When I was in L.A. last month, I spent a day wandering around Los Feliz. I loved it. There were restaurants everywhere, cute shops, and a park with a view of the city. There was also the Punchbowl.

I discovered the Punchbowl as I was wandering down side streets in Los Feliz. It’s a tiny shop with all vegan, raw, organic food. “Very L.A.,” I thought to myself.

I’d just eaten my body weight at Sqirl (a nearby bakery/lunch joint) so I decided to walk all the way up N Vermont Avenue and circle back. By the time I got back to the Punchbowl I was ready for a smoothie.

The Punchbowl has every kind of vegan shake, smoothie, and juice you could imagine. I ordered the “Banana Date,” which had banana, cashew milk, cinnamon, dates, and vanilla bean. I took one sip and I almost blacked out. It was that good.

I woke up missing the shake this morning so I decided to try to recreate it at home. I blended a banana with a few dates, some vanilla extract, almond butter, cinnamon, and almond milk. I’m not going to lie and tell you the resulting shake was as good as the one at the Punchbowl, but it came pretty close. I’ll have to settle for that for now.

Feel free to sub out other milk for the almond milk and omit the almond butter. I liked using the almond butter because it made my shake thicker and gave it a more complex flavor.

Here’s a song to jam out to while you drink your shake. I rediscovered it recently and I couldn’t believe that I’d gone so long without listening to it. Also, I aspire to Gloria’s fashion in this video.

Banana Date Smoothie

Ingredients

1 banana
3 dates, pitted
1 heaping Tbsp almond butter
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions

Blend all the ingredients together in a blender on high until smooth. Pour into a glass and top as desired. I used vanilla maple granola and coconut flakes. Enjoy!