Easy banana date shake recipe (vegan-friendly)

Every time I go to Palm Springs, I always tell myself I’m going to order a date shake. It’s a sweet and creamy milkshake with lots of nutritional value that gets most of it’s flavor and sweetness from dates. Date shakes are synonymous with the Palm Springs and the surrounding desert area. Makes sense since dates have been growing there for over 100 years. Hard to believe the “Date Capital of the World” is just a two hour drive from Los Angeles.

But if you can’t make that drive out to Palm Springs, you can make your own date shake at home. I actually made this one for breakfast the other day and it’s very easy to make – especially, if you have a Vitamix. The photo below shows you the ingredients I used – yes, just four ingredients! You can actually get away with three and make it vegan since the yogurt is optional. I wanted some tanginess with my date shake so I added some Noosa honey yogurt.

Banana date shake ingredients.

Banana date shake recipe
(Serves one person)

1 banana
1 cup almond milk
4 medjool dates pitted and diced
1/2 cup vanilla or honey flavored yogurt (optional)

When you have your ingredients, put it all into your mixer. I put mine in my Viamix and mixed on high for about 30 seconds. If you want your shake to be thicker, you can use a frozen banana and add 1/4 cup of ice.

The result is a light and frothy shake that is less sugary than the recipes that use ice cream or gelato. Plus, it’s easy to make this vegan-friendly since the yogurt is optional and you’re using almond milk instead of regular milk.

Easy chocolate covered strawberries recipe [vegan friendly, RECIPE]

I’m going to a 4th of July BBQ and I volunteered to make dessert. I asked if there were any dietary restrictions and my friend said it would be great if I could make something vegan-friendly. I said yes without thinking. But later I realized most of the stuff I make uses butter or eggs so I couldn’t use my go-to dessert recipes. But then I realized, dark chocolate is vegan – just read the label though because some name brands can skimp on the cocoa and add milk… more on that later.

The recipe doesn’t take a long time to make and it’s a great dessert for groups. You don’t need serving spoons or knives – just pick it up and eat! Best part, you just need 2 ingredients to make it:

1. 12 oz. chocolate chips (semisweet chocolate) – read ingredients to make sure there aren’t any animal products in the chocolate
2. 2 dozen medium sized strawberries

I admit I read every bag of chocolate chips in the baking aisle in the store. Interesting bit is that not all semisweet chocolate chips are made the same. The ones that were more inexpensive had some milk or dairy mixed in but the more pricier chocolate chips didn’t and I assume it’s because it had a higher cocoa content. I ended up going with Guittard real semisweet chocolate but the Ghirardelli all natural semisweet also works if you can find it in stock at your grocery store.

So you have your goods, now what?

1. Wash your strawberries and dry thoroughly.
2. Lay a clean sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
3. Get a pot and fill it with water halfway and put it on the stove with medium heat. Get a metal bowl and put it on top. I have a bowl that’s slightly bigger than the pot so it sits nicely on top and doesn’t sink into the water. Don’t use glass or plastic.
4. Put the chocolate chips inside the bowl and get a wooden spoon to stir s the chocolate melts. Use a wooden spoon so it won’t scratch your bowl like metal or plastic spoons.
5. Once the chocolate has melted, turn off the stove and grab your strawberries.
6. Dip your strawberries halfway and swirl in the chocolate. Lift up and let the excess chocolate drop off and place the strawberry on the parchment paper that’s on the cookie sheet. Once you’ve put it there, don’t move it around or you’ll have a chocolaty mess.

Once you’re done, let it cool outside for about 15 minutes then put it in the fridge for a couple hours. In less than 3 hours, from start to finish, you’ll have your chocolate covered strawberries for your party!