“The Elvis” Peanut Butter-Banana Smoothie

So, you know how sometimes the very, very best stuff in life happens right after you’ve somehow managed to completely mess everything up?

Uh-huh. Well, we for sure know about that!

Because this (good-enough-to-be-called-dessert) smoothie was the product of a miserable, epic kitchen fail. Epic!

True story.

Remember the Peanut Butter Silk Pie Dip we posted last October? Outrageously good! Loaded with healthy, high-protein ingredients that pair beautifully with crunchy, nutritious apples and still manage to make you feel like you just indulged in a naughty dessert! Yeah – you remember …

And remember how we told you with that dip recipe that it was really, critically important that you mix the Greek yogurt and peanut butter together before adding the maple syrup and vanilla?

Uh-huh.

Peanut Butter Silk Pie Dip gone horribly wrong … a failure that led to sheer smoothie bliss! Hurray for failure!

Well, we learned that handy lesson after utterly ruining two big batches of peanut butter dip. Not awesome.

We stood in Gretchen’s kitchen, staring dejectedly at two delicious yet completely unattractive, gloppy, goopy bowls of recipe-testing-gone-awry failure. (This is the part where Shelley gets just a wee bit grouchy … we won’t go there …)

But then … abject failure gave way to brilliant innovation!

Then … we KNEW! It was so completely clear!

This catastrophe was nothing a good blender (and a banana!) couldn’t fix! (Hurray for the marvels of modern appliances!)

And so, we pulled up our sad, ruined-dip boostraps and happily began slurping mini test batches of peanut butter banana smoothies. And they were sooooo good! Way, way beyond good, actually! (Added bonus for us as budget-conscious mommies … we didn’t have to throw out gloppy, goopy, ruined dip! Nope, nope … it sure wasn’t ruined anymore!)

And thus was born … our Elvis.

We call it this, of course, because (according to popular legend), peanut butter and banana sandwiches were the favorite late-night nosh of The King. We’ve seen some reports that his sandwiches also included bacon or had to be fried in bacon grease, and some so-called “Elvis” recipes do, in fact, include bacon along with the peanut butter and banana.

But you know what? Don’t do it. Not in this recipe, anyway.

You know we tirelessly test and retest (and retest yet again …) every recipe we post, so you can bet we tried a bit of bacon. We’re here for you that way. (Plus, we just had to know!)

And as much as we love us some bacon every now and then … well … just really don’t do that, m’kay?

Instead, stick with this tried-and true, the-kids-beg-for-this-one-all-the-time smoothie recipe.

A healthy, fruit-filled, protein-loaded smoothie that tastes like a decadent treat.

If only all failures tasted this good!

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Looking for More Healthy, Slurp-able Smoothie and Milkshake Recipes? Check Out Our:

• Healthier Take on the Shamrock Shake
• Pineapple Orange Creamsicle Smoothies

• 2 cups ice cubes
• ⅔ cup nonfat vanilla Greek yogurt
• ½ banana
• ⅓ cup pure maple syrup
• ¼ cup natural, creamy peanut butter
• ½ teaspoon vanilla

1. Put all ingredients into blender and blend until smooth, scraping down sides if needed.
2. Serve immediately.