protein smoothie

Protein Smoothies To Jump Start Your Day

January 13, 2014

Protein Power!

Our friend from Canada, Rachel Girardi, M.Sc., recently shared two of her favorite protein-packed smoothie/shake recipes.  These holiday favorites are perfect for those wintery days and for every season!  Enjoy!

Candy Cane Smoothie (makes 1)

Ingredients:

  • 1 scoop of vanilla whey isolate protein
  • 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk
  • 2 X 1″ chunk of frozen banana
  • 1/2 tsp of peppermint extract
  • 1 tsp of vanilla extract
  • sprig of mint (if you feel like being fancy)
  • couple of ice cubes

Directions

  1. Blend all of the ingredients (except the mint sprig) in your magic bullet or blender, pour and top with mint and you’re good to go!!

Nutritional Information (*numbers may change depending on the brand of protein used)

Calories: 178
Fat: 2.8g
Carbs: 9g
Fibre: 2g
Protein: 29.6g

Egg Nog Smoothie (makes 1)

eggnog smoothie

Egg Nog – you either love it or hate it…or love it but hate the calorie count! Here’s a great alternative for the egg nog flavour without the egg nog. Plus as an added bonus it’s loaded with healthy fats and fibre so it will keep you full all morning!

Ingredients

  • 1 scoop of vanilla whey/egg protein
  • 1 cup of unsweetened almond milk
  • 1/4 avocado
  • 2 X 1″ chunk of banana
  • 1/4-1/2 tsp of nutmeg
  • 1/4-1/2 tsp of cinnamon
  • 1/4-1/2 tsp of all spice
  • 1/4-1/2 tsp of ground cloves
  • 1/4 tsp rum extract
  • couple of ice cubes

Directions

Depending on how spicy you like it, you can play with the amount of the spices mentioned. If you don’t happen to have all of these in your pantry, you can substitute in 1-1.5 tsp of pumpkin pie spice and it will have a similar flavour (but if you have them, the separate spices tend to make it more flavourful and egg-nog-esque!). Blend all together and then top with an extra sprinkle of cinnamon!

**TIP: I hate having the ‘half-cut’ banana on my counter, so for those of us who don’t use whole bananas at a time, take some bananas, break them into 1″ chunks and freeze them. That way you can easily grab one of two pieces for your smoothie, get the great texture of the banana in your smoothie but not have to look at the brown banana on your counter until you finally use it up. You’ll also never need to worry about having fresh bananas on hand!

Nutritional Information (*numbers may change depending on the brand of protein used)

Calories: 258
Fat: 10g
Carbs: 14g
Fibre: 5g
Protein: 30g

 Share some of your favorite protein smoothie/shake recipes below!

rachel

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Rachel Girardi, MsC graduated with a Masters in Psychology from the University of Western Ontario in 2007. Her philosophy is that fitness, nutrition and lifestyle cannot be looked at in isolation. She combines her love of fitness and good food to help her clients improve their health and the quality of their lives. Her main goal is to figure out how to fit “healthy” into your life while still letting you live it.

Read more articles by Rachel!