There is no flavor combination better than peanut butter and chocolate in my book. God bless the person who decided to marry those flavors together. And God bless the person that created the sweet little peanut butter and chocolate candy bar cups that I love (they may be the same person for all I know). Have you ever tasted a cheesecake, brownie, or pie with chocolate and peanut butter???? Oh my. Heavenly tasting indeed!

The one thing all of those decadent food items I just named have in common (besides peanut butter and chocolate) is that they are all DESSERTS. I am endeavoring to divorce myself from desserts this year. Well, actually just break up for a while with occasional visits only. My point is, me and desserts have been seeing way too much of each other lately, and it is always at my expense.

My efforts to replace some of those sugary snacks led me to my local organic market to find out what healthier options were out there, if any. I had been hearing about cacao nibs and cacao powder, so I decided to check them out. Cacao is the bean that chocolate is made from, and it reported to be full of antioxidants. I started with a small package of the nibs, and they had a decent chocolate taste. I did not buy any cacao powder, and I am glad I did not. I discovered my Hershey’s Cocoa Powder I use for baking boasted that it was “natural unsweetened” and 100% cacao. I thought I would start there. It’s not organic, but for me, it’s a step in a great direction. I did grab a container of peanut butter, and I do mean the organic, all natural container that literally only has one ingredient– ground peanuts. In fact, the store had the machine available where you could grind the peanuts and get the peanut butter yourself. They had the same options available for almond butter, too. I enjoyed the peanut butter. It gave me the peanut butter taste I love, minus all the sugar. Did I mention it is a great source of protein and fiber?

Now that I had my two favorite ingredients together, it was time to start creating with it. The first and only thing I have made so far is this healthy chocolate peanut butter shake. I loved it! Here’s how I made it.

Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Shake

1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder*

2 teaspoons Hershey’s Cocoa Powder

1 tablespoon all natural organic peanut butter

1 cup original unsweetened almond milk

5 ice cubes

chia seeds

Blend all the ingredients together in a **blender until completely uniform in color. Top with organic chia seeds for an added health benefit as chia seeds are great for curbing those snack cravings. See Dr. Oz video about them  here.

*I used vanilla whey protein because I like the way it tastes over most of the chocolate flavored whey protein powders out there. Be sure to try to vegan friendly protein powders if you are on a plant based diet.

**There are plenty of pricey blenders out there, but I use this inexpensive Oster 6706 6-Cup Plastic Jar 10-Speed Blender, Black. 

By the way, I do no eat bananas, but I imagine they may be a great addition to this shake.

Let me know your thoughts on this recipe in the comments. I love hearing from you!