Cinnamon Gingerbread Shake

When the stores start carrying the holiday flavors of coffee creamers, I start collecting them! Pumpkin Spice, Peppermint Mocha, Gingerbread, Eggnog...oh my! So many flavors to play with in a vanilla protein shake! I still have some gingerbread from last Christmas and made this shake this morning. Oh so yummy!

Cinnamon Gingerbread Shake

1 cup unsweetened almond milk
a few drops vanilla extract
1 scoop vanilla protein mix
1 rounded tablespoon cinnamon vanilla creme coffee creamer
1 rounded tablespoon gingerbread coffee creamer
sweetener to taste
1 teaspoon coffee creamer (optional)
1 tablespoon vanilla pudding mix
1-1 1/2 cups ice

Pour milk into blender; add extract and have blender stir. Add all the dry ingredients and continue stirring. Add ice and crush then puree. Pour into glass and enjoy or make into delicious ice cream!

Caramel Apple Crisp

I wanted something for dessert tonight so I grabbed a can of no sugar added apple pie filling while I was at the grocery store this afternoon. It's Fall! You have to make something with apples in the Fall! I had apple crisp on my mind and knew I had some oatmeal at home so I thought I could either find a good recipe or figure it out for myself. Well, I found a great recipe on this blog. Linda Farnsworth is a great cook and is so generous to share so many of her recipes.

So now you've got the apple crisp recipe, what about ice cream? C'mon! You can't have apple crisp without vanilla ice cream on top!  Well...here you are! Wonderful, tasty, and nutritous protein ice cream.

Vanilla Ice Cream

1 Good Old Vanilla Protein Shake (make sure you blend until thick and very frothy)

Ice cream maker (I use this one)

Start your ice cream maker and slowly pour your vanilla shake into the ice cream maker. I like to cover the hole in the top with aluminum foil to help keep in the cold. Set your timer for 20 minutes. When it's done you can eat it right away (as soft serve) or pack it into a container and freeze for about an hour. We usually eat ours as soft serve, but when I'm going to put it on top of a dessert I like to freeze it for a little while so it doesn't melt all over my lovely sweet dessert.

Cherry Vanilla Shake

Cherry Vanilla ice cream was always one of my favorite ice creams. So of course I had to translate that into a protein shake. Which, by the way, also makes an awesome ice cream. Just chop up some defrosted cherries and mix into the ice cream when it comes out of the ice cream maker.

Cherry Vanilla Shake

1-2 cups ice

1 tablespoon sugar free vanilla pudding mix

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

1 tablespoon regular flavor coffee creamer
sweetener to taste (optional)
2 drops cherry extract
5 frozen cherries
4-6 ounces milk (I use soy or almond milk)

Place ice in blender. Add the rest of the ingredients, ending with the milk. Set blender to crush ice, then blend on lowest speed and building up to highest speed until shake is thick and frothy.

Ice Cream

I love ice cream! I don't care if it's winter and freezing outside...it's warm in my house and I love to eat ice cream! After weight loss surgery, we can get sick from eating sugary foods. And I don't know about you, but anything even remotely sugary sweet just gags me now. Even sugar free ice cream from the store is not the best thing for you. It's got a lot of sugar alcohols. So I don't get it often. But when I can make low fat, high protein ice cream at home in less than half an hour I can eat it any time I want to!

To make ice cream you need an ice cream maker. I use the kind that you freeze the bowl. I just keep mine in my deep freezer (in a large freezer ziplock bag). Then when I want to make ice cream, I just pull it out and get it going.

The next step is to make a protein shake. Whatever flavor you want. Plain or fancy. Just make it thick and frothy. When it's done, start the ice cream maker and slowly pour in the shake through the top of the ice cream maker. Set a timer for 20 minutes (If you have the same ice cream maker as I do. If you don't, follow your manufacturer's directions.) and go find something to do until your ice cream is ready! Here's a tip: my ice cream maker has a hole in the top so I put a small piece of aluminum foil over it to keep the cold in.

When your ice cream is done, spoon it out into a large bowl. At this point, fold in any mix-ins that you have. For instance, if you want to make Rocky Road, get a small sugar free chocolate bar, partially freeze it, chop it up, and fold it in to your ice cream. I've even made Moose Tracks ice cream this way! Just think about what kind of ice cream you want and figure out the mix-ins you need! Easy peasy! I like mine as soft serve so we eat ours now. If you like it more like store-bought, you can pack it into a smaller container and freeze for half an hour or more. Now there's only one more thing to do...EAT YOUR ICE CREAM!!! Just remember that this is a protein shake. It will be filling, so it's not a dessert to be eaten right after dinner! Don't even bother asking me how I know this. LOL!

Strawberry Shake

Mmmmm...a good strawberry shake takes me back to when I was a kid. Long summers going to the beach, riding my bike everywhere, and stopping for a strawberry shake on the way home. I know that these protein shakes are good for my health, but that doesn't mean they can't taste yummy too! Huh, I've just made myself crave a strawberry shake. Maybe I'll have one as my bedtime shake. LOL! 

Strawberry Shake

1 1/2 to 2 cups ice

1 tablespoon sugar free vanilla pudding mix

several drops strawberry extract

1 ounce (about 2-3) frozen strawberries (add more if fruit sugar is okay for you)
1 tablespoon Hershey's sf strawberry syrup (optional, I don't anymore)

2 teaspoons Smucker's sf strawberry topping
1 scoop vanilla protein mix

8 ounces almond milk (or whatever milk you like)

sweetener to taste (optional)

Pour liquids in blender and set to stir. Add dry ingredients and keep stirring. Add strawberries and ice.Set blender to crush the ice, then keep raising speeds
until it's blending at it's highest speed. Blend until thick and frothy. Pour into a big glass and enjoy!

This shake also makes a great ice cream!