Chocolate banana smoothie

Sweets are my favorite food group, by far. I could eat cake, muffins, milkshakes, pies, etc. (this list could go on for awhile...brownies, cupcakes....) for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Scanning through Fitness Magazine, I found this recipe. I was a little skeptical, not having been a huge fan of greek yogurt, but I found that like most things I don't initially care for, it's definitely a taste that can be acquired. Greek yogurt is always proclaimed to be such a great food to include in your diet, so I decided to give it a try. After just a couple times, I really came to enjoy it more than regular yogurt. It has a much more tart flavor, but you can really adjust it to your liking with more natural sugars, such as honey. I buy a tub of the 0% fat, plain greek yogurt, and find a couple of different ways to enjoy it throughout the week. This is by far, my favorite!

Chocolate banana smoothie

1 ripe banana
1/2 - 1 cup 0% fat, plain greek yogurt
1/2 - 1 cup light vanilla soy milk
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tbsp honey
couple dashes of cinnamon
1 cup crushed ice (optional)

Blend all ingredients together. Use more or less yogurt, milk and ice to achieve desired consistency. This is usually a thinner smoothie.

Tip- Whenever I make this for breakfast, I slice up the banana and stick it in the freezer while I'm getting ready for work (or the night before, if I'm really thinking ahead). This helps to make the smoothie a little thicker, which I prefer. Since our freezer (which is so small and crappy that it doesn't even deserve that name) doesn't make crushed ice, I usually skip it. This morning, I tried adding the yogurt to the banana and freezing both for about an hour before blending, and that worked too! You can play with the amounts here to change the sweetness as well. Regular milk would work, but I just LOVE Silk Vanilla Light soy milk. No measuring necessary, this is a great trial and error recipe where you can't go wrong! Just taste and adjust, if needed!