Peanut Butter and Jelly Smoothie

This smoothie was pretty freakin ridiculously delish. It was loaded with PB&J flavor and was just a dream to eat. The story behind this smoothie centers around having made way too much strawberry chia jam and not knowing what to do with it besides freeze it. I wanted to make peanut butter and jelly cups and I messed up bad so I turned the mess into a smoothie. My smoothie base is always super ripe bananas and lately my bananas have almost turned to mush because they are so ripe. Very ripe bananas give you an amazing smoothie/ice cream base. So, don't be afraid to buy ripe bananas or wait for them to ripen and freeze them. NEVER throw out a bruised/black banana, are you kidding??? Ice cream central!


I made the strawberry chia jam a few months ago so go check out that recipe. Click on the Jam label to the right and you will also see a blueberry jam recipe. This time around when I made it, I didn't use dates; I just used a bunch of organic strawberries that were going going fast! As in, right into the compost pile due to their dark, mushy spots. Whole Foods had this sale on organic strawberries but they had a very short shelf life so I had to use them in a recipe. When you have fruit about to turn bad, make jam. When you add the chia seeds, it soaks up the liquids from the fruit and become gel-like. So, I had a ton of jam and frozen bananas and peanut butter (of course) so this smoothie came to be!

I buy all natural peanut butter all the time with just peanuts as the ingredient, no added sugar or oil, just peanuts, and if I feel like spending the extra money, organic peanuts. I usually avoid salted pb because the salt is too much but this time I bought salted by mistake and it was slightly annoying...until I made this smoothie. I think the salted pb made this smoothie so tasty. Do you buy salted or unsalted peanut butter? I suggest only buying natural peanut butter because no one needs added sugar or oil, right? I buy either Whole Foods 365 brand or Trader Joe's.

Let me warn you, this smoothie uses double the normal serving size of peanut butter so if making this and counting calories, wait until you have a day where you eat light or start your day with it and know it's probably around 600 calories. The two bananas are about 110 each and then you have all the pb. I made it this way because I was indulging and because I wanted to use up my messed up pb&j dessert. You basically put enough PB&J in so that it overtakes the whole smoothie....until the peanut butter taste is almost too annoying...get it? So check it!

1/4 cup of natural peanut butter, salted
1/4 cup of jam
2 frozen, big, ripe bananas
8-12 oz of non dairy milk (use more if you don't want a thick smoothie)
A dash of cinnamon

Blend the ingredients together until you get a soft serve ice cream smoothie. Using 12 oz of milk will make it easier to drink. Notes: Use less peanut butter at first, taste it and add more. You can add more or less depending on what your preference is. Use any jam flavor you wish, I used strawberry because as you know I had soooo much of it! I put jam in the bottom of my  mason jar and kind of swirled it into the smoothie the second time I made this. I used organic soy milk but use your favorite non dairy milk. Add more spices...a dash of cocoa, a few cacao nibs on top, spiralina, whatever you wish. You can probably use peanut butter powder but I have not tried this yet.