Recipe Review: Strawberry Cheesecake Shake

As you may or may not know, I love this website called SparkPeople. They have trackers for all sorts of things: water drank, workouts, foods, weight, recipes, etc. It's a great community and only getting bigger. People are really supportive, and there are so many inspiring weight loss stories! All for free. Anyway, a lot of my recipe inspirations come from there, and when I saw this Strawberry Cheesecake Shake appear in my inbox the other day, I knew I had to try it.

See, I ordered some Whey Protein Powder on Amazon, and love it. BulkSupplements has some great, clean supplements, and the best price-per-ounce out there. (I have their anhydrous caffeine powder too, for really slow mornings!) As with all supplements, you need to be safe, and use your best judgment. Ask your doctor if you aren't sure what or how much to take. Anyways, I like this protein powder because it is just powdered whey (like from milk) so there is no added sugars or calories or flavors. I can put it in anything. And this shake calls for protein powder, so I think perfect breakfast! 

The claim is that this tastes like strawberry cheesecake. Really? Does anything "healthy" taste like the unhealthy food it claims to mimic? I've had way too many promising sounding yogurts turn out to be chalky and awful. But stick with me...
this one's a winner.

With only 3 ingredients (if you don't add the extras) and about a minute to make, this one qualifies for my "Less than 5" too I think.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup milk (I used vanilla soymilk)
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1 1/2 cups strawberries (fresh or frozen)
*2 tsp almond flavoring (optional, or vanilla)
*2 squirts liquid stevia -- use the sweetener of your choice. Honey, splenda, sugar, naked...
*1 tbsp whey protein
 * = all optional, add to taste or don't add, your choice

 

Step 1: Blend the milk and the cottage cheese together until smooth. This is the important part, make sure there are no cheese chunks left. Pulse in the blender for 30-60 seconds, then dip in a spoon. If you pour it off and no chunks are left, you're good, continue.

Step 2: Add the sweetener, flavoring, protein powder, and strawberries. You could use any fruit here really, peaches would be good, or raspberries. Strawberry-banana is always a solid bet.

Blend for 1-2 minutes, until smooth and creamy.

Step 3: Pour into a container and enjoy! I took this for breakfast, and I swear to you it really does taste like a liquid strawberry cheesecake. The protein from the cottage cheese and the whey powder made it extra filling, so I wasn't the least bit hungry until lunchtime. This would be a good post-workout snack if you cut it in half too. Enjoy!
 

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 1
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 236.3

• Total Fat: 2.7 g
• Cholesterol: 10.5 mg
• Sodium: 518.6 mg
• Total Carbs: 36.4 g
• Dietary Fiber: 6.2 g
• Protein: 19.4 g

  (Note: Adding protein powder will increase the protein level and likely calorie count)

What's your favorite pre- or post-workout snack?

Strawberry, avocado & feta salad

I am always trying to get more veggies into my diet, and salads are a great way to do so. But no one likes a bowlful of lettuce leaves with just a splash of dressing for flavor. I like to add extras to make my salads more interesting. Since I had just bought a fresh head of lettuce, I used the fruits/veggies I had on hand, and it turned out great! The lettuce was $1 and I will probably get at least 5 salads from it. The avocado was also $1, as were the strawberries. The feta was left from a while ago (and you can omit the cheese or use whatever kind you like/have) as was the dressing. So for 5 salads worth, the cost per serving is only $0.60! Plus it's good for you, and a great side to just about anything.

Ingredients:
1 cup torn lettuce leaves
3 large strawberries, quartered
1/4 haas avocado, diced
1 tbsp feta cheese
1 tbsp balsamic vinaigrette

Simply toss and enjoy!