If you dislike the sound of someone slurping through their straw to try to get every last little drop out of their cup then you probably shouldn’t make these smoothies. My kids absolutely LOVE them! And it all started when on a recent trip to buy groceries from Earth Fare we decided to also have lunch in their little cafe. While paying for our sushi I noticed that they had a surprisingly good smoothie menu, so on a whim I decided to order their PB&J smoothie for my girls (and me) to share. Well, that was a mistake…I should have gotten a large size for each of us! During the first 5 minutes of the lunch (which was as long as the smoothie lasted) all I could hear – aside from the slurping – was “I want more of it” ”it’s my turn for some” “she is drinking it all”. Need I say more?
I of course don’t have Earth Fare’s exact recipe so this is just my version that emulates theirs as best as I can. My daughters responded very similarly to this version so I would say it went over well. This is the best invention for kids since the original PB&J!!
PB&J Smoothie
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1/3 cup apple juice
- 1/3 cup peanut butter
- 1 – 2 bananas (I like using 2…but if you only have 1 on hand don’t let it stop you!)
- 1 cup frozen (or fresh) berries
- Optional: A handful of ice cubes if you use fresh berries
Mix well in a blender and serve cold with a straw.
Made this for snack today! VERY GOOD! 3 yr old still unsure abt it, but me, my son & husband thought it was great! Thx for the recipe!
kt
can’t wait to try the smoothie…only 2 more days on my cleanse and then gradually start eating real food again…all of your recipes are making me hungry…
Have you ever tried it without the juice? Another way to get some added nutrients is to throw a handful of spinach into your smoothies of any kind. Can’t taste it and if it turns your smoothie green which it sometimes does we call them Popeye drinks and my kids love them!
To lose the green color in a smoothie from adding the spinich or broccili etc, just add beets. My family has no idea that their fruit smoothies contain any of this stuff. I have a small silicone ice tray that I put pureed veggies with the beets and make up frozen premeasured packets in ziplock baggies with cutup fruits, just add milk, juice or water and you have a shake ready to go!
nice idea,,,,thanks
Hi!
I just wanted to let you know that I’ve made this PB&J smoothie twice now and my 9 year old son just loooooves it! (so do I) I made it for him for breakfast this morning as a matter of fact.
I found you in my research on food and ADD/ADHD as my son was just diagnosed with ADD. I felt like I had to try something here at home other than the prescribed stimulant which I’m not really thrilled about. My husband, son and I also watched Food Inc. and we thought it was truly appalling what is being done to us and the farmers of America, and that no one can do anything about it. Right then we decided to take a stand.
I’m in the Steele Creek area and my son and I visit the Ballantyne Earth Fare frequently. My family has now decided to try going organic/local as much as we possibly can. I don’t live far from the Yorkmont Farmer’s Market and I’m excited to go see what they have. (It’s almost strawberry season, yay!) Having grown up on the NC mountains, I grew up on ‘real food’ for the most part. We didn’t even have a McDonald’s there until I was in high school. Our idea of fast food was the drive-in where the food was still basically ‘real’: homemade buns, locally butchered beef, locally grown vegetables. But my family is now going to try to change the way we eat. No more Pop-Tarts or fake food for us (among other things).
I’m also proud to say I made my first whole chicken in my crock pot thanks to your recipe. I ended up having chicken wraps, chicken salad and chicken tenders using olive oil and organic bread crumbs. I never knew how easy it could be.
I hope to see you again soon on Charlotte Today! Please keep the great recipes coming!
Thanks so much for joining us and for your comment…the more the merrier!!
This was exactly what I needed! My one year old has issues with dairy, but I am very unhappy with the alternatives to dairy. I’ve been trying to get her to like goats milk, but it was not happening. I just made this (with a few tweaks to make it a bit easier for her to swallow) and she loved it. This may be a way to get a little more calcium, protein, and fruits into her day!
Thank you!
Hi Again! I was wondering on this recipe about the PB. Does it matter if it is chunky or smooth? I would assume smooth but wasn’t sure. Thanks!
You know…I’ve only tried it with smooth PB, but I think both would work with the right blender. Also, with any smoothie the leftovers are best kept in the freezer (per your other comment).
LOVE this. I add a bit of honey to make it a little sweeter, but it’s one of my favorite breakfasts now!
If i omitted the apple juice what would you suggest I replace it with?
You could just add extra milk instead.
I made this today and although it tasted good there were a lot of seeds in the frozen fruit i used (strawberries, raspberries,blackberries). I know I could just use blueberries to avoid that but I was wondering if you had any suggestions on how to lower the number of seeds in fruit smoothies with using frozen berries.
You could blend the berries first (by themselves), strain out the seeds with a fine mesh sieve, then mix them in with the other stuff. I hope that helps!
Mmm, made this for my kids for lunch with some popcorn to go along with. Secretly I was glad my 18 month old chose his usual cup of milk instead since I only had enough peanut butter for one. Now I get some for lunch too!
Excellent! I froze some of this in the freezer pops as you have pictured on the snack recipes page and my kids ask for these instead of popsicles!
I would love if you could add a way to “pin” these articles to Pinterest (I think there is a Word Press plugin for that now). Pinterest needs more whole food recipes!
So glad it was a hit…and I do have a pinterest button now!
I think I stumbled on your website through Pinterest and I have been taking time daily to read through all of the wonderful information that you have shared. Thank you first of all for sharing your knowledge and challenging people to eat a healthier, whole diet. I have been a healthy (no fast food, or junk food, liked to cook everything-kinda gal) for a long time. I am just recently taking the time to further educate myself on eating a whole foods diet with no processed foods and comprised of mostly organics. I am a cancer survivor and am very conscientious as to what I put into my body now. I feel like finding your blog was like finding a wealth of knowledge!
I was totally on the brink of caving and dying for something chocolatey or super sweet today, but then I remember I had wanted to try this recipe, so I whipped it up really quickly. It is delicious! I drank it all by myself and then though, shoot! I just ate 1/3 of a cup of peanut butter!! lol.
Thanks for sharing. I will make more next time and do the popsicles!
I used to work at a smoothie bar and would often try creations of my own. The PB&J smoothie I created was always my favorite! My ‘secret’ ingredients were to add oats and flax to the mix to give it a kind of ‘breaded’ flavor. With a quality machine they’ll blend right in, otherwise you have to be okay with a slight grainy texture.
[...] face. “I’ll have that!” she declared. I also told her that I would have a nice, homemade popsicle ready for her when she got home from [...]
this looks yummy, but my girls didn’t like the other smoothie i made because they could taste way too much banana. would it be ok without the banana? Loving your webiste! We made zucchini muffins for breakfast today and had them for snacks and dinner too! Slowly but surely, we are making some good changes. Thank you so much!
If you don’t put in bananas I would recommend adding a little bit of honey to the smoothie. Glad the blog is helpful!
I just made this… it is amazing! I used coconut milk (we can’t do cows milk), almond butter (totally addicted to it right now), and added some oats and flax seeds … it is excellent!
[...] PB&J Smoothie from 100 days of Real Food, I also added some superfruit powder… which is a mix of Goji, Acai [...]
Just tried this and it is great and better than the one I had at the gym once. And I can tell you I watched them make it this is healthier too.
Also just a hint: My family loves Bananas some weeks more than others. So if you start seeing that this week your family is not eating as many and they are starting to brown. Cube them and freeze each banana seperately in storage bag(labled). Great for throwing in to shakes later and your bananas are not wasted.
awesome! thank you! of ocurse I made this for my girls and they didn’t like it, so I drank both of theirs! Not so healthy for me! ha! but I will say, that if you freeze this smoothie it’s like an ice cream treat! if I make it for myself, maybe i need to not use so much nut butter! i loved it! back to the drawing board for a smoothie my girls will like that tastes healthy (preferrably chocolate or blueberry) with no banana taste, and something that is REAL and healthy.
Thank you!
Try plain yogurt, frozen blueberries, 1 banana and some honey…recently discovered this and it’s really good (and blueberryish)!
You might add spinach too. I’ve been adding it to all our smoothies to make them healthier. It doesn’t have a taste at all so no complaints from my husband or daughter. The blueberries keep it from looking green so they hardly notice
Any ideas on what you can replace the banana with. Most smoothies have bananas as ingredients, but we are super allergic to them. Thanks!!
Honey would probably be the best bet…bananas act as a sweetener.
Thanks!! I will give that a try. My kids will be really excited when they hear the name!
Dates are another way to sweeten smoothies, and could be used instead of bananas. I use them to sweeten smoothies all the time.
Oh! In a pb&j smoothie you could totally use prunes as a sweetener. They have a jellyish flavor to them!
We are on Day 4 of mini-challenge #1! I made this today as a snack for my boys (ages 2 and 4) and they slurped it down! I made the rest into Popsicle that they are excited to have after dinner. Thanks for sharing this great recipe!!!!
Does this make just one serving?
No…3 or 4 servings depending on how big of a glass you go for.
I made this without the banana so yummy!!