Dark Chocolate Raspberry Smoothie

I came up with this delicious smoothie Sunday afternoon and just had to share it with you! My husband bought me a Ninja for my birthday a few weeks ago and it is perfect for making smoothies {among many other things}. It just blends it to a perfect consistency!

This is a fairly healthy smoothie so it's pretty much the perfect treat for a warm day. Down here in the Southeast, we've got a lot of those days ahead of us so I'm keeping the freezer and pantry stocked with these favorite ingredients.

Here's what you need:

a handful of ice cubes

1/2 banana, peeled

1 cup of frozen raspberries

1/2 cup of almond milk

a few dark chocolate chips or square of dark chocolate

and the secret weapon...... 2 tablespoons POM juice

Add them all to the Ninja or the blender and pulse or blend it til you get it to the consistency you want. Pour into a glass. Add your favorite straw and sip away!

Makes enough for one 12 oz glass.

This will have a thicker consistency. If you want it thinner, add more almond milk. Thicker, add more banana. If you'd like it to taste more chocolatey, add a tsp or two of pure cocoa powder.

Be prepared to share. Once the family finds out how delicious this is, you'll have to make more.

Hope you love this as much as I do! Thanks for stopping by!

Revolution Doughnuts {Atlanta, GA}

This past weekend, I went to Atlanta for a girls' weekend and found the best doughnut place ever! My friend texted me the night before we left and told me about this neat looking doughnut shop so I looked it up online. The website itself makes you want to get in the car and head right there. But there was one thing that really jumped out at me.

The little symbol (v) next to several of their doughnut flavors. That (v) is highly important to me because it stands for Vegan and in my world that means egg-free and dairy-free. So, it only took me a second to jump on board with adding Revolution Doughnuts to our bucket list for the weekend. Vegan doughnuts? Sign me up. And that's exactly where we went Sunday.

We arrived around noon to the shop in Decatur. We had thought about trying out the Revolution Doughnuts at one of the Farmer's Market locations (there are three of them), but because of the time, we decided to just hit the shop to be sure we could still get some fresh doughnuts.

When we arrived the line was out the door and that seemed to be the norm. Everyone patiently waited and believe me, it was completely worth the wait!

I chose to buy the Bacon & Salted Caramel and the Dark Chocolate for the Hubs and I and then I bought Raspberry Sprinkle doughnuts to bring home to my girls.

I had to try the Bacon & Salted Caramel in the shop. You just can't leave without trying one on the spot! It was heavenly.

I love that their doughnuts are a nice spongey texture and have some substance to them. I ate half of my doughnut there and brought the other half home with my others. It was delicious. I ate another the next day and it was still very good. Definitely better fresh from the store, but the next day was still yummy. They state on their website that they do not ship doughnuts because they are better fresh, so you'll have to find a way to get to Atlanta to have one of these delicious treats!

My daughter with the egg, dairy and peanut allergies LOVED her raspberry sprinkle doughnut! It was the very first 'real' doughnut she has ever eaten in her 8 1/2 years of life. I know there's always a fear of cross contamination, etc., but our experience was wonderful without any allergic reactions. I let her try a few bites of the doughnut the day I brought it home and then made her wait until morning to finish it just to be sure there was no reaction.

Revolution Doughnuts states that all of their doughs, glazes and fillings are made from scratch free of trans-fats, and made by people, not machines. They use organic flour and high quality ingredients.

You will love the unique flavors! And don't forget the yummy teas and coffees they have! It's such a cute place!

I plan on making this a definite stop on every trip I make to Atlanta in the future. I hope you'll give them a try, too!

Thanks for stopping by!