breakfast of champions: the "men's health" smoothie (peanut butter, banana, coffee, sunwarrior)

I'm a huge believer in the old adage that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day." It's important in that it is delicious and life isn't as great without delicious breakfast foods, right?

On any given day a few months ago you could find me eating breakfasts consisting of hard boiled eggs with cold veggies, scrambled eggs with cheese and a side of fruit, yogurt with granola and fruit, and of course egg sandwiches. Ohhhh egg sandwiches.

All photos from my Instagram (@stefinmotion) except for bottom right - that's the Spanglish sandwich. Image from here. 

(Sidenote: the egg sandwich you see up there may look familiar — it's from that adorable little movie Spanglish with Adam Sandler. The sandwich was developed by famous chef Thomas Keller and foodies everywhere went nuts for it. You can see how to make it step-by-step here.)

One thing all my favourite breakfast foods had in common? They all contained an allergen - eggs, and/or gluten, and/or dairy. So imagine my chagrin when my Naturopath put me on an elimination diet for a MONTH to figure out why my energy was low and why I was having other digestive problems. On this "diet" I was strictly required to cut out all allergens and the doctor recommended a daily breakfast of a smoothie made with frozen fruit, almond milk, and vegan protein powder. "This was going to be the hardest part," I thought, "RIP, breakfast."

I started on the elimination diet and didn't notice much difference after the month was up except for one thing: I loved the smoothies! (Oh and dairy was my enemy. My tummy's enemy. I still miss brie like an old best friend.) I wasn't allowed to eat bananas during that month because it is a common allergen so after the elimination portion was over, I developed the best. smoothie. ever. Here's the recipe:

The "Men's Health" Smoothie

Stu hilariously dubbed this smoothie the "Men's Health" smoothie because he said it sounded like something you'd find in the pages of that particular publication. Masculine. Strong. I guess? 

1 ripe banana (I used peeled, chopped and frozen bananas to thicken it)
1 cup almond milk (my favorite is Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla but any kind is fine)
1 scoop Vanilla Sunwarrior raw vegan protein powder
1 tbsp. natural peanut butter
1/3 cup cold coffee (If you only have warm, add ice to the smoothie)

optional: 3-4 ice cubes (if I was out of frozen bananas and only had fresh, I used ice to thicken the smoothie and cool it down)

Blend all ingredients together until smooth. Drink as fast as you can (ok, not necessary but it's what I did).