Good morning! Today is a great day. It's supposed to be in the low 70s, and I'm feeling like it's one last gasp of summer to enjoy the time with West and our mama friends at the park, go for a run, and generally soak it all in. Because, say it with me now, winter is coming. But let's forget about that for a while, and let's focus on food. 

I believe I mentioned that I did a low carb diet this summer. It started off with my sister and I eliminating added sugar from our daily meals, with a cheat day on Friday, and once the pangs from that subsided, I was curious how eliminating most carbs would go. I've never done an elimination diet before, but I was intrigued, and I had nothing to lose but baby weight, so I gave it a go.

It was hard. I like me some bread. And if you don't eat meat, you tend to structure your meals around the next most satisfying substitute - aka, carbs. Potatoes, bread. Bread and potatoes. Chips. Cake. The main food groups. But the hardest thing by far was finding a calorie delivery system that would be relatively easy and fill me up and not leave me feeling deprived and that I could make, or at least drink, with one hand while I nursed West with the other. From the depths of that despair game this game-changing smoothie.

I'm not the first person to come up with this flavor combination, of course, but this version is a little special because it's pretty high-calorie - I need the food, I just don't want the bun - and it uses the magic of frozen bananas to make a creamy, milkshake like texture with which ice and a room-temp banana can't compete. I can drink one of these for both breakfast and lunch - meaning one satisfies both meals - and feel great until my daily sugar dive at 4 pm. (I am really, really working on that guys). When I don't have the skill or the will to reach for a salad or some carrots, this perks me up every single time. It's fairly flexible, but note that it's awesome protein count owes partly to the milk and Greek yogurt, so if you mess with those, adjust your expectations a bit. I don't personally tend to reach for protein powders, but you could sub in ice and vegan protein powder for the milk and yogurt to veganize things.

Without further ado:

Chocolate Almond Smoothie

Ingredients (makes 1)

• 1/4 - 1/2 cup milk, depending on how other ingredients are coming together and your thickness preference
• 1 1/2 cups frozen banana (slice very ripe bananas and spread on a flat sheet; freeze and then bag)
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt or yogurt of your choice
• 3 tablespoons almond or peanut butter or nut butter of your choice
• 2 tablespoons flax seed
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Dutch processed. Whatever).

Directions

Buy a VItamix or register for one or ask for one for Christmas, like we did.* Blend ingredients, starting with 1/4 cup milk and adding, as necessary, to keep things blending and to reach your desired consistency. Note that you can use water above and beyond the 1/4 cup of milk if you prefer to lighten the caloric load a tad.

*Regular blenders work fine. Just make sure you've sliced your banana before freezing - a non-high speed blender can't handle huge chunks.

Any superfoods you enjoy that fill you up, have no added sugar and no pasta? Enjoy!