Indulgently Healthy Chocolate Shakes
by Dylan Sabuco
Photo by Brent Hofacker/Shutterstock.com
prep time
20 minutes
cook time
makes
4-6 servings
Indulgently Healthy Chocolate Shakes
A frosty pour that's the perfect blend of creamy milk, rich cocoa, and just the right touch of banana goodness!
Happy & Healthy Cooking,
Chef Erin, Food-Geek-in-Chief
Fun-Da-Mentals Kitchen Skills
- blend :
to stir together two or more ingredients until just combined; blending is a gentler process than mixing.
- measure :
to calculate the specific amount of an ingredient required using a measuring tool (like measuring cups or spoons).
Equipment Checklist
- Blender (or pitcher + immersion blender)
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
scale
1X
2X
3X
4X
5X
6X
7X
Ingredients
Indulgently Healthy Chocolate Shakes
- 2 C milk **(for DAIRY ALLERGY sub dairy-free/nut-free milk)**
- 2 frozen bananas
- 2 T pure unsweetened cocoa powder, dark or regular **(for DAIRY ALLERGY check label for small amounts of dairy; for CHOCOLATE ALLERGY sub carob powder + sugar or honey—more info below)**
- 2 C ice
Food Allergen Substitutions
Indulgently Healthy Chocolate Shakes
- Dairy: Substitute dairy-free/nut-free milk. Check the label of the cocoa powder for dairy ingredients; use pure, unsweetened cocoa powder.
- Chocolate: For 2 T pure, unsweetened cocoa powder, substitute 2 T unsweetened carob powder + 1 T sugar or honey.
Instructions
Indulgently Healthy Chocolate Shakes
1.
measure + blend
This drink is simple to make. Measure the following into a blender (or pitcher for use with an immersion blender): 2 cups milk, 2 frozen bananas, 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, and 2 cups ice. Blend until smooth. Cheers!
Photo by Daria Lixovetckay/Shutterstock.com
Hi! I'm Banana!
“I'm such an 'a-peeling' fruit, I'm just going to have to tell you a little about myself! Bananas are very popular. We're long and curved, and we typically have a yellow outer layer (like some raincoats!) called a peel or skin. After peeling a banana, you can eat it whole; slice it into cereal, salads, or desserts; and mash it and put us on toast or add us to pancake or banana bread batter. Be careful not to throw your banana peel on the floor, or someone might slip on it!"
History
- The Latin scientific name for banana is "musa sapientum," or "fruit of the wise men."
- The first recorded mention of bananas is from the 6th century BCE. They were represented in Egyptian hieroglyphs.
- Bananas may have been Earth's first fruit and the first fruit cultivated by people. The first banana farms were in southeast Asia.
- The phrase "going bananas" came about because monkeys love bananas!
- India produces over 26 percent of the world's bananas. In the United States, Hawaii grows the most bananas.
- There are a few cultures, especially Japan's, where the fiber from the banana plant is used to make fabric and sometimes even paper.
- The world's record for the longest banana split is 4.97 miles. In March 2017, Innisfail, Australia, residents made it using 40,000 bananas, 660 gallons of ice cream, and 528 gallons of topping. It took hundreds of volunteers 12 hours to prepare the banana split.
- People like their bananas! Worldwide we eat more than 100 billion bananas each year! Of those, Americans annually eat about 27 pounds of bananas per person. But we don't eat as many bananas as the Ugandan people. Their average consumption each year is 500 pounds per person!
Anatomy & Etymology
- What appears to be a banana tree is actually an herbaceous flowering plant (the world's largest).
- A banana plant can grow an inch or more while you sleep at night, eventually growing from 10 to 25 feet high.
- Botanically, a banana is a berry.
- Since commercially-grown bananas do not contain seeds, you cannot grow a banana from seed unless you can find someone who sells seeds from the wild fruit. Otherwise, new plants are grown from offshoots or suckers of the banana plant.
- A single banana fruit is called a finger, and a cluster of fruit is called a hand. There are 10 to 20 fingers on each hand.
- About 75 percent of a banana's weight is water.
- Because bananas are less dense than water, they are able to float.
- Wild banana varieties include bubblegum pink bananas with fuzzy skins, green-and-white striped bananas with orange sherbet-colored flesh, and bananas that taste like strawberries when cooked.
- The word "banana" may have come from the West African Wolof word "banaana," through late 16th century Portuguese or Spanish. However, it could have come from the Arab word "banan," meaning finger.
How to Pick, Buy, & Eat
- Bananas ripen best if growers pick them when they are still green.
- Don't separate a banana from the bunch if you want it to ripen more quickly.
- Putting bananas in a sealed container, like a brown paper bag, will hasten them to ripen, especially if you add another type of fruit to the bag.
- You may have noticed that organic bananas often come with plastic wrap around the top stems of a bunch, but you can also wrap yours at home. Tightly wrapped stems will help bananas last three to five days longer.
- Try peeling a banana from the bottom up toward the stem to avoid dislodging the stringy vascular tissue running down the length of the fruit inside. Those strings are called "phloem" (pronounced "flom").
- Banana peels are actually edible if cooked.
- Once you peel a banana and it comes in contact with air, it can begin to turn brown. Sprinkling lemon or pineapple juice on a cut banana will prevent this.
- Don't be surprised that the banana peel turns brown or black after being refrigerated—it won't affect the fruit inside. This darkening happens because the cold breaks down the skin's cell walls and causes compounds in it to oxidize.
- You can put ripe or overripe bananas in the freezer and then add a frozen banana to your blender when making a smoothie instead of ice. You can also insert a popsicle stick into one end of a banana, freeze the banana, then dip the frozen banana in chocolate melted with a little oil. If desired, roll the coated banana in toppings like nuts, coconut flakes, or sprinkles, then refreeze for a chocolaty, nutritious frozen dessert.
Nutrition
- Bananas contain vitamin C, potassium, fiber, and vitamin B6.
- Bananas have 31 percent of the daily value of vitamin B6! This vitamin strengthens your nervous and immune systems. It also is needed for your body to make serotonin, a hormone that elevates mood.
- About half of all people allergic to latex may also be allergic to bananas.
History of Milkshakes!
Photo by Karla Ferro/Shutterstock.com
- A milkshake, or a shake, is a cold beverage made by blending ice cream, milk, and other ingredients like chocolate, fruit, and nuts.
- Although the word "milkshake" was first seen in print in 1885, it began as a word for a "healthy" eggnog-type of whiskey drink. By the turn of the 20th century, it referred to a more wholesome dairy version made with milk or malted milk, sugar, and crushed ice.
- In 1922, Ivar "Pop" Coulson, who worked at Walgreens, added ice cream, and the modern milkshake was born! Malted milk powder was sometimes added to make a "malted milkshake" or "malt."
- Milkshakes and malts became popular at drugstore soda fountains, diners, and burger spots, and we still love them!
- Popular milkshake flavors include chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla, but you can also get them in banana, coffee, cookies and cream, date, mint, mint chocolate, peanut butter, salted caramel, and more!
Let's Learn About the United States!
Photo by JeniFoto/Shutterstock.com (July 4th Picnic)
- Most of the United States of America (USA) is in North America. It shares its northern border with Canada and its southern border with Mexico. It consists of 50 states, 1 federal district, 5 territories, 9 Minor Outlying Islands, and 326 Indian reservations.
- The country's total area is 3,796,742 square miles, globally the third largest after Russia and Canada. The US population is over 333 million, making it the third most populous country in the world, after China and India.
- The United States of America declared itself an independent nation from Great Britain on July 4, 1776, by issuing the Declaration of Independence.
- The Revolutionary War between the US and Great Britain was fought from 1775-1783. We only had 13 colonies at that time! On September 9, 1776, the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia and declared that the new nation would be called the United States.
- The 13 colonies became states after each ratified the constitution of the new United States, with Delaware being the first on December 7, 1787.
- The 13 stripes on the US flag represent those first 13 colonies, and the 50 stars represent our 50 states. The red color of the flag symbolizes hardiness and valor, white symbolizes innocence and purity, and blue symbolizes vigilance and justice.
- Before settling in Washington DC, a federal district, the nation's capital resided in New York City and then Philadelphia for a short time. New York City is the largest city in the US and is considered its financial center.
- The US does not have a recognized official language! However, English is effectively the national language.
- The American dollar is the national currency. The nickname for a dollar, "buck," comes from colonial times when people traded goods for buckskins!
- Because the United States is so large, there is a wide variety of climates and types of geography. The Mississippi/Missouri River, running primarily north to south, is the fourth-longest river system in the world. On the east side of the Mississippi are the Appalachian Mountains, the Adirondack Mountains, and the East Coast, next to the Atlantic Ocean.
- On the west side of the Mississippi are the flat Great Plains, the Rocky Mountains (or Rockies), and the West Coast, next to the Pacific Ocean, with several more mountain ranges in coastal states, such as the Sierras and the Cascades. Between the coasts and the north and south borders are several forests, lakes (including the Great Lakes), rivers, swamps, deserts, and volcanos.
- Several animals are unique to the US, such as the American bison (or American buffalo), the bald eagle, the California condor, the American black bear, the groundhog, the American alligator, and the pronghorn (or American antelope).
- The US has 63 national parks. The Great Smoky Mountains, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Zion, and the Grand Canyon, with the Colorado River flowing through it, are among the most well-known and visited.
- Cuisine in the US was influenced early on by the indigenous people of North America who lived there before Europeans arrived. They introduced beans, corn, potatoes, squash, berries, fish, turkey, venison, dried meats, and more to the new settlers. Other influences include the widely varied foods and dishes of enslaved people from Africa and immigrants from Asia, Europe, Central and South America, and the Pacific Islands.
What's It Like to Be a Kid in the United States?
- Education is compulsory in the US, and kids may go to a public or private school or be home-schooled. Most schools do not require students to wear uniforms, but some private schools do. The school year runs from mid-August or the beginning of September to the end of May or the middle of June.
- Kids generally start school at about five years old in kindergarten or earlier in preschool and continue through 12th grade in high school. After that, many go on to university, community college, or technical school.
- Spanish, French, and German are the most popular foreign languages kids learn in US schools.
- Kids may participate in many different school and after-school sports, including baseball, soccer, American football, basketball, volleyball, tennis, swimming, and track and field. In grade school, kids may join in playground games like hopscotch, four-square, kickball, tetherball, jump rope, or tag.
- There are several fun activities that American kids enjoy doing with their friends and families, such as picnicking, hiking, going to the beach or swimming, or going to children's and natural history museums, zoos and wild animal parks, amusement parks, water parks, state parks, or national parks. Popular amusement parks include Disneyland, Disney World, Legoland, Six Flags, and Universal Studios.
- On Independence Day or the 4th of July, kids enjoy a day off from school, picnicking, and watching fireworks with their families.
- Thanksgiving is celebrated on the last Thursday in November when students get 2 to 5 days off school. Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa are popular December holidays, and there are 2 or 3 weeks of winter vacation. Easter is celebrated in March, April, or May, and kids enjoy a week of spring recess around that time.
- Barbecued hot dogs or hamburgers, watermelon, apple pie, and ice cream are popular kid foods for 4th of July celebrations. Turkey, dressing, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie are traditional Thanksgiving foods. Birthday parties with cake and ice cream are very important celebrations for kids in the United States!
That's Berry Funny
Why are bananas never lonely?
Because they hang around in bunches!
Lettuce Joke Around
How do you make a milkshake?
Give a cow a pogo stick!
THYME for a Laugh
What would you call two banana skins?
A pair of slippers.
THYME for a Laugh
"Knock, knock!"
"Who’s there?"
"Imogen."
"Imogen who?"
"I can’t imogen life without chocolate!"
