If You Can’t Take the Heat…Don’t Turn on the Oven

By Liz Krieger

In an effort to stay cool during the rather oppressive early summer heat- and humidity-wave, I decided to step away from the stove, opt out of the oven, flee from flames, and avoid anything approximating hot, warm, sizzling, or seared.

Enter the blender and an inspired, healthy breakfast “milkshake” I hoped would satisfy my hungry husband who often complains that breakfast doesn’t stick with him long enough or just don’t really make him feel energized. On weekdays, however, there’s little time for scrambling eggs or doing anything fancier than dumping cereal into a bowl. So I decided to make a not-too-sweet, protein-packed, refreshing smoothie that we could sling back while getting ready for work.

I blended one cup of ice-cold Smart Balance™ Fat Free Milk and Omega-3s & Vitamin E, one ripe banana, plus about 2 tablespoons of Smart Balance® Rich Roast Creamy Peanut Butter—which added 7 grams of protein and 320 mg of ALA omega-3 fatty acids.

The result was delicious, and I almost feel guilty counting this as my “cooking” installment for the week, due to the aforementioned lack of heat involved. And really, it was so easy!! But on the other hand, breakfast rarely gets enough love and I am excited that I embraced the blender—it had been gathering dust in a dark cupboard. In fact, after this, the blender has received an accommodations upgrade: It’s now a fulltime resident of our kitchen countertop. (At least until the heat breaks.)