protein shake in a bowl

I know we talk a lot about protein shakes around here, but I'll be honest—if it's not wine, I don't love drinking my calories.  Drinking just doesn't say, "Wow, that was a great meal." like something that requires cutlery might.

Lucky for me, I found out that the addition of some gums transforms an ordinary protein shake into one that rivals one of my favorite foods of all time...frozen yogurt.  Frozen yogurt and I go way back; in fact, I'm pretty sure I lived on the stuff my final year of college.  A bowl full of the chunkiest frozen yogurt I could find, topped with Golden Grahams cereal, got me through many exams and morning shifts as a Starbucks barista.

Fast forward a couple years and I'm still a frozen dessert diehard, but I've cleaned up my act.  Dairy has been swapped for almond milk, Golden Grahams for organic, unsweetened shredded coconut and chocolate for unsweetened cocoa and mocha cappucino protein powder.  *Almost* the same?  As someone who had thought it'd be forever before I'd have anything close to fro-yo, the answer's a resounding "YES."

The gums and ice beef up a single-serving shake into a generous and filling bowl of creamy, almost-frozen yogurt. I happily have this for lunch, dinner or both.  Flavor combos are seemingly limitless, and it's a good excuse to buy all other kinds of mix-ins (can you say cacao nibs?!!?!).

Protein Shake in a Bowl
adapted from HEAB

1 cup Almond Breeze, unsweetened vanilla
1 heaping scoop protein (I used mocha cappucino flavor)
1.5 T unsweetened cocoa
10 drops vanilla stevia
1/2 tsp guar gum
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
ice

Blend everything but the ice.  Once mixture is smooth, blend ice in batches until it's thick like ice cream.  Stir or top with mix-ins.  Note: More ice is not necessarily better. If you add too much, you lose the flavor of the protein, so just add enough to get the consistency you want.

protein pre-funk

I went shopping today at Super Supplements, and by my enthusiasm, you'd think I was at Nordstrom with the $5000 Visa gift card from What Not to Wear in my pocket, but no...supplements really just make me that giddy these days.

I scored some MRM protein for 50% off, Amazing Grass Chocolate Superfood and a bottle of Glucomannan/Konjac root.  I haven't had the chocolate superfood before, but I read about it yesterday at Ohh May.  It immediately caught my attention because I've been feeling like a loser all week since Kelly posted about her green shake.  My fridge is just about never bursting with fresh greens like hers, so the chocolate superfood is my shortcut.  Do other sisters have a rivalry around who can make the greenest shake?  We like the healthy competition around here. :)

The konjac root is also a new supplement for me, so I'll update later with what I think of it.  It's essentially a pill that you take with a big glass of water that combines to create gel in your stomach and make you feel full (I presume, because you are...with konjac root gel, but I'm no scientist.).

And finally to get to this post's namesake, the protein pre-funk.  I'm going out drinking tonight, and since I ate a big and late lunch (chicken breast, roasted asparagus, apple), I wanted something in my stomach but nothing heavy--protein shake it is.

 
Of course I was pumped to try to my new supplement goodies, so here's what I blended:

scoop MRM protein (only 85 cals!)
scoop Amazing Grass Chocolate Superfood
3T chia gel
tsp maca powder
tsp cocoa
5 drops vanilla stevia
1 1/4c unsweetened vanilla almond milk
ice

I'll let ya'll know if my milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.  ;-)