Oh, those delicious Shamrock shakes. Those cool, minty, green shakes that McDonald's offers for a limited time every year that can reduce most of us into puddles of joy. Each sip is a minty explosion of happy in your mouth but the price you pay is 530 calories and 73 grams of sugar for a small (12 oz.) or 820 calories and 115 grams of sugar for a large (22 oz.). I thought I could do better. So, I tried. And failed. Repeatedly. Until I discovered a lactose-free variation that is also low in sugar and high in fiber. The best part is the taste. It has that creamy minty taste for only 230 calories but with the added bonus of 20 grams of fiber and 1 gram of sugar!
After trying three completely different recipes with the goal of being:
tastes like a Shamrock shake
low in sugar
lower in calories
green
I came up with this recipe last night and tried several versions this morning with each shake tasting delicious, creamy and with that signature vanilla-minty taste. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as our family has. This is definitely something I can see making again when we're craving something cool on a summer's day.
Healthier Shamrock Shake Recipe
(230 calories, 20 grams of fiber, 1 gram of sugar, lactose-free)
Ingredients
1 cup of So Delicious No-Sugar Added Vanilla Bean Frozen Coconut Milk
1/2 cup of No-Sugar Added Coconut Almond Milk
1 teaspoon Sugar-Free Peppermint Paddy flavored syrup
optional: Non-Fat No Sugar Added whipped cream or soy-based whipped cream, mint leaf
Directions
Combine all ingredients in blend and bledn just until smooth.
Pour in glass and top with optional whipped cream and mint leaf.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
And The Epic Failures
Typically you don't see the recipes that failed but these recipes failed so epically that I had to share them. I dissected the ingredients in the Shamrock shake and looked online for other recipes to inspire me. I bought ingredients at both Whole Foods and Safeway. I blended, experimented and asked my husband to taste each one. He did. He's a good sport especially after I took a sip and said "Oh my God, this is AWFUL. Taste this." L. took a sip and said "This is especially terrible. You're not going to tell people to make this, right?" No, clearly the recipes work for many but I just couldn't get the recipes to taste or look good.
This was just awful. I prepared it with milk, peppermint extract, ice and spinach for the green coloring. It tasted like foamy minty spinach. There are no words for how awful this was.
And then there was Coconut Milk ice cream and all was good.
