Chocolate Peanut Butter Milkshake

Chocolate Peanut Butter Milkshake

I really had chocolate and peanut butter in mind when I created my Chocolate Raspberry Milkshake.  What’s not to love about chocolate and peanut butter?  Granny was the first to introduce me to the combination with chocolate peanut butter ice cream.  I don’t mean the crappy peanut butter ice cream with chocolate chunks.  I mean the rich chocolate ice cream with peanut butter swirls.  Peanut butter M&Ms came out when I was in college, but I didn’t like the peanut butter inside so I continued to dip my plain M&Ms in my jar of peanut butter.   Nowadays, it’s a schmear of peanut butter or other nut or seed butter on a square of Lindt 85% chocolate.

What really inspired this milkshake was a restaurant not far from where I lived once I moved out of the dorms and on my own.  KC Drive-In made what they called, Ono Ono Shakes.  It was a peanut butter shake made with ice cream and you could have it on its own or with strawberries or chocolate.  Yep.  I got the Chocolate Ono Ono Shake.  By the way, ono means good in Hawaiian.

Sadly, KC Drive-In closed down not long after I moved to Kentucky.  They were all sad to lose such a good and loyal customer.

I jest.  About the latter, not the former.

I had a conversation with a friend who happened to be visiting O`ahu not too long ago about KC Drive-In.  That got me wanting a Chocolate Ono Ono Shake.  A healthier updated version.

This does not having anything frozen in it, but you could use ice cream, frozen coconut milk (ice cube trays are not just for water!) or ice.  It will still feel like a shake even without having the same texture.  I liked making it with So Delicious coconut milk because it didn’t call for pre-planning or prepping anything ahead of time like freezing the milk.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Shake – Serves 1

600ml So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk (or other milk alternative, or even milk)

2 tablespoons peanut butter

1 1/2 tablespoons raw cacao powder

1 tablespoon raw local honey or your favorite sweetener

Place all ingredients in a blender and blended until thoroughly mixed well.  If you use ice cubes, frozen milk cubes, or ice cream.  Place about a cup in the blender before adding the coconut milk and fill with the liquid to the 600ml mark.

Chocolate Raspberry Milkshake

Chocolate Raspberry MIlkshake

Okay, so my cousin with a degree in Culinary Arts will tell me that since this is dairy-free, that it’s not really a milkshake.  Just like my dairy-free, refined sugar-free isn’t really ice cream.  A matter of semantics?  Or just holding to tradition?  I mean, the aforementioned are both made with milk alternatives.  They are both like milk, they just don’t contain dairy since some of us don’t like or do well with dairy.

I made this one morning to go with my breakfast.  Yes, a milkshake with breakfast.  A wholesome milkshake made with So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk , raw cacao powder (full of iron, magnesium, and antioxidants), and raspberries (full of iron, magnesium, and antioxidants, too!) turned into Gigi’s Naked Berry Bread Spread.  I swear I’m going to use that stuff in a cookie and if you ever try it, you’ll never want to buy jams or jellies again.  I woke up with this in my head and I just had to have it.

There are quite a few variations you can do with this.  You can freeze the milk in ice cube trays for a delicious frozen treat.  You can mix the raw cacao powder with the milk before freezing.  You can use fresh raspberries, frozen raspberries, or raspberry jam.  The ingredients I used have no added sugar or sweeteners so you will have to sweeten this to your liking.  I used raw local honey.  If you use agave nectar, stevia, or other types of non-refined sugars, go right ahead.  Play with this.  That’s the best part of this hobby is playing with my food.  If you enjoy playing with your food, kitchen time doesn’t feel as tedious.   The next time I make this, I’m adding hemp protein!

Chocolate Raspberry Milkshake

600ml So Delicious Unsweetend Coconut Milk (or other milk alternative, or even milk if you can tolerate it)

1 1/2 tablespoons raw cacao powder

2 tablespoons Raspberry Naked Berry Bread Spread (or same amount of raspberry jam or 1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries)

1 tablespoon raw local honey or other sweetener (adjust to your liking)

Place ingredients in blender and blend well until everything is smooth.  If you use raspberry jam, make sure to cut down on the amount of sweetener you use.

Adopt-A-Gluten-Free-Blogger: Gluten-Free Gigi

Naked Berry Spread on Pancakes

Have you met Gigi, yet?  We met through Brittany Angell (mastermind of Real Sustenance) several months ago and the food wavelength we share is amazing.  It’s really funny how I’ll be thinking about making something and then she goes and posts something similar.  Well, that means I really have to make what I was thinking, right?  Right.  My Lemony Slaw was one such dish.  We both love simple and she really masters simplicity.  As I declared on Twitter, Gigi is a genius.  Just call her Genius Gigi.

I think this adoption is the most I ever made from one blogger.  It was everything I kept telling myself I have to try and just never got around to it.

Last week Saturday Chaz was in Illinois for his Japanese Tea Ceremony class and I happened to open at work that day instead of close.  I came home and washed berries I bought earlier that week for my Berry Beet-O-Full Juice and still had plenty left.  I left them to dry while I soaked in a bubble bath.   I made Gigi’s Naked Berry Bread Spreadwith those berries – blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries.  Her recipe states it’s best if the berries have never been refrigerated, but these were and I was just trying to use them up before they went bad.  The beauty of the spread is that it

Kale Chips with Rosemary & Sea Salt

is just the berries.  Nothing else.  No added sugar or sweetener.   I had to try it right after making and wound up toasting an Udi’s hot dog bun.  Yes, a hot dog bun.  Chaz ate all the hot dogs without the buns so I was just trying to use up the buns.  The spread was incredible.  I immediately decided the spread needed pancakes.  So, the next morning I made pancakes from Elana’s Pantry and topped them with the spread.  I sat outside on the lanai with my book and a cup of coffee.  Best lazy breakfast I’ve had in a long time.

I’ve been wanting to make kale chips for a while.  Especially after seeing a small amount on sale at Whole Foods for $7 and some change.  Ridiculous!  My best friend, Stick, makes them and we discussed her method along with getting a dehydrator.  I would love a dehydrator, but another small kitchen appliance is not in the cards for me right now after having to replace my crock pot.  Lo and behold, Gigi made Kale Chips with Rosemary and Sea Salt that were savory and easy.  Meaning, I didn’t really have to think about it.  I made about double the recipe and it was hard not to eat them all in one sitting.  Yay for healthy snacks!

If you follow Gigi, you know she’s been playing with avocados and using them in baked goods and raw foods.  I decided to

Choco-AVO-late Brownie with Raw Nut-Free Fudge as frosting

pair her Choc-AVO-late Brownies with her Raw Nut-Free Fudge.  I fixed the fudge while the brownies were cooling and then used the fudge as a “frosting” on the brownies.  I also did a sub in the brownies.  I used coconut crystals instead of sugar.  Coconut crystals made things less sweet for me, which I love.  As a whole, the brownies and fudge came out bittersweet, which is how I prefer my chocolate these days.  Chaz saw the recipe for the fudge a few days before I made it and said something like, “Avocados in fudge?”  Then he joked about what is traditionally in fudge.  To his credit, he did try the brownies and fudge, but I was at work when he did.  He didn’t care for it.  But he’s still hooked on sugar so I knew it wouldn’t be sweet enough for him.

Last but not least I made Gigi’s Tarta Marathoriza with her Basic Press-In-The-Pan Pastry.  I was in heaven while pressing in the pastry.  One of my favorite things to make before going gluten-free was quiche and pies.  I loved making the pastry crust, rolling it out and setting it in the pan.  I got that same pastry smell while pressing in Gigi’s pastry crust as I would get when rolling out gluten-full pastry.  The same.  The taste wasn’t the same, but I think that’s more due to the tapioca flour I have than the fact that it is gluten-free.  The aroma was the same though and that is what mattered.  If you’ve ever seen a conversation between me and Gigi, you know how much we love coconut creamer.  I use it for everything that calls for heavy cream.  Everything.  The Tarta Marathoriza was like having real quiche again.  I’ve had crustless quiche,

Tarta Marathoriza

but to me, crustless quiche is just a frittata.  Quiche is all about a flaky crust for me.  No offense to anyone out there who makes crustless quiche!  I know several of you do and I’ve made them, they are wonderful, but just not quiche to me.  This was quiche.  In fact, I want to make her pastry crust again and change up the ingredients for more quiche!

Yes, Gigi is a GENIUS!