Banana Date Protein Smoothie

Yum

I could have called this smoothie, the ‘New Blender Celebration Smoothie’, but I thought it might sound a little better if I went with ‘Banana Date Protein Smoothie’.  I am celebrating though, because I just got a new blender!(Please read that in your best Oprah voice…)  Yay! I bought a Ninja blender about 3 or 4 years ago and I LOVED it! I used it almost every.single.day,  at least once, but a lot of times more than once! After so much lovin’, and lots and lots of ice blending, my blades were getting a little dull. I had my hubby sharpen them with his handy, dandy, knife sharpener, and that worked pretty well, and I could have kept using it for quite a while, but I still kinda wanted a new one. And then it happened… my husband was doing his regular hero things around the house which included the DISHES (thank you!!), and he accidentally knocked the blender off of the counter, and it landed in just the right way to split it down the side! I admit that I am so hopelessly addicted to this smoothie that I used it in the morning, crack and all, with a towel wrapped around it ( I know, embarassing, right?) but then I promptly bought a new one. And the new one is even more awesome than my older one! It came with some large smoothie cups with lids and a separate ‘nutrient extraction blade’, which I haven’t used yet, but I’m sure I’ll be appreciating the professionally extracted nutrients! 😉 I know some people spend a few hundred dollars on super fancy blenders, and I’m sure they’re totally awesome, but I’ve never had one of those and I don’t know what I may or may not be missing. I just know that this blender rocks out my smoothies! So, if you’ve been thinking about a new blender, be careful what you wish for, because yours may just fall right off the counter top! Law of Attraction – It’s powerful! Now let’s talk about a smoothie that is so yummy, it’s fit for christening my new blender!

This smoothie is literally a game changer! I love variety, and I usually get sick of any leftover after about 2 days, but for some reason, when I find a breakfast smoothie I like, I usually stick with it for a while. Maybe because I’m just too sleepy to care. Maybe it’s that I don’t usually like eating anything heavy in the morning, so a smoothie is perfect. All I know, is that when  I shuffle mindlessly into the kitchen in the morning, it’s great to have a delicious smoothie recipe memorized so I don’t even need to think about it. What can I say, it’s like my coffee! For a really long time, like 2 years (!!) I was hooked on a chocolate peanut butter smoothie that I originally started making for my guys. I drink a smoothie every day for breakfast and that was my go-to, but it got kicked to the curb the first time I made this one! I got totally hooked on this one, and I never even looked back. Sorry chocolate peanut butter! (I may have to post this one at some point though, because it’s really yummy too. Do you guys want me to post that one? Let me know in the comments!) I’ve had some good Banana Date shakes at restaurants before and they are super yummy, but I had never made one at home. Mostly because the look of dates was, how should I saw this nicely… a little off putting for me? Yes, let’s go with that… and then one day, my Banana Date Protein Shake craving was greater than my distaste of the way dates look, so I thought I’d give it a try.

It was so yummy that I was drinking them for breakfast and snacks too…. I was a little obsessed! The date shakes that I had before were made with vegan ice cream, so while yummy, not too healthy for breakfast or snacks, so I got rid of the ice cream, and replaced it with unsweetened coconut milk (not canned – the kind that comes refrigerated in the carton, like So Delicious or Silk).  I also added cinnamon, just to make it a little bit more interesting, and I added some protein powder to make it more balanced. Use your favorite vanilla flavored protein powder, or even a scoop of almond butter.  The protein slows the release of the sugars in the banana and the dates and helps to give you longer lasting energy, which is always a good thing! Both cinnamon and dates have anti-inflammatory properties, and bananas, dates, and coconut milk have a lot of vitamins and nutrients.

A couple of quick notes and then I’ll let you get to it! First – make sure your dates are pitted. If they don’t come that way, just tear them in half and remove the pits, and the rough little bit on the end where the stem was. Also, I’ve made this smoothie with different kinds of dates before and they were all good, and I didn’t notice a difference. Some are bigger than others, so if you are using small dates, you may want to adjust the amount to taste. I am using 3 large Medjool dates for this recipe.  Lastly, I like my smoothies thick and icy, so I use a lot of ice, but you can use less, if you like. The yield is about 24 ounces with the recipe below, but some of the volume is because the coconut milk tends to foam up a little bit while blending. I recommend blending until you only see small pieces of dates going around in there. Give this smoothie a try, you’ll love it, and hopefully you’ll add this quick smoothie to your breakfast or snack routine. I’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment below and let me know what your favorite smoothie is! Would you like more vegan and gluten free recipes delivered straight to your email? Sign up for my newsletter and you’ll get my recipes when they are fresh off the press!

* This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click through, and make a purchase, I will receive a small commission from Amazon. It doesn’t add anything to the price of your products, and it helps me keep the blog running, so if you do purchase after reading my post, that’s awesome, thanks! Most importantly, I just want to inspire you, and be inspired by you.  I never write about products that I don’t use, or don’t believe in. When I do find something that I’m passionate about, I like to share it with my readers.