Shamrock Shake

Overview:

• Yield: 1 serving
• Difficulty: Easy
• Time: 10 minutes

On March 17th, everyone is Irish, regardless of their country of origin! If you can’t party because of your diet, this delicious Shamrock Shake will allow you to join the festivities without trashing your fitness goals.

You can now politely pass up the green hamburger on the green bun, the green beer, and all of the other guilt-riddled green things in favor of something that tastes just as good (and is just as green)—a mouthwatering green protein shake!

If you are battening down the hatches and going after your goals hard right now with a strict diet, leave off the whipped cream and sprinkles. One trusted brand makes a sugar-free whipped cream that I have yet to try (but it may be an option for you). When your diet calls for more carbs than I’ve included in my shake, add a scoop of neutral-flavored Karbolyn.

You can get sugar-free Irish Cream flavoring syrup at specialty stores or online. If you wish to use regular Irish Cream coffee flavoring, beware it may have some pesky calories or corn syrup.

There are a few great-looking recipes online for making your own sugar-free Irish cream, but I’m going to spare you the effort and do it the easy way by using ready-made store-bought syrup.

You can color the shake in two ways: I used regular food coloring bought from the baking section in the supermarket. If you don’t want to use regular food coloring, you can find organic food coloring online or at a health food store or spinach leaves. Spinach leaves are lovely because they don’t have too much flavor but are packed with color and vitamins.

Ingredients:

• 1 serving of EFX Sports Vanilla Cream Wafer Protalyn® Whey Protein Isolate
• Food coloring of choice: beware—spinach adds a whopping 10-20 calories! (Don’t worry, it’s mostly fiber)
• Irish cream sugar-free syrup 1 tray of Ice cubes
• Neutral flavored Karbolyn, if desired
• 1 cup of liquid of choice (I use water, but you can also use unsweetened almond milk, it adds 30 calories)
• Whipped cream, if desired
• Green sprinkles—they have actual Shamrock sprinkles at art supply stores (also optional)
• 1 packet of stevia sweetener

Directions:

Put everything in the blender. Since all flavoring syrups are different, you may want to err on the ‘less is more’ side at first and only use a little. Blend and taste.

Then, add more until it tastes the way you want. If you are using green food coloring, it may take a few squirts to get the desired level of ‘greenness.’ If you are using spinach leaves to color your shake, let the shake settle before pouring it into a cup so you don’t get ‘leaf chunks’ in your last sip. Ick! Pouring it through a strainer will help, too.

Top with whipped cream and sprinkles if desired. May you experience the luck of the Irish and find yourself some sweet muscle gains at the end of the rainbow!

Nutrition:

Regular (without toppings):
130 calories
1g fat
2g carbs
26g protein

With Karbolyn:
330 calories
1g fat
2g carbs
26g protein