The Perfect Post-12-Mile-Run Fix: Chocolate-Peanut Butter-Banana-Mango Smoothie

After my grueling 12-mile run in the late August sun, I got home with a dry, sore feeling in my hips and knees. The kind of aching that was telling me that I needed to drink a gallon of Gatorade, eat a pound of beef and take an ice bath. The only thing that got me through the last three miles of my run was the thought that I would soon be home to drink a cool glass of water and gorge myself to refuel from my run (hopefully it would be healthful, but my mind doesn’t always work after a long run). I dashed through the door and ran straight for the fridge pouring myself a glass of cool ice water, which I gulped down… and then two more, and then half a glass of orange juice (gotta get that potassium!). Then I thought to myself, instead of adding a pinch of salt to a glass of water to get my sodium, which I sometimes do, and since I’m back at my parent’s house with an abundance of food in the fridge, I should make something. My stomach took hold of my brain and before I knew it out on the kitchen counter was yogurt, peanut butter, 100% cocoa powder, a banana, and canned mango puree. I shoved a large spoonful of peanut butter into a blender, followed by about a cup of ice, a spoonful of cocoa powder, a banana broken in half, half a cup of mango puree and a half a cup of low fat plain yogurt. After blending it on the highest setting (ice crush), my smoothie was ready and gone in about 2 minutes. The smoothie was gone so fast that I forgot to take a picture of it for my blog. Oh, the marvels of my stomach!

Chocolate-Peanut Butter-Banana-Mango Smoothie

Yields: One 16 oz smoothie! Enjoy!!

Ingredients:

1 cup (8 oz) ice cubes

2 tablespoons peanut butter

1 tablespoon 100% raw cocoa powder

1 medium banana

½ cup mango puree

½ cup low fat (skim, 1% or 2%) yogurt

Equipment:

1 Blender

1 Tall 16 oz glass

             Pour ingredients into blender and blend on high until liquefied.  Pour smoothie into a tall glass and enjoy!