Hello from the Riviera Maya! As of yesterday, I’m on a week and half long vacay with my boyfriend. We are in Puerto Morelos just for two and half days and then headed to Playa del Carmen and Tulum, with lots of little day trips to ruins and other towns in between. We have been planning this trip since before Christmas time so I am so excited to be here and explore with Daniel. You can follow along on Instagram to see what we’re up to. We spent a lot of today making fun of other people for being so sunburned and when we returned to our hotel room at the end of the day…yup, we were both burned. Hopefully it’s nothing a lot of lotion, water and some sleep can’t fix, but the sun is no joke here.
Now, onto food, my favorite topic. Whenever I visit New York City I take full advantage of all the restaurants and food there and pretty much gorge myself. Last February I took a trip to NYC for a joint birthday weekend with one of my best friends, Kelly. We hit up tons of bakeries, coffee shops, a falafel joint, a place that sells oatmeal with all the toppings you could imagine, the Union Square Market, and Juice Generation (like three times). At the time, Kelly was living right next to Juice Generation, so it was very easy to stop in for a morning smoothie or afternoon snack.
Kelly recommended the Peanut Butter Split smoothie to me and I, of course, trust her judgement completely when it comes to food (as well as other life matters). And, boy, was she right. That smoothie is super thick and creamy, and bursting with peanut butter flavor. I’ve basically been dreaming about it since that trip to New York.
I’m kind of a smoothie addict (as witnessed here, here, and here) and have one almost every day (even while here on vacation; today it was banana-strawberry). So, naturally, after thinking about the Juice GenerationPeanut Butter Split Smoothie for an entire year, I set out to recreate it the other week and it was surprisingly easy. I wanted a really strong peanut butter flavor without all the calories and fat from peanut butter, so I used one tablespoon of natural peanut butter and two tablespoons of peanut flour. Success! Peanut flour is a great way to get that peanut butter flavor while keeping things lighter. I’ve read that PB2 (a very popular peanut flour brand) has additives, whereas brands like Protein Plus only has peanuts listed in the ingredients. This is the brand I use and really like, if you’re in the market for some peanut flour. In addition to the peanut butter, I froze light coconut milk in an ice cube tray the night before to use in my smoothie. The coconut milk keeps the smoothie super creamy and it’s really a must for this smoothie.
Have you tried peanut flour before? And have you ever visited Juice Generation in NYC?
- 5 light coconut milk ice cubes (or regular ice cubes and use coconut milk instead of regular milk below)
- 2 tablespoons peanut flour
- 1 tablespoon natural peanut butter
- 1/2 frozen banana
- 3/4 cup milk
- Add all ingredients to a blender and blend on high until completely smooth.
I don’t like coconut at all would the drink taste okay with ice cubes instead? LOve love your website!!
You could do just plain ice cubes or maybe full fat milk? The coconut milk makes the smoothie extra creamy because of its fat content so I would recommend swapping in something else with fat. Thanks, Nancy!