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!

Cinnamon Peanut Butter Shake

Ok now...don't be shaking your head and asking if I've lost my mind! The two flavors go together really well as long as one doesn't overpower the other. And it's simple simple simple to make. You're still shaking your head! Have I ever steered you wrong? Well, besides the idea of dipping candy centers into ice cream fudge topping and hoping it would freeze. Any other time; especially on shakes? No! See? As the old tv commercial used to say, "Try it, you'll like it!"

Cinnamon Peanut Butter Shake

This is a variation of a vanilla shake, so start there. Add 2 tablespoons PB2 (I get it at the commissary. You can also order it from Bell Plantations) or 2 tablespoons peanut butter. Now add 4 teaspoons cinnamon vanilla creme coffee creamer. That's it! That's all you add to a vanilla shake to get this wonderful, delicious shake! It's my new favorite!!!

Banana Popsicle Shake

Have you ever had a cold banana popsicle on a hot summer day? They're so cold and refreshing...I just love 'em! This isn't a popsicle, but very cold and refreshing! Hmmm...I wonder how this would freeze in a popsicle mold? Or maybe make it into ice cream!

Banana Popsicle Shake

1-2 cups ice
1 tablespoon sugar free banana cream pudding mix
2 drops vanilla extract
sweetener, to taste (optional)
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.

Cinnamon Vanilla Shake

Do you remember how I told you to get creative with your vanilla shakes? Well I did this afternoon and was pleasantly surprised. I like the Cinnamon Vanilla Creme coffee creamer in my coffee at night sometimes. So I decided to try it in a vanilla shake. Oh.my.gosh! Yummy! Here's what you do...make a vanilla shake and add about 2 teaspoons or so of the coffee creamer. That's it! It's not too cinnamony (that can't possibly be a real word!), just really good. Try it out!

Lemon Blueberry Shake

Two of my favorite things...lemons and blueberries! Together! In a milkshake! Need I say more?

Lemon Blueberry Shake

1-2 cups ice
1 scoop vanilla protein mix
2 drops lemon extract

1/8 piece lemon (juice only), optional

2 tablespoons sugar free lemon pudding mix

1 ounce fresh or frozen blueberries

4-6 ounces 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.

Peppermint Patty Shake

This shake is one of Bob's favorites. His grandfather used to keep After Eight mints around the house and Bob loved them so when I saw mint extract in the supermarket I knew just what to do with it! It's pretty easy too. Make a Death by Chocolate shake and add several drops of mint extract before blending. It's that easy! If you use peppermint extract it's more like a York Peppermint Patty. Gotta love it!

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.

Mexican Chocolate Shake

Did I just hear another "WHAT?" coming from you? Mexican chocolate has cinnamon in it. I didn't know that until after I started making this protein shake. I saw them talking about it on Food Network. I just called it my chocolate cinnamon shake, but Mexican Chocolate Shake sounds so much more exotic, don't you think? Mexican chocolate can have other spices in it like allspice, nutmeg, nuts and even chilies. So if you want to be authentic, go for it! I might try the spices and nuts, but I think I'll leave the chilies out of my protein shakes, thank you very much!

So what's the recipe? Well here's the easy part...make a Death by Chocolate Shake with three shakes of ground cinnamon in it! Ta-da! Easy huh? Hey! Maybe I should get an Easy Button!

Good Old Vanilla Shake

Is your vanilla shake everything it can be? Or is it just kind of blah? I'll bet you think that with all the stuff I add into my shakes, I never drink a plain old vanilla shake. Well...you're wrong! Ha! I love love love my vanilla shakes. Are they plain? Well, that depends on your definition of plain. LOL! I add stuff to my vanilla protein powder to enhance the flavor and give me the vanilla shake flavor I want. And that's not plain!

Good Old Vanilla Shake

1-2 cups ice
1 tablespoon sugar free vanilla pudding mix
1 tablespoon regular flavor coffee creamer
1 pinch instant coffee
2 drops vanilla extract
sweetener, to taste (optional)
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.

Note...Get creative with your vanilla shake! I saw some french vanilla extract at Walmart today. Gonna try that soon. Get some french vanilla coffee creamer. Explore your vanilla!!!

Pumpkin Pie Shake

Nothing says Fall like pumpkins. You see them everywhere...carved for Halloween...pies for Thanksgiving. And now protein shakes! Best of all, you can have them any time of the year! This recipe was inspired by a shake recipe on BariatricEating, a wonderful online support group by Susan Maria Leach.

Pumpkin Pie Shake
(used with permission)

1-2 cups ice

1 tablespoon sugar free vanilla pudding mix

2 drops vanilla extract

1 teaspoon instant coffee

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 tablespoon sugar free caramel topping
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1/4 cup canned pure pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mix)
sweetener, to taste (optional)
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.

UPDATE ALERT!  A wonderful variation is to substitute sugar free butterscotch pudding mix for the vanilla pudding mix! It really brings out the pumpkin and caramel flavors! Go ahead...ask me how I know!

Peanut Butter Cookie Shake

Peanut butter cookies are wonderful! The smell...the texture...the taste...the sweetness. Well, I don't do well with the sweetness anymore. Even the best peanut butter cookie in the world is not worth "dumping" on the sugar in it. And yes, I could get a special sugar substitute and make some sugar free cookies, but there are two big drawbacks to that. #1-All those cookies would call to me (actually they would yell at me). #2-I have always hated baking cookies. I don't mind baking cakes or pies, just please don't ask me to bake cookies. But I still want that flavor, so you know I had to come up with a protein shake that tastes like a peanut butter cookie! FYI...this makes incredible ice cream!

Peanut Butter Cookie Shake

1-2 cups ice
1 tablespoon sugar free vanilla pudding mix
1 tablespoon regular flavor coffee creamer
1 pinch instant coffee
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 drop LorAnn peanut butter candy oil (all flavors are sugar free)
1 tablespoon peanut butter (or PB2)
sweetener, to taste (you want this to be a sweet shake to emulate a cookie)
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.

Note: LorAnn candy oils are very strong. You really only use 1 tiny drop per serving.

Lemon Chiffon Pie Shake

By now you've noticed that I name most of my protein shakes after candy or desserts. I used to have a huge sweet tooth before my weight loss surgery. If I could have figured out a way to justify dessert for breakfast, I would have! If I had a bad day at work, I'd call my husband and tell him I'd had a Baby Ruth day or a Snickers day, or whatever. He'd stop at the store and get me a king sized candy bar to eat when I got home. That was my attempt at control...to have him stop at the store. If I stopped I'd have bought more than one candy bar!

Lemon Chiffon Pie Shake

1-2 cups ice
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 pinch instant coffee
2 tablespoons sugar free lemon pudding mix
1 drop lemon extract
4-6 ounces 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.

Chocolate Covered Cherry Shake

Who does not like chocolate covered cherries? Raise your hand. All of you that raised you hand...you're lying! LOL! Everybody likes chocolate covered cherries! This is one of my favorite shakes and one of the first ones I invented.

 

Chocolate Covered Cherry Shake

1-2 cups ice

1 tablespoon sf chocolate fudge pudding mix

1 tablespoon Smucker's sf fudge topping

1 tablespoon Hershey's sf chocolate syrup

1 tablespoon chocolate coffee creamer

1 heaping teaspoon Hershey's Special Dark cocoa

1 tablespoon sf Nesquik

2 tablespoons Splenda Granulated
1 pinch instant coffee

2 drops vanilla extract

1 drop cherry extract

1 scoop chocolate protein mix

4 frozen cherries

1 dash salt

4-6 ounces Almond Breeze original almond milk

Put ice in blender. Add all other ingredients (adding the milk last). Use the ice crushing button on your blender to crush the ice. Blend shake, starting at lowest speed and working up to fastest speed. Pour into tall glass and enjoy!

Milk Dud Shake

Bob spotted some sugar free caramel topping in the store the other day. He thought maybe I could find a shake or dessert to use it in. Who me?!? LOL!!! Of course I can find a way to use it! So this afternoon when he wanted a Death by Chocolate shake, I thought I'd give the caramel topping a try. Then I remembered I had some butter extract from some awful recipe I tried a while back so I put a couple of drops of that too. It came out tasting like those wonderful, delicious, incredible Milk Duds that I used to eat by the handful! Who do you think was excited!

Milk Dud Shake

1-2 cups ice

1 tablespoon sf chocolate fudge pudding mix

1 tablespoon Hershey's sf chocolate syrup

1 tablespoon chocolate coffee creamer

1 heaping teaspoon Hershey's Special Dark cocoa

1 tablespoon sf Nesquik

1 scoop chocolate protein mix

2 tablespoons Splenda Granulated
1 pinch instant coffee

2 drops vanilla extract
2 drops butter extract
1 tablespoon Smucker's sf caramel topping

1 dash salt

4-6 ounces Almond Breeze original 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.

Apple Cider Shake

I don't normally like apple flavored things. Sour apple gum is horrible! Apple candy (when I used to eat candy) is awful! But I always did like apple cider. So when a friend at my local support group gave me a packet of sugar free apple cider I got excited. Of course you can make it according to the directions, but why not make an apple cider protein shake! I have only made it cold but there's no reason you can't make it hot during the winter. I'll post that recipe after I make it. Of course it's going to have to get colder than 70F for a hot apple cider shake!

I find this at Walmart

Apple Cider Shake

1-2 cups ice

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

1 tablespoon sugar free vanilla pudding mix

1 envelope sugar free apple cider mix

2 drops vanilla extract

1 good pinch instant coffee

sweetener, to taste (optional)

4-6 ounces 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.

Chocolate Orange Shake

I used to get those chocolate oranges for stocking stuffers at Christmas. You know the ones...you smack the bottom of the orange on the table and the segments come apart. Then you put one of the segments in your mouth and they're so creamy and delicious. How can they be so chocolatey and orangey at the same time? My first Christmas after my gastric bypass surgery, I wanted my chocolate orange...well, kind of. I wanted that flavor, but definitely not all that sugar and fat. The solution was so simple I can't believe it took me that long to think of it! Now I can have a chocolate orange whenever I want!

Chocolate Orange Shake

1-2 cups ice
1 scoop chocolate protein mix
1 tablespoon chocolate coffee creamer
1 tablespoon sugar free chocolate pudding mix
1 tablespoon no sugar added chocolate Nesquick
1 teaspoon sugar free cocoa
1 tablespoon sf chocolate syrup
1 teaspoon sf fudge topping
sweetener to taste (optional)
2 drops orange extract
4-6 ounces 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.

Butterscotch Shake

For some unknown reason, I bought a box of sugar free butterscotch pudding mix one day. I don't like butterscotch pudding so it had never even entered my mind to make a butterscotch shake. I choose to believe that it was God inspired. He must have known that at some point I would want a savory shake. Okay, I know butterscotch is sweet, not savory, but with my sweet tooth, it's about as savory as I'm going to get! I have butterscotch shakes mostly in the morning when I don't feel like eating breakfast. If I have a shake for breakfast, it's usually a Happy Accident Hazelnut Frappe or a Butterscotch Shake.

Butterscotch Shake

1 1/2 to 2 cups ice

1-2 tablespoons sf butterscotch pudding mix

1 scoop vanilla protein mix

1 pinch instant coffee

1 tablespoon Hershey's sf chocolate syrup

sweetener, to taste

4-6 ounces almond or soy 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.

Dreamsicle Shake

Okay, I started this blog to post tips and recipes. I never said the recipes were going to be difficult or time consuming, so just get that thought out of your head right now! This shake takes about two seconds to make and is...well...dreamy!

Dreamsicle Shake

1 1/2 - 2 cups ice

1 tablespoon sugar free vanilla pudding mix

1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 scoop vanilla protein mix

1 tube Crystal Light Classic Sunrise Orange

sweetener to taste (optional)

4-6 ounces almond milk (or soy 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.

Happy Accident Hazelnut Frappe

For my shake one morning I wanted something savory rather than sweet so I decided to make a Hazelnut Frappe. Well I messed up and put too much instant coffee and too much hazelnut creamer and it just didn't taste right. So I improvised and came up with an even better hazelnut frappe. This shake was so good I couldn't put it down and sip every once in a while. I just held it and kept sipping until I was done!

Happy Accident Hazelnut Frappe

1 1/2-2 scoops ice
2/3 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons instant coffee
3 heaping teaspoons sf hazelnut creamer
1 scoop vanilla protein mix
1 tablespoon sf vanilla pudding mix
2 drops vanilla extract
1 tablespoon sf chocolate syrup
1 dash salt
sweetener to taste

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.

Purple Cow

Did you just say, "WHAT?" Let me explain! When I was a kid in Lake Charles, LA there was a small burger stand a few blocks from our house. Oh my gosh...they had the absolute best burgers in the entire world. Maybe that's why I couldn't get enough hamburgers pre-wls; I was trying to satisfy my burger hunger with the wrong burgers! Nah - I was just greedy! LOL! And they had a shake called the Purple Cow. They just mixed a vanilla shake with some grape soda. This was loooooong before Sonic thought about doing the same thing too. So when I started making my protein shakes, I thought about the Purple Cow. I made it with Wyler's grape kool-aid (in a single serving tube) and it was a beautiful shade of purple! Tasted yummy too. Well, I haven't been able to find the Wyler's for a while, but Kroger brand makes a grape so I use that. Sadly it's not purple. :( It just looks like a plain old vanilla shake. But it has that same crazy Purple Cow flavor!

Purple Cow

1 1/2 - 2 cups ice
1 tablespoon sugar free vanilla pudding mix
2 drops vanilla extract
1 tube sugar free grape kool-aid mix
1 scoop vanilla protein mix
4-6 ounces Almond Breeze almond milk (or any milk you like)
sweetener to taste (optional)

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.