Chocolate Peppermint Smoothie

I realized the other day the one of the most under used appliances I own is the VitaMix. You see, my mama actually owned it first. She soon realized that she didn't need it because it was initially purchased for juicing fruits and vegetables. Once she got her handy dandy juicer the VitaMix took a back seat and stayed hidden in the lower corner cabinet. One day I mentioned to mama that I needed a new blender and she offered up her VitaMix. CHA-CHING!! I really felt like I had hit the jackpot.

Not long after I got the VitaMix from mama I found myself putting it in my lower corner cabinet and forgetting about it. I knew that I could come up with something to use it for other than the occasional run of milkshakes. That's when I decided to start making my own coffee house drinks.

One of my favorite frozen blended drinks is only served around the holidays.... it's the chocolate peppermint frappuccino. Having some leftover candy canes from Christmas, I decided to make one of my own at home.... IN THE VITAMIX! As you've probably noticed, I also decided to call it a smoothie (it makes it feel healthier to end the name of it with "smoothie"... don't judge).

Here is how I do it:

I start with a half cup of ice cubes. I put them directly into the blender and then pour the milk directly over the ice. I just pour the milk until ice is barely showing. If you like yours thinner you can add more milk of course.

Then I unwrapped the miniature candy canes (4 of them gave it just enough refreshing mint flavor for me) and added them to the blender.

As you can see in the picture I also added chocolate syrup. Now just turn the blender on and run it until the ice has been completely crushed and the mix is well blended. In the VitaMix it only takes about 20 seconds total.

Here is the finished product.

If you really wanted it just like they are served at coffee houses you could add whipped cream and top it with chocolate syrup and crushed peppermint candy canes, but this was good enough for me.

This is so easy and simple I'm going to continue to experiment with differnt flavors