Being my first official day as a post grad is one of the most surreal experiences of my life so far. To realize that at the end of this summer I am not packing up and heading back down to school just feels… off.

Don’t get me wrong. I am glad to be done and moving to the next stage in my life, but it is just weird to think about when it really sinks in.

That being said I am definitely going to be enjoying this summer to the fullest. I have tons of plans already being made. A list of things that need to get done. And an even longer list of new delicious recipes and posts that I am going to be creating for all of you all summer long. Let me know if there are any recipes you would like to see me do or veganize. It is always fun for me to see what Food posts people enjoy the most.

All of this thinking about the future and moving forward has actually caused me think about the past. Now I am not going to get sappy or anything. Most of my thought have mainly been about the food of my childhood.

It seems as though most of the foods that people think of when they think of comfort foods stem from the foods they ate as a child. But no matter, what different foods you liked growing up it seems as though a Peanut Butter and jelly sandwiches are universally loved and a comfort food.

A sandwich isn’t necessarily what I think of when I think of home cooking. It isn’t anything complex or elaborate. Just a solid piece of bread with Peanut butter and jelly.

I don’t know why this just seems to be the quintessential food of childhood. I never ate it for lunch at school. It might have been something I had on occasion at home, but I can’t think of why it is so comforting. There has to be some psychological thing or a microchip in our brains to make us all susceptible to the PB&J powers.

Instead of fighting these powers, I decided to give into them and take this beloved food and make it into a completely different form. Instead of a solid, I liquefied the PB&J. After writing that sentence I actually, physically, cringed. I apologize.

But, cringiness aside, just like the PB&J, it seems as though most people I know like smoothies even though they don’t qualify them as comfort foods. This made me think, why not combine the two?

The best part of this recipe is that because it is a smoothie at its core, it is a little lighter than an actual PB&J sandwich, although it has all of the taste of one. This makes it the perfect snack to have at any time of the day without filling you up too much and ruining your next meal. Or forcing you to take a nap like most comfort foods often do.

The smoothies that I usually make always involves bananas and peanut butter somehow, Whether that be in a chocolaty concoction, with berries, or simply on its own. I don’t know what it is but the combination but it is just one of those flavor combos that is oh so good. So this recipe was right up my alley as I decided to include a banana to give the smoothie a creamier consistency.

Also, being the sweet tooth fanatic that I am, I decided to switch out the obvious choice of a non-dairy milk to make the smoothie creamier in favor of apple juice. This helped to cut through the thickness of the peanut butter while highlighting the sweetness of the berries.

It even got a thumbs up from my younger sister one of the mornings I made a double batch. If you don’t know my sister, this impressive considering before 10 AM she looks (and acts) a lot like a creepy little cave creature from the Lord of the Rings.

Putting my smeagle-like sister aside, this is probably one of my favorite smoothies I have made. The combination of the sweet and savory is perfect and has found that right balance that just makes it an amazing way to start the day or a perfect little pick me up in the afternoon.

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