It's a Frappuccino Kind of Morning

As soon as the warmer temperatures roll in, I like to replace my morning coffee or tea with a blended coffee drink. I cannot drink unsweetened coffee so when I have it hot I add a few teaspoons of real maple syrup...I'm kidding myself here, the syrup pours out pretty fast, I probably add a full tablespoon, yum! Then I find myself topping off my cup a lot from the french press. This homemade "frozen" coffee drink actually ends up being healthier and less caffeine for those reasons. For convenience, I keep a bottle of brewed coffee in my fridge. I use frozen banana to sweeten and thicken and peanut butter powder for added flavor. I'm not a fan of the taste of decaf coffee, but I used decaf to make this when I was pregnant and found it still very tasty!

Healthy Homemade Frappuccino

Yield: 16 oz. 

Ingredients:

½ Frozen Banana (5-6 slices) *

1 cup Espresso or Dark Roast Coffee

¼ cup Milk **

3-4 Ice Cubes

1 tbsp Powdered Peanut Butter ***

Directions: 

Blend all ingredients until smooth.

Notes:

*Tips for freezing bananas! I buy bananas weekly. I always have some left turning brown at the end of the week which I then bake with or freeze. You want the banana skin to be brown or brown-spotted, but the actual banana itself should not be brown. Whole frozen bananas are difficult to work with. Simply cut your banana into slices around 1 inch thick, arrange them in a single layer on a piece of wax or parchment paper, and freeze them for 12-24 hours. Once the banana slices are frozen, transfer them to a freezer bag or other container. Then it’s easy to add just what you need to a frozen drink or smoothie. (My husband also enjoys the frozen slices on his lactose-free ice cream.)

**I use organic 2% or whole milk. Non-dairy milk will not taste quite the same, but can of course be substituted. I find soy milk to be closest substitution for dairy milk when mixing with coffee.

***Powdered peanut butter can be found in the peanut butter aisle. This ingredient can be omitted or you could use a tablespoon of regular nut butter or scoop of protein powder in its place. It adds a slightly nutty flavor which pares well with the bananas and coffee.