More love for Mama Pea today. One day I may make something from her cookbook and hate it, but so far everything is amazing. I have made more of her recipes than I’ve blogged about because duh, there’s a heap ton of deliciousness happening around here. Eventually, you’ll see it all and read my words of ass kissing wisdom.

Anyhoo.

You love chocolate, yes? Of course you do. Almonds? Natch. Cherries? Well, unless you’re my sister then you are probably also down with cherries (I swear sometimes her weird I love this I hate that makes it tricky to be an amazing kitchen goddess/sister but I try to work around it). I will not give you the recipe, because as I mentioned before, I am encouraging you to buy the book (and no, no one is asking me to push this book I just think it’s worth pushing). The very title of the recipe gives away the gist of the recipe, but there is more to it than you’d assume. Also, the commentary before each recipe is worth the book alone.

This is my new go-to for a post-workout chocolate craving. Well for any time of the day chocolate craving. Does anyone else work out really excessively and then want to wreck all their hard work with chocolate?! No. You’re a liar. A dirty liar. This smoothie is great for those times because it calms the chocolate beast enough to get on with your day aaaaand they’re mega healthy for you!

So so so good! I like to make it a little thicker than a smoothie and eat it like ice cream.

So I mentioned last week that this year, I’m cooking and baking my way though Peas and Thank You‘s cookbook (you can grab the Kindle edition for 7 and change here). Usually I don’t start with the very first recipe but after my workout this morning I needed a smoothie and I had been wanting to try this one as soon as I read it.

I love this book so much, I’m not going to post any recipes from it. Yeah that’s right, I want you to buy it. I will however, give you the gist and tease you with photos of all the yummy creations I make from it. ‘Mama Pea’ as she refers to herself, is a fun and witty writer, her cookbook has about as many funny stories as recipes and I love it even more for that. The story behind this smoothie involves a whole lotta good natured teasing of her husband’s love for Tommy Bahama. Hi-larious.

This smoothie combines three things I love but have never put together; blackberries, ginger and basil. When I mentioned this to my dear friend Gill she thought it sounded like a winner, when I mentioned it to another dear friend who shall remain nameless I got ‘who knew??’ <- that's 2 question marks, people. So it's a flavor combo that might not sound amazing - but believe me, it totally is. I ment to have one small cup - I had two and then I insisted Wee One #3 finish off the rest of the batch to keep me from drinking it all. She liked it too! It's exactly the right kind of refreshing feeling I need post workout when I'm all flushed and pink and staggering off to the shower.

This is a winner and will definitely be used in full rotation in my kitchen!