A cool pick-me-up

It's not especially hot in Seattle, but after a long, cool spring and early summer it has finally arrived, and I'm still adjusting to what heat we have (keep in mind that few people in Seattle have air-conditioning...we simply don't need it enough days of the year to make it a worthwhile investment). 

I had an upper body weight lifting workout planned, but after an afternoon spent working in my increasingly hot and stuffy office (then doing some yoga in my hot, stuffy yoga/sewing room), I was drooping and feeling uninspired. 

I've recently been curtailing my habit of afternoon coffee (for no particular reason...I don't have trouble sleeping or anything). But I know that a cup of joe gives a boost to a workout, so coffee it was! But I also wanted a little bit of quickly digestible nutrition to help fuel my workout, so I decided to make what I call "faux Vivanno." Some of you may know that Starbucks used to sell a few flavors of smoothies that they called Vivannos. Now they just call them smoothies. My favorite was the banana-chocolate with a shot of espresso added. Yum.

I had cold brewed coffee in the fridge. I had a ripe banana. I was ready.

I put 3/4 cup (6 ounces) of the coffee in the blender with the banana, a scoop of chocolate whey powder, and enough ice cubes to reach the consistency I wanted. I've made this previously with more milk (almond or cow) and less coffee, but I do NOT recommend making it with yogurt. I did this once, it tasted nasty (I do love yogurt in smoothies I make with bananas and berries).

This was cool and icy and caffeinated and not too heavy and the perfect thing to take the edge off the heat. I had a great workout...in my slightly cooler basement.