protein shake challenge - who wants to play?

Anybody having trouble finding a protein shake you like?  And I don't just mean one that you can choke down, but one that actually tastes pretty good?  Here's your chance to challenge some of us that have been down that road and have managed to find shakes we actually like.  And your chance to challenge yourself, too, to find new ways of getting the nutrition you need into your body and enjoying it.

Here's what you need to do.  Answer the following questions, then anyone that wants to jump in can make suggestions.  You need to be willing to try new things.  You don't have to try everything suggested to you, of course, but you need to be willing to try different things, even if you're not sure you'll like it. 

You don't need to go out and spend lots of money on ingredients, but you do need to be willing to buy a few new things if you don't already have them on hand.  For instance, if you don't like protein shakes because you always mix them with milk and it gives you terrible gas, you might be lactose intolerant so you need to be willing to try buying some soy milk or almond milk.

So, this is what we need to know (and if anyone thinks of any questions I didn't ask that would be good to know, please add them).

1.  What brands of protein shakes have you tried so far?  And what flavors?

2.  What are you mixing your protein powder with (skim milk, soy milk, water)?

3.  How are you mixing your shakes (in a blender bottle, in a blender)?

4.  What other ingredients have you tried adding to your shakes?

5.  What specifically have you not liked about the shakes you've tried?

6.  What sort of flavors do you like?  Do you like chocolate, or dislike chocolate?  Do you like coffee?  Do you prefer fruity flavors?

7.  Have you tried protein powder in warm drinks?

please let me know if anyone answers these questions, they will probe valuable to me in the near future, sue

1. Many brands...Syntrax, EAS, Body Fortress, Protizyme, Roundy's, Pure Protein, Bipro, GNC, Click, Slimfast, Bariatric Pantry, Atkins & a few others I've probably forgotten. 2. I mix with water primarily, occasionally with coffee. 3.Blender bottle, or shaken in a glass with a tight lid (tupperware) 4. SF puddings, syrups, PB2, crystal light, instant coffee, SF milk mixers. 5. The odd milky taste, especially with the "unflavored" Body fortress was especially nasty. 6. Vanilla anything. 7.I'm seriously addicted to protein coffee, especially vanilla latte Click. Sorry about the foremat, my typing skills are crappy.

Have you tried a spoonful of instant coffee (I use decaf, usually) in a vanilla shake?  I actually like to use Maxwell House International French vanilla mix (sugar free, decaf) but plain old instant coffee is cheaper so sometimes I buy that.  I think it does a pretty good job of covering up the protein taste and smell with at least most different brands of vanilla.

I've also been doing a lot of protein lattes lately.  My current favorite is a pumpkin spice latte.  I heat some water in a mug, and while that's heating I mix a scoop of vanilla protein powder with a couple ounces of soy milk.  I stir 'til I get a paste, then stir that paste into my warm water.  I add a spoonful of instant coffee, some sugar free french vanilla coffee mate and some splenda, then a shake of pumpkin pie spice.

I'm going to have to try that.  When I was little I used to eat the Maxwell international coffee by the spoon full.  Fortunately my mom didn't buy it that often.  (and no, she didn't know.) 

 Another tip if you like vanilla.. try mixing a small amount of vanilla protein powder with milk to get it smooth, then add hot tea or ho****er.  If adding ho****er, also try adding a little bit of extract flavoring, like almond and sprinkle in some cinnamon.  My latest thing I'm loving is hot chai tea mixed into my vanilla protein

MMMM sounds very tasty! I've been adding pumpkin pie spice to my cold shakes...warm coffe pumpkin spice just sounds better! Thanks for the tip, Kelly!

Yeah, I tried a cold shake the other day with vanilla protein, a spoonful of pureed pumpkin and some pumpkin pie spice and it did not turn out so good.  I drank about half of it and then tossed the rest.  It's working really well for me warm, though.

I make cold pumpkin shakes all the time. What went wrong with yours Kelly?

It just didn't taste good.  I'm not sure what exactly tasted bad about it.  Maybe I put too much pumpkin in it, though I don't think I used that much.  This is gonna sound weird since I've been doing the pumpkin cheesecake Greek yogurt thing all the time and the pumpkin spice latte every day, but I'm not really a big pumpkin fan.  At least not usually.  I don't even like pumpkin pie.  But for some reason this fall I've been craving pumpkin stuff.  How weird is that?  My pumpkin spice latte doesn't really have any pumpkin in it, though, it just has pumpkin pie spice.  But the cheesecake yogurt thing does have pureed   pumpkin.  But maybe I like the taste combined with cheesecake but not without it?  Maybe I need to try a pumpkin cheesecake  protein shake