in your pocket or are you just happy to see me

So I’ve been experimenting with smoothies as dinner for the last few days, mostly because we tend to eat Big Food for lunch at work and I really do not need Big Food for dinner and I get really tired of the standard bowl of soup, small sandwich, or bowl of leaves;partly because by the time I get home most days I don’t feel like cooking a fucking thing more complicated than scrambled eggs or the aforementioned soup, sandwich, or leaves, let alone something for dinner and something for lunch the next day.

I got this nifty little Hamilton Beach single-serving-size blender over the weekend. It is tiny, but it is mighty. When I first took it out of the box, just for shits and giggles, I threw four ice cubes straight from the freezer into it and hit the button, and in a matter of seconds I had a few spoonfuls of unflavored snow-cone. Nice. Also, when you’re finished blending whatever you’re blending, you just pop the cup off the blender and drink right out of it.

So here’s what I had for dinner tonight: a banana-chai smoothie.

One banana, sliced and frozen (very important that it be frozen)
About 1/4 cup plain almond milk (vanilla is fine too)
A tablespoon or so of wheat germ
One scoop of vanilla protein powder (I have this kind, it’s fairly cheap as tubs of protein powder go and it’s got other stuff that’s good for wimmens in it, and maybe it’s just all the other shit I’m whirling up with it but I don’t notice any weird taste with it like I sometimes get with other protein stuff–actually, it’s quite good)
A tablespoon or so of Pacific Chai instant chai tea latte
A good squirt of honey

Notice what isn’t on the list: ice cubes. With the frozen banana, you don’t need them. You don’t want them.

Throw everything in blender, buzz. You’ll know when it’s done because the frozen banana just kind of ’splodes into lovely ice-cream-like stuff. Frozen banana >>>>> ice cubes, seriously. You may need a spoon. It is delicious and surprisingly filling.

Aside from the chai experiment, I’ve also had a banana mocha smoothie (squirt of chocolate syrup and single-serve packet of instant coffee instead of honey and chai mix), a strawberry-banana malt, and a plain old vanilla-banana malt.

There was also a rather… strange concoction in the smoothie cookbook I picked up off the impulse buy rack at the grocery store: cucumbers+buttermilk+green onion+dill. Yes, as a smoothie. It was… well, I wouldn’t drink one every day, but it was interesting. Kind of like watery Ranch dressing.

Originally published at Fire of Unknown Origin. You can comment here or there.