Monday, April 9, 2012

Chocolate Protein Shake

It's chocolate. You'll just have to take my word for it.






































Before we suddenly cut out sugar and processed foods, I had a favorite workout recovery drink:

Dark chocolate almond milk, peanut butter, banana, and protein powder (or yogurt, when I wasn't feeling tough enough to put up with protein powder). Yum. So tasty, I would drink it even if it wasn't good for my muscle development!

Even after we went sugar/processed-free, we drank it.

Until I looked at the Nutrition Facts on the back of the almond milk. Yikes. There is a lot of sugar in them thar goodness.

So, because smoothies are an essential part of my happiness, and aid in the quick recovery of my puny muscles after an exhaustive (because I'm a wimp) weight-lifting session, I decided to reinvent the proverbial wheel. Or, more accurately, to come up with a way to have my chocolate and eat it, too. Without the sugar.

This is what I came up with:

1 C. No Sugar Added Chocolate Almond Milk (It in no way tastes like chocolate. 'Water' would be a better flavor-description)
1 Big Handful of Spinach
1 heaping tsp. Cocoa Powder (Bonus: Cocoa is actually good for you!)
1 Tbsp. Peanut Butter (Natural, no sugar kind, of course)
1 Frozen Banana
1 Drizzle of Honey (to taste - I like a DARK chocolate flavor, so I don't add much)
1/3 C. Plain (or Greek - barf!) Yogurt (I freeze mine for added frozen-ness) - optional, good added protein if you think you need it.

It's not much to look at (as you can tell - note the grayish-green hue), but it tastes delicious. And it doesn't have any nasty protein powder or processed sugar in it!

You'll need to double the recipe, because your kids will want some, too.

1 comment:

  1. Sounds yummy! Can I just say that I love that you don't like Greek yogurt. I kept hearing how wonderful the stuff was, so we got some. Yuck! Joel described it as barf, and I think that's just about right. I thought maybe there was something wrong with us, so it's refreshing to hear we're not alone!

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