Pepino Melon-Banana Protein Smoothie

I recently found Pepino melons at the grocery store. I had no idea what they were or what they tasted like but I was curious. So I bought a few.

These are Pepino melons:

They are about the size of a lemon. The skin is very thin and smooth, almost like the skin of a plum. They have a very sweet banana-like fragrance.

After I got them home, I had to look them up on the interwebz to figure out how to eat them.

It turns out that the whole thing is edible, just like a plum. Just wash it and take a bite! The flavor is pretty sweet. It tastes like a cross between a cantaloupe and a banana. They are very juicy so be prepared with napkins. You can tell they are ripe by the purple stripes along the side, those don't show up until the fruit is completely ripe.

Since I had this fabulous fruit sitting in my fridge and I also happened to have a couple of almost-too-ripe bananas in the fruit bowl, I made a smoothie. It was thick and creamy. Sweet with a unique taste of banana and melon.

Pepino Melon-Banana Protein Smoothie

Ingredients

1 Pepino Melon
1 Ripe Small/Medium Banana
1/2 Cup Unsweetened Soy Milk
1/2 Cup Water
1 Scoop Vanilla Protein Powder
1/8 Teaspoon Xanthan Gum (optional)
5 Ice Cubes

Directions

Cut the fruit into large cubes and add to the blender along with all of the other ingredients. Blend until smooth.

This packs a punch calorie and carb-wise but if you are using it as a meal replacement, go ahead and put in a full cup of milk instead of doing half water/half milk. You could also add in another banana for more carbs if you are drinking it right after an extremely vigorous work-out.