Smooth, rich, and just sweet enough, the perfect milkshake combines all three of these without being over the top. That’s why you’re going to love our Chocolate Banana Date Shakes made with real food ingredients that are packed with protein and live probiotics for gut health from Lifeway Kefir. Our Whole Milk Plain Kefir used in this recipe is lactose-free and rich in billions of live and active cultures that allow you to indulge in dessert with benefits and no sacrifices.
These Chocolate Banana Date Shakes blend our kefir with Medjool dates, an incredible source of minerals including magnesium, iron, and potassium plus B vitamins, fiber, and antioxidants known as polyphenols that are gut-healthy. Bananas are one of nature’s best sources of prebiotic fiber, potassium, magnesium, and B vitamins, and they’re also rich in pectin, a soluble fiber that soothes the gut and regulates digestion. Cacao powder is one of the most antioxidant-rich foods on the planet you can enjoy and brings beauty benefits for the skin, heart health benefits, is an excellent source of magnesium and iron, plus offers a nice dose of real food fiber to support digestion.
Bananas and dates are both naturally sweet, but their intact fiber and other nutrients helps your body process them differently than refined sugars and slows down the absorption of their natural sugars in the blood stream. Lifeway Kefir’s fermentation process also helps support healthy blood sugar levels making all these ingredients terrific ingredients to use in healthy desserts.
So grab your blenders and discover what dessert is like when you make yours with Lifeway. Don’t forget the homemade chocolate syrup on top!
The Benefits of Cultured Dairy for Better Health:
Research continues to show the importance of eating healthy foods, including cultured dairy such as kefir, for optimal digestion and gut health, a strong immune system, and to support the microbiome. Fermented foods like kefir hold important value in this line of research due to the link between the gut-brain axis and overall health. Specifically, kefir has been shown to help diversify the microbiome, improve digestion, reduce inflammation, support healthier blood sugar levels, and improve satiety since the bioavailable protein it contains triggers the release of GLP-1.
Lifeway Kefir is packed with variety of vital nutrients important for overall health, including bone and muscle health; these include vitamin D3, K, calcium, and vitamin B12. Along with our probiotic-rich kefir, Lifeway also offers artisan-made Farmer Cheese, a creamy high-protein cheese made with live and active cultures to support healthy muscles and healthy microbiome. Lifeway Farmer Cheese is easy to spread, free of gums and thickeners, and contains no added salt or sugar for optimal health benefits.
Prep Time: 2-3 mins Servings: 2Ingredients
- 2 cups Whole Milk Plain Kefir
- *or Organic Whole Milk Plain Kefir
- 4 Medjool dates, pitted
- 2 frozen bananas
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 2-3 tbsp. raw cacao powder or dark cocoa powder
- 1 tbsp. raw almond or cashew butter
- handful of crushed ice
- garnishes: raw cacao nibs or dark chocolate chips, homemade* or store-bought chocolate syrup, nuts, banana slices
Directions
- To a high speed blender, add the kefir, Medjool dates, frozen bananas, vanilla, cacao or cocoa powder, raw almond or cashew butter, and a handful of crushed ice. Blend until thick and frosty.
- Pour into 2 glasses, then add any garnishes you like. We topped ours with homemade chocolate syrup; you can also add crushed nuts, slices of fresh banana, and raw cacao nibs or dark chocolate chips.
- *To make your own homemade chocolate syrup, combine 2-3 tbsp. dark chocolate chips, melted, then drizzle over the shakes. Or, you can also use 3 tbsp. cacao powder combined with 2 tbsp. raw coconut oil (slightly melted) until it turns into syrup.
