Palm Springs Memories: Banana-Walnut Date Shake/Smoothie featuring Almond Breeze

Palm Springs Memories: Banana-Walnut Date Shake/Smoothie featuring Almond Breeze 

Almondmilk Coconutmilk Vanilla Unsweetened

I am re-posting this post that I featured awhile ago for two reasons. One, I was craving dates the other day and wanted to make this shake/smoothie again and two, as part of the Blue Diamond's Tastemakers group, I was given a carton of their  Almondmilk Coconutmilk Vanilla Unsweetened to use in a recipe. Luckily, I had already used this very milk in this recipe and it works fantastically! 

Here is the original post.....makes me want to go back to Palm Springs too!! 

Okay, it's been awhile again! I have just been enjoying the time being a mom to my little one. We have been taking Stroller Strides exercise classes and attending our local library for story time.  Besides that, I've finally started cooking interesting meals again, as well as attempting to bake......   moving to a place with high altitude has been a challenge!

Since life with a newborn definitely changes your schedule and time, creations in my current kitchen need to be quick and easy!

So thankfully, the Vitamix came out of hiding and we've been making this smoothie/shake a lot! It is made with simple healthy ingredients but tastes a lot like ice cream. Plus, it is made with dates (one of my favorite foods!) which makes me miss living in California and reminds me of my fun trip to Palm Springs last year.

My Mom, Grandma (90 years old!), and I headed on a girls weekend to Palm Springs to see The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies before it ended it's run that began in 1992.

There was a huge event going on in town, and it was hard finding a reasonable priced hotel. Luckily, I came across a wonderful charming gem called La Maison. La Maison is a small Mediterranean boutique hotel with charming rooms, a nice relaxing pool, and a great location. The innkeepers were very friendly, and Richard will even make you made to order lattes in the morning! I highly recommend this cute hotel that is away from some of the louder touristy areas. Plus, it's in walking distance to Native Foods, a great locals Italian place, and a cupcake shop (for the drive home, of course)!

Oh and there is a resident Inn dog too!

Try the eggplant parm pizza at Giuseppe's!

Cupcakes for the drive home!

View from our room

L'occitane bath products

Palm trees in Palm Springs

Lavender satchels to take home :)

                                     

If you didn't know, the Coachella Valley is the "Date Capital of the World." Palm groves have thrived there since the 1800's. Dates are something I just love (I ate a ton of them while pregnant and use them in my Biscoff Dough Balls). If you go to Palm Springs, you can't leave without getting a famous Date Shake! There are places selling them all over but we stopped in at Great Shakes and their Date Walnut shake was delicious!!! They serve all of their shakes with an adorable mini-donut on the straw too. This retro themed shake shop is a must!

Since it is currently a blizzard outside in Denver, I made this shake today to remind me of the nice warm weather (we went in April) in Palm Springs! It's quite a bit healthier too :)

BANANA-WALNUT DATE SHAKE

Makes 2 servings

Ingredients:

2 cups Almond Breeze Almondmilk Coconutmilk Vanilla Unsweetened

2 frozen bananas

1 cup ice

1/2 cup walnuts

8-10 dates (the more you add the sweeter it will be)

2 TBSP flax seed meal

1 tsp Almond extract

Instructions:

Place all the ingredients into a blender in the order above. Blend until smooth!

Recipe inspired by: Meaningful Eats

Ciao,

Betsy

~This post is sponsored by Almond Breeze Almondmilk. All opinions are my own.~