Cashew Date and Banana Smoothie

If there is one think that has nothing in common with smoothies, juicing and healthy living, it is truckers.
Hi.
Let me tell you about my dad. My dad is a country music listening, truck driving man. He once found a dead rattle snake-skin on the side of the freeway and stopped his big rig somewhere in Arizona so he could collect his rattle snake-skin.  (Eventually the goal was to make a belt out of the rattlesnake skin. This was at least three years ago and a few days ago I saw the rattlesnake skin in the garage. As of this day, it is still not a belt yet)

My dad loves Alabama and shooting his guns. I’m sure he’s the only democrat in the NRA.
Smoothies and juicing are not his cup of tea.
When I was eighteen years old my dad taught me and my best friend to drive his eighteen wheeler one sunny autumn afternoon.    his little adventure happened in the Santa’s Village parking lot. Santa’s Village was this awesome eighties theme park in our home town that was set among Santa Clause, Reindeer and the North Pole. It went out of business in the early nineties, Santa was forced to retire and who knows where the reindeer went. The plaster mushrooms they used to have all over the park were sold on ebay and you still see them in peoples front yards around our mountain town, a reminder of the good old days.    People in our home town still talk about how much we loved that place. We grew up riding the Matterhorn roller coaster and most of our parents worked their in the summers to make extra money.

My last real memory of Santa’s Village though involved trying to figure out how to shift from twentyish gear to twenty-first gear in an eighteen wheeler one sunny autumn afternoon. I loved so much growing up in our little mountain town. I can guarantee none of my friends had memories like mine to look fondly back on!

Here is a recipe for my favorite breakfast smoothie. My dad would not drink this!

 Cashew Date and Banana Smoothie

1 cup raw cashews
3 cups water
3 dates, pitted
1 vanilla bean, scraped

1 tsp cinnamon
Ice cubes
2 bananas
3 tsp walnut butter ( or cashew)

Cover the cashews and dates with water and let sit over night.
Combine the cashews, 3 cups water, the scraped vanilla bean and dates in a blender.
( from here you can save some of the cashew milk for later or make a big portion.)

To make 1 smoothie combine 1 cup cashew milk, 1 banana, 1 tsp cinnamon, 3 ice cubes and 1 tsp nut butter in the blender.

This cashew milk is so delicious but has a short shelf life. I try to use it within three days.