Doctor's Kitchen Monday: Peanut Butter Cup Smoothie

This is a great grab your keys and go breakfast recipe that I got from Addie, a runner and southwest Missouri local, over at her TWISI xanga blog.  I think this recipe is genius in its simplicity and clean, not-too-sweet flavor. The exact recipe (thank you, Addie!) is after the jump but how can you possibly go wrong with all natural peanut butter, soy (or skim) milk, and non-fat yogurt (milk or soy)?  Isn't that pretty much the definition of healthy breakfast?

The counts for a large glass that easily filled me up are Calories:  205; Protein:  13;  Carbs:  12;  Fat:  10 (from the peanut butter); and Fiber: 3.5.  For those on Weight Watchers...4 points.

Just for fun--how may local plugs can you see in the pic?  I grabbled a plastic glass from the cabinet and threw my keys down for the pic, and then when I uploaded the photo, I couldn't help but laugh. Can you tell where I've been?  Let's see... now you know the name of my gym, can see what my library card looks like, and you now know that I have, once upon a time, frequented the Buzzard Bar at Big Cedar Lodge, owned by Bass Pro.  Speaking of Big Cedar, doesn't that sound like a fun weekend getaway now that it's getting warm?  I love just walking around looking at all the flowers and watching the boats on the lake from the hillside.

A word about peanut butter.  If you love your Peter Pan, Jif, or Skippy then immediately stick your fingers in your ears and run away from this next paragraph singing "LALALALALALA" at the top of your lungs because if you don't already know, what I'm about to tell you will gross you out to your socks. You know how all natural peanut butter is sort of sticky with oil sitting on the top that you have to stir in?  Yeah. That's a GOOD thing. It means that the peanut butter has peanuts and salt. Before you buy your peanut butter thinking it's a healthy protein source, make sure the ingredients listed are ONLY peanuts (or cashews or almonds) and salt. 

If you buy one of the traditional brands and happen to look on the ingredient list guess what you're going to find?  The thing that makes your smooth peanut butter so smooth and creamy on the tongue is that it's mixed with shortening.  Yep, next time you think about eating that Peter Pan, Jif, or Skippy, think about dipping up yourself a big O' heaping tablespoon of Crisco and licking it right off the spoon, or spreading that thick layer of Crisco over your bread and chowing down. YUUUM yum.

My personal favorite peanut butter is the local Hallam's in Ozark. Their peanut butter doesn't even have added salt, just peanuts.  I also get a lot of my honey and sorghum from them. Addie recommends Smucker's All Natural.  By using the all natural you give up a little of the smooth spreadability but you certainly make up for it by not clogging your arteries in one fell swoop with transfats!

Addie's Peanut Butter Cup Smoothie

In a blender, mix until smooth:

1/2 cup vanilla soymilk or non-fat milk

1/2 cup non-fat yogurt

2 Tbsp all natural peanut butter

1 Tbsp cocoa powder

1 Tbsp Splenda

Comments

[addie]

Sweet!!! Glad you like it - I made a banana smoothie this morning and it's fantastic. LOVE the local plugs in the picture!!! Have a terrific Monday!

[Glenna]

Thanks, Addie! Hey, I'm thinking the peanut butter WITH the banana would rock! Sort of an "Elvis Smoothie". Whatcha think?

[sher]

Since I love natural (and unatural) peanut butter--that looks marvelous to me!

[DaviMack]

Very neat drink - and thanks for pointing out the obscenity of most peanut butter!

[MyKitchenInHalfCups]

That does seem like close to genius. Love peanut butter.

[Glenna]

Sher--LOL! It is good without being too sweet. That's what I loved about it!

David--No kidding. Gross, eh?

Tanna--Me too! One of my favorite flavors although I'm think almond butter or cashew butter would be good too!

[Family Nutritionist]

And sugar. Remember Jif and Peter Pan and "Store Brand" peanut butters have added sugars, too.

[Glenna]

FN--GREAT point! It's sickening how much sugar goes into those brands.

[Dana]

Wow its a good thing I read this one. It caught my eye because my doc wants me to lose weight and drink smoothies in the morning. Since I have diabetes I eat a tsp of peanut butter before I eat my cereal. Need some protein to counteract the carbs. But oh my gosh, I didn't know my Skippy was made with Crisco! Its funny too because my hubby just bought some healthy kind of peanut butter and I was complaining away about it. I'm going to try this yummy sounding recipe it is close to 1 choice for me which counts as 15 grams of carbs, I can only have 3 choices per meal, and 2 choices/snack. I could probably add a banana and it would be fine it would get me to the 3 choices for breakfast. Thanks for the recipe!

[e]

Wow, that looks like an amazing way to start the day. Please consider entering this recipe in Peanut Butter Exhibition #2 Breakfast hosted by The Peanut Butter Boy and Foodaphilia. Submission Details: To enter your recipe, please submit the following information to pbe@peanutbutterboy.com with "PBE #2" as the subject:

Name
Blog URL
Title of Recipe
Recipe or Recipe Permalink URL

Judging Criteria: Peanut Butter Weight, Well-Balanced Factor, Get-Outta-Bed Motivation and Preparation Time

[Glenna]

Dana--hang in there and dump your Skippy. :-)

E--Thank you for the heads up!

[Alan]

Hi, Just curious, where did you get your info about how much shortening is in peanut butter? I read somewhere that for a product to be called peanut butter, that it has to be 90% peanuts.-al

[Glenna]

Alan--It is 90% peanuts but when you read the ingredients there are also hydrogenated oils and stabilizers in many top brands, as opposed to just peanuts and salt as most people believe. I was being facetious with the "Crisco" name but still, there are transfats. With my husband's heart condition, I'm really try to keep an eye on all of that. 10% doesn't sound like much but I remember being shocked when I found out that many peanut butters are mixed with any hydrogenated oils, or anything other than salt at all. The FDA reference on that is http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/FCF164.html

[renae du jour]

I agree with you about the Skippy's/ Jiff's of the peanut butter world. I used to love eating them right out of the jar until I learned that they've got high-fructose corn syrup in them. Now we go the all-peanut way and my tastes have adjusted. At some of our local grocery stores they even have nut grinders and a variety of nuts to grind our own nut butters. It's awesome.

[Amanda]

Sounds great! Is that plain yogurt?

[Glenna]

Renae--I'm the same way. My tastes have adjusted so that PP tastes nasty to me too! Love that you get fresh ground nut butters. That's awesome!

Amanda--yes, it sure is.