Chocolate Banana Smoothie

(makes one serving)

One morning, I woke up craving a Chocolate Banana Smoothie from Starbucks. But there were a few problems:

1. The Starbucks version has dairy in it (and I'm not a huge fan of the soy substitute)

2. The Starbucks version cost $4.45, which is a lot for a poor college student like me

3. I had just woken up, and was in no condition to leave the house

So, I decided the only satisfactory alternative was to make my own. I gathered a few essential ingredients and threw them all in my food processor. Now since Starbucks was on the mind, when I tasted this smoothie, I thought it tasted exactly like the real thing (and hastily named it the Starbucks Clone Chocolate Smoothie). But having made this many times since, and having downed my share of actual Starbucks Chocolate Smoothies since, I've decided it does not taste exactly the same. In fact, I think my recipe is actually much tastier! 

Why? Well, it's less icy, more chocolatey, dairy-free, less expensive (this really does make it taste better, I promise).

But really, I prefer this easy, homemade smoothie to any other, and I frequently make it if I need to take a meal with me and eat on the go.  

Ingredients:

2 bananas, sliced and frozen 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

2 1/2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 Tablespoon honey, or to taste

1/2 teaspoon instant coffee granules (this is totally optional and to taste, but 1/2 teaspoon usually works for me)

1/2 Tablespoon canned coconut milk, or to taste

Directions:

Blend frozen bananas in food processor with vanilla, cinnamon, cocoa powder and coffee granules. When the mixture becomes thick, add the honey and coconut milk. Add coconut milk until the consistency is to your liking. I like mine very thick, so I only use 1/2 Tablespoon. 

Scoop into a glass and that's it! A healthy, filling, shake for any time of day.