Hello and happy Friday! It's been a long week here, owing partly to the day off Lou had from school, and partly to prego-insomnia (seriously can't wait for there to be a reason to be up in the middle of the night), and partly to the chilly weather. But it's been good in lots of ways, including that Lou and I discovered this delightful chai smoothie.

I've seen a couple chai smoothie recipes floating around, and ended up adapting this one for a cool, creamy smoothie that's sweet and delicious enough to be a treat, but substantial enough to sub in for breakfast, especially with some fruit on the side. My version is not vegan, but you can easily sub in vegan milk and yogurt to do your thing.

The chai spice mix itself is super exciting; I love chai, and this spice mix is my favorite kind. Though frozen bananas do their magic thing here and make for a great-textured and relatively low-sugar drink, I'm excited to try the spice mixture to make iced chai and chai milkshakes. I'll add a little brown sugar to the mix then and report back.

Anyway, though the mix of flavors - banana and peanut butter and chai? - might seem a bit odd, it's really the chai spice that shines through, especially if you use very ripe bananas. The riper the bananas when you freeze them, the less banana-y the flavor they'll impart to your recipe. But enough chatting. Get thee to a blender and make yourself this delightful treat.

Chai Smoothie

Recipe adapted from One Lovely Life

Makes 1 small-medium smoothie

Ingredients

Chai Spice Mix:

• 2 teaspoons cardamom
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves

Chai Smoothie

• 1 teaspoon chai spice mix
  
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• 1/2 cup milk of your choice (I used 2% dairy)
  
• 1/3 cup yogurt of your choice (I used nonfat unflavored Greek; you could use vanilla yogurt or milk and skip the vanilla extract if you like)
  
• 2 tablespoons nut butter (I used all natural peanut; almond is often recommended)
  
• 2 frozen, very ripe bananas
  

Directions

1. For spice mix, combine ingredients in small container you can save; this recipe easily scales up and I recommend making a bunch and keeping a jar on hand.

2. To freeze your bananas, slice very ripe bananas and freeze on a cookie sheet for at least two hours or over night, before sealing in double plastic bags to keep for several months.

3. Combine smoothie ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Add more or less liquid depending on your desired level of thickness.

Enjoy! And enjoy your weekend!