Old Bananas??

I constantly have old bananas lying around. They're Kallen's favorite fruit (well, now second to mangos), and when the weather is warm, they go SO fast. 

Well, I am so loving this "cook"book, which by the way, I've checked out from the library TWICE and its currently overdue and in my possession (I DREAMT about the librarians getting mad at me last night----no joke!!)...which, on a side note, I've been REALLY trying hard to save us money lately on books. I love, I mean, LOVE getting a brand new book---the smell of a new book, how perfect the pages of a new book are...in fact, I'm embarrassed at how frequently I used my amazon.com account...ok, I digress...well, I've been trying really hard to use the Houston library, which is AWESOME, but we walked into Barnes and Noble for the first time in a while last night, and the new book sensation was almost overwhelming. :) We managed to escape with only the Guatemala travel book we went in there for, and an awesome little wooden block/shapes toy (they sell educational toys now!!!!), but let me tell you it took some MAJOR self control. Especially when walking past the "New Paperback" section...I don't know what it is about paperbacks. I so prefer them to hardbacks...ok, am I still digressing???

So, this book is called, Raw Food Real World, and although I'd never be able to be a "Raw Foodie," this book does have a lot of great ideas for incorporating more raw foods into you life (which really just means more fruits and vegetables...). My favorite section so far is the shakes/smoothies.

Ok, so back to the old bananas---this recipe has become a total staple---its easy, its awesome, and its a good little pick-me-up in the middle of the day when you need a snack.

Chocolate Banana Shake

3 cups frozen diced banana (when your bananas start to turn, break them into pieces and put them in a freezer bag and they're awesome in smoothies/shakes!!)

2 cups almond milk (you can make your own, or what I do is put 2T almond butter or peanut butter in the blender with 2 cups of water and blend it up!)

1/4 cup agave (if you don't have agave, I'm sure you could use honey--I don't like things too sweet, so I probably use more like a few tablespoons)

1 tsp vanilla extract (I usually put a little extra)

2 heaping T cocoa powder 

pinch of sea salt

In a blender puree all ingredients until smooth and creamy.