ciao mama

not your everyday italian.

green peanut butter mocha protein shake

by

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AKA your new reason to jump out of bed in the morning.

Because of all the decisions you have to make during those early hours – which snooze alarm is the one you actually have to get up to, what to wear that doesn’t involve scavaging through your summer work dresses still stuffed in one of those air-vaccuumed bags under the bed, whether or not it’s worth it to straighten your hair with the current hourly humidity levels – caffeine vs. health shouldn’t be one of them.

Despite my best efforts, I will never have enough time to make a pot of coffee and a Vitamix of green shake and drink multiple mason jars of both down without leaving the house frazzled with mismatched shoes or the incredibly urgent need to pee. When I worked in DC, I tried bringing the shake to work, (which included walking a petrified mile to my office, worried that it was spilling all over the contents of my bag) but had to endure the constant “whoa that looks gross” comments from most people that passed by my cube. Then, I tried waiting to have coffee until I got to work, but then had to endure the constant “whoa you look gross” comments. (Okay, that actually never happened, my former coworkers were to lovely to ever say that, but you catch my gist, no?)

Anyways: THERE WAS NO SOLUTION. Well, until my smarty-pants, mix-masta-sista-in-law figured it allllll out.

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She put the coffee in the shake. With the spinach. And the protein. Then added peanut butter because when given the choice to add peanut butter, you add peanut butter. Splash of almond milk and a couple ice cubes tossed in for a cool down, mixed on high while you dance around the kitchen…One blend, one glass, one joyous, one minute chug. (Just try to put it down between sips. Not.doable.) One helluva healthy, happy, caffeinated lady.

Janice, I freaking love you.

Green Peanut Butter Mocha Protein Shake
The smoothie that makes every morning a freaking fantastic morning, courtesy of Janice Minnuto

Ingredients:

  • 1 banana
  • 1-2 cups spinach (if I’m feeling crazy, I do a mix of spinach and kale)
  • 1 teaspoon instant coffee*
  • 1-2 teaspoons peanut butter
  • 1 rounded scoop of chocolate protein powder (we use this one and LOVE it!)
  • 3-4 ice cubes*
  • 1 cup almond milk

**Instead of using instant coffee, Janice freezes leftover coffee in an ice cube tray and throws in a few to replace the coffee and the ice cube aspect. I told you, she is a genius.

Directions:

Add all ingredients to your blender. (I add everything in order of the ingredients list, as Matt insists there is a science behind a good blend.) Mix on high until smooth and try not to dribble any on your work clothes while chugging. Not that that has ever happened to me before.

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Now Janice, if you could just ahead and solve the rest of my first-world problems, I’d really appreciate it. Starting with those damn vacuum-sealed bags…

Comments

  1. this sounds amazing! love the idea of using coffee in it. and banana/PB protein shakes are my favorite to begin with! will definitely try this :)

    • Thanks Ali! I promise, it will be the greatest thing to ever pour out of your blender! :) Let me know if you try it!

    • Amanda, we are two peas in a pod! Green smoothies are the perfect start to the day – especially when they taste like a milkshake. Also, I’m loving your blog – it is making me itching to get out for another run!

  3. Hi! This sounds delicious! I’m sensitive to coffee but I wonder if coffee would affect me less if I had it in a smoothie like this… I think I need to try it out! Thanks for sharing!

    • Thanks Tedi! You can always adjust the amount of coffee you put in, too – or use decaf? OR…you can just leave the coffee out of it and just go with the classic chocolate-peanut butter dream team. :) Let me know if you make it, and I need to let you know when I try matcha!

    • Firestarter to the day and a major kitchen dance party! You can’t really have a bad day after having a chocolate peanut butter coffee smoothie for breakfast. It’s near impossible. Thanks Natalie!

  5. I cannot wait to try this. I use the Vitamix for smoothies nearly every morning and I’m always looking for new recipes! Thanks for sharing. By the way, freezing leftover coffee into ice cubes is genius!

    • Awesome Debra! I always think that if I had to pick one thing to be stranded with on a desert island, it would be my Vitamix! Haha isn’t it just the best thing that has ever graced your countertop? And I can’t take any credit for the coffee ice cubes – my sister-in-law is the smartie pants/culinary hack goddess. :)

  6. I failed…I did not make this this morning! BOO! I didn’t have any frozen coffee….Paul threw out leftover coffee, WTH?! I also love the frozen coffee in ice cube trays. GENIUS JANICE!

    • He WOULD throw out the coffee! Dang Izzo boys and their cleaning methods – I swear Matt would throw away anything in his path just to get it off the countertop/out of the way. Next time you are at the store, buy those little packets of instant coffee so that you always have it on hand…trust me, after you make this shake once you will want to guarantee you can have it every single morning from then on out!

  8. I honestly feel like I have a smoothie like this practically once a day! The best post-workout snack for sure!! I haven’t tried mine with instant coffee though and that sounds heavenly. Pinning and making next week :)

    • Ah Selena, I never thought the spinach-peanut-butter-banana combo could get any better…until I added the scoop of chocolate protein and coffee. There really is no better pick-me-up, especially post-workout! Let me know when dabble in the instant coffee addition. :)