Breakfast Smoothie Number 2

Let's get 2014 off to an easy, healthy start shall we? I go through phases of making smoothies and shakes. I get bored of washing the blender! But this adaptation of a Nigella Express recipe is one of my favourites. It feels like a treat but isn't that bad for you at all and you can adapt it in several ways.

My basic version consists of:
1 peeled banana quartered and frozen
150ml skimmed milk
1 tbsp honey
1 sachet Apres Chocmalt
1 tbsp peanut butter

Gather your ingredients

Pop all of these in a jug or shaker and use a hand blender to blitz until smooth. I get a much smoother result this way, rather than using a blender. I often transfer this into a flask to have on the move or just to keep it cool until I get to work. There's quite a stock of bananas that were about to expire in my freezer which are perfect for making smoothies with. I used to resort to banana bread as a way to use over-ripe bananas but there's only so much cake a girl can eat. Here are some variation suggestions, most of which I've employed at some point.

• Use almond, hazelnut or soy milk instead of cows milk
• Substitute any other nut butter for the peanut butter
• Use 1tsp of instant espresso powder (or Kenco Millicano) instead of the peanut butter for a caffeine hit
• Add a tablespoon or two of oats to turn this into a more filling "thickie"
• Swap the Apres Chocmalt for chocolate powder or protein shake mix. There are loads of flavours on the market so a chocolate, banana, banoffee, vanilla, toffee, mocha or latte version would work really well. If you go for an unflavoured version I'd suggest adding 1tsp of cocoa powder too. You may need to add a little more liquid to this mix

There you have it, a delicious breakfast drink that you can adapt to suit your diet. I found that making this with a sachet of Apres gives you a really rich chocolatey drink that is very satisfying. If you try this, especially with any of the adaptations, I'd love to know what you think.

Setting myself up for an hours work out at the gym