Candy Bar Shake

This is a little like an Almond Joy bar. It's got lots of 'flavorings' in it, as opposed to natural foods, but sometimes that's what you've got to do. I decided to put a little chocolate pudding powder in, just to give it a thicker consistency that held together til the bottom of the glass, but it's not really absolutely necessary to get a tasty shake.

3/4 cup water

1 Tablespoon sugar free caramel syrup

1/2 teaspoon each almond extract and coconut flavoring

1 teaspoon chocolate pudding powder

1 scoop chocolate shake mix

8 - 10 ice cubes

Put water, caramel syrup and almond & coconut flavorings in the container of your blender. Blend on low speed. While blending, quickly add shake powder, then pudding powder to the mix. Turn blender speed to medium. Add ice cubes, one at a time, until desired consistency is reached. Pour into a large glass, and serve.

Blueberry Scones from Sarah

My daughter Sarah loves baking and experimenting. Here is a recipe that she thinks will be great for when I start introducing additional foods into my maintenance plan. Yes, I tried one for afternoon 'tea' last weekend, and it was wonderful. The texture is like a soft, thick pancake, and the blueberries added just the right amount of juiciness. She made this using whole grain flour, ground flax seed (we grind it in our coffee grinder to get a fine flour,) and substituting applesauce for oil. She found a recipe analyzer online, and according to that, this recipe makes 30 scones at 43 calories each.

1 tblsp ground flax seed
1 cup flour, All Purpose
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup Truvia
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup applesauce
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup blueberries
2 tsp blackberry jam

Combine dry ingredients. Add applesauce, egg, milk vanilla and blackberry jam. Stir. Fold in blueberries. Drop by heaping tablespoons on parchment paper lined baking sheet (mixture will spread, leave plenty of room between them.) Bake in a 375 degree oven for 13 minutes. Remove and cool on a wire rack. Enjoy with coffee, tea or a glass of milk.

Blueberry Cheesecake Shake

At the farmer's market last Saturday, one of the sellers was selling blueberries. I didn't know blueberries were a September fruit, but apparently different varieties ripen at different times, and I'm getting the end of season blueberries just before cranberry harvest time. These berries are juicy, but rather tart, so after my daughter used some berries in her scones, I used a half a cup of berries in a shake. The cheesecake pudding mix in the shake is a good balance for the tartness of the berries, and really makes a delicious shake as a meal replacement, or as a dessert shake after a meal. This shake doesn't mix up totally smooth. The skins and tiny little seeds float around in the shake. (It doesn't bother me, but I know some people are sensitive about texture.) Here are the instructions:

1/2 cup washed, fresh blueberries

1 teaspoon sugar free, fat free instant cheesecake pudding mix

1 scoop vanilla shake powder

3/4 cup water

8 - 10 ice cubes

With water in blender container, turn blender to low. Add blueberries and process until berries are liquified. Add vanilla shake powder and cheesecake pudding powder. Turn to medium speed, and add ice cubes one at a time until shake is desired thickness. Serve immediately.

Chocolate Mint Shake

A couple of posts ago, I introduced my Vanilla Mint Shake. Well, here's a different way to make a chocolate mint shake. It takes a bit more prep, but has a smoother, less 'wild' flavor. I'm using a mixture of spearmint and peppermint leaves for this, and lots of them, because this is really a kind of tisane, or herbal tea, which is then chilled and mixed into the chocolate shake. I don't think a lot of people can do this inexpensively, unless, like me, you're up to your eyeballs in mint, and you want to do something with it, besides rip it out of your garden. Here's the first part:

Tear or cut mint leaves from stems. (This is a good job to do while watching TV, or talking on the phone.) Gently rinse mint leaves, then stuff into a glass jar that has a screw-on lid. (Like a pickle jar or mason jar) Fill the jar full, and pack the leaves in as tightly as you can. In the meantime, boil water in a kettle. Add the boiling water to the mint leaves until the water level reaches 1/2 inch from the top of the jar. Loosely set the cover on top of the jar, and let steep for an hour or so. Then, screw on the lid, shake it up, and refrigerate overnight. Within a day, you should have a greenish brown liquid and the leaves should be brownish colored. Drain and save the liquid, throw the leaves out. Refrigerate the mint liquid for up to 3 days. (Maybe more, but I haven't tried it.) This unsweetened mint tea can then be used to make a chocolate mint shake. Here's the recipe:

1 cup mint tea

1 scoop chocolate shake powder

8 to 10 ice cubes

Add the liquid to the blender container. While running on low, quickly add the chocolate powder. Turn power to medium, and add the ice cubes one at a time, until the shake is your desired consistency. Pour and enjoy.

Zucchini, Onions & Mushrooms

End of season for zucchini is sometimes a good thing. Still, I did like this dish, and I'll probably make it with store-bought zucchini as the winter approaches. I do it both with tomatoes and without tomatoes, so try it both ways to see which you like better.

2 - 3 small zucchini (or one big zuc with seeds and tough skin removed.) sliced in rounds

1 small onion, thinly sliced

1small can sliced mushrooms, undrained

2 or 3 roma tomatoes or 1 or 2 garden variety tomatoes (optional), cut into pieces, save juice

non-stick spray

1 tablespoon "Better Than Bullion" Vegetable Stock

Coat bottom of skillet with cooking spray. Turning heat to medium high, lay onion slices in a single layer into the pan. Cook until transparent, and push to the side. Lay zucchini slices in pan in single layer, and cook until soft. Onions should be starting to brown. Stir and cook until zucchini starts to brown. Add tomatoes (if using) with juice, vegetable stock and mushrooms. Cook on medium high, stirring often, until mushrooms are cooked through and liquid cooks down. Add pepper to taste. Makes 2 to 4 servings.

Vanilla Mint Shake

This is a shake that actually looks kind of odd, sort of like a grass milkshake would look, if you decided to try that. It is, however, very tasty, and if you're a fan of mint, it's great. I have huge spearmint plants overwhelming my herb garden right now, and I'm trying to use that mint without my usual quotient of sugar. This shake has a bit more 'bite' than, say, a shamrock shake, and a bit more complex mint taste - it's hard to describe. One thing to do when you prepare your mint leaves, is to use the smaller leaves, and to be sure that you've removed all stems. Also be sure to wash well in running cool water. I use a colander under the tap. I used almost a cup of mint leaves. It was a little overpowering. Next time, I'll use between 1/2 and 3/4 of a cup of fresh leaves. I don't know about the nutrient values of fresh mint, but it must have some health benefits, right? Anyway, here's the recipe.

1/2 to 1 cup fresh small mint leaves

3/4 cup water

1 scoop vanilla shake mix

8 to 10 ice cubes

Pour water into blender container. Add mint and process on low, then medium power until mint is liquified (I had to scrape down the sides a couple of times.) While running the blender on low, add vanilla powder. Turn blender to medium, and add ice cubes one at a time until desired volume and consistency is reached.

Mocha Supreme

I looked up the word "Mocha" online, and I discovered that it is actually a type of coffee bean from Africa. I love learning new stuff. Here I was, thinking that mocha was a blend of chocolate and coffee flavors. I guess a lot of other people think that too, including people at Starbucks and McDonald's. Here's a mocha flavored shake in the 'chocolate plus coffee' sense. I have a French press and a Keurig brewer. I think the French press will brew coffee stronger, so it is better for this shake, keeping the chocolate flavor of the shake mix from overwhelming the coffee flavor. It's a great single beverage, instead of bringing both a mug of coffee (for the caffeine) and a shake (for the nutrition) with you when you're running late to work. I brew a full 2 cup carafe of French press coffee in the morning on a weekend, pour a cup, let the press stand for an extra 10 minutes, or so, and then put the extra cup in the fridge, covered, to use on Monday morning in my shake. Here's the recipe:

1 cup coffee, cold

1 scoop chocolate shake mix

8 to 10 ice cubes

Put the cold coffee in the blender, set to stir. While blender is stirring, quickly add chocolate powder. Set blender to 'mix' (medium) and add ice cubes. 

Variations:

add a half teaspoon of almond extract OR cinnamon (not together, please) when you add the powder, or use your favorite flavored coffee.

Caramel Coffee Shake

This shake uses a great caramel flavoring that I originally bought for a coffee flavoring, but it translates really well to this shake. I've made this with both chocolate and vanilla flavor shake powders, and I prefer the vanilla flavor, but I can certainly enjoy either one. The flavoring syrup was purchased online, from a company called 'Coffee A.M.' over a year ago. They carry a different brand now. I've seen the Dolce online in other places, but I'll let you do the investigating yourself. Google 'dolce syrup' and you should be able to find it available at several online shops. A plain, strong coffee works well for this, and it works better if the coffee is chilled. The recipe as written calls for a tablespoon of caramel flavoring, but I have admittedly used more at times.  Here's the recipe:

1 cup cooled coffee

1 tablespoon sugar-free caramel flavoring

1 scoop either vanilla or chocolate shake powder.

8 - 10 ice cubes

Add the coffee to the blender container. Begin stirring at low power. Add the caramel flavoring and the shake powder. increase power to medium speed. Add ice cubes one at a time until the desired consistency is reached. Pour and enjoy.

Vanilla Chai Shake

I really like Chai. I have made my own spice mix for chai, and even have made it by using the time consuming method of heating whole milk and steeping the black tea and spices in a muslin bag in the milk, and adding copious amounts of sugar to the mix. Yum! This recipe admittedly doesn't have quite the heady aroma and fabulous flavor of authentic chai, but it's a good substitute when whole milk and cane sugar are not on the dietary list. This is a 'make ahead' recipe. If you can make the chai a couple of hours or even the night before, and then put it in the fridge to chill, your shake will be thicker, since cold ingredients whip up fluffier than hot ones. I make chai for this purpose in a couple of ways. Either using my Keurig brewer with a spiced chai pod, or a teabag of Bigelow Vanilla Chai in a cup of hot water work just fine. I don't add sugar, since the vanilla shake powder is sweet enough for me, but if you want, Truvia is a good sweetener with no calories. Here's the recipe:

1 cup prepared chai, preferably chilled

Vanilla HMR powder

8 - 10 ice cubes

Add the chai to the blender and begin blending on low speed. Add the vanilla powder, then increase the power to medium. Add the ice cubes one at a time, until your shake is the desired consistency.

End of Summer Chopped Salad

This is not a shake. This is a chopped salad that uses vegetables that are plentiful at the end of summer in Wisconsin. If you don't have your own tomatoes, cucumbers and parsley in abundance, they are fairly inexpensive at the farmer's market right now, or even at the grocery store. Make this about a half hour in advance of eating, so flavors can meld, and so that you get a bit of juice from the tomatoes and cucumbers. I like to make a couple of servings at a time, so I have it for lunch at work the next day. If you try to keep it more than 24 hours, it gets a little mushy, so make only enough for one or two meals at a time. Here's the recipe:

2 or 3 ripe tomatoes

2 slicing size cucumbers

4 to 8 stems of parsley (I prefer curled parsley to flat leaf parsley)

1/2 small onion

1 tablespoon lemon juice

salt & pepper to taste

7 or 8 medium mint leaves, well washed (optional)

Cut all vegetables directly into your serving bowl. Cut out top of tomatoes, and cut into quarters, then quarters into 3 or 4 pieces each.  Chop cucumbers into similar sized pieces, discarding large seeds if necessary. Using a kitchen shears, chop parsley leaves into bowl, discarding thick stems. Stack mint leaves, and cut into thin slivers into bowl. Finally, chop onion into bowl. Sprinkle lemon juice over all, add a few shakes of salt, and a couple of pepper, and stir well. Allow to marinade for a half hour before eating. This recipe is two meals worth for me, but as an accompaniment salad, it's probably about 4 servings.

Orange Delight

This one took a couple of tries to get right. Usually I drink it up anyway, because I'm cheap, and the HMR powder isn't. I think I have a good mix here, though - not too sweet, lots of flavor. My husband said it reminded him of an 'Orange Julius' shake from back about 25 years ago. My initial experiment was a little overzealous in the addition of both sweet potato AND carrots, along with the freshly peeled orange. It was just too heavy, and the sweet potato flavor was overwhelming. I also discovered that cooking carrots first makes them much easier to blend into the shake without burning out the blender motor, and still getting hard little carrot bits in your teeth. Cook up carrots the night before, peel and zest the orange, too. Then it's an easy morning shake before work. So, here's the recipe:

1/2 cup cooked baby carrots (either use some you've made for a previous meal, or cook them up in a bit of water in the microwave. If you cook them, then chill them IN THE COOKING WATER, I suspect there's higher nutritional value. Then, you can use the cooking water as part of the liquid.)

1 orange, peeled and sectioned - check for and discard seeds

optional 1/4 teaspoon of orange zest

3/4 cup liquid (baby carrot cooking water with additional water to make 3/4 cup)

1 scoop vanilla HMR shake powder

8 - 10 ice cubes

Start with the water. Add to the blender, and set to 'stir' (low power) add baby carrots and then orange sections a couple at a time.  Add orange zest, if you're using it. Add vanilla powder and increase blender speed to medium. Once the mixture is smooth, add the ice cubes one at a time, until desired consistency.

This is a great morning shake. I've done a breakfast of Orange Delight shake and a serving of the HMR multi-grain cereal to help me resist temptation at breakfast meetings. Then, I just drink a plain coffee at the meeting so I feel like I have something in front of me, but I can honestly say that I'm just too full to be very interested in doughnuts or pastries.

Black Cherry Cheesecake Shake

This is one of my favorite flavors. I'm kind of 'squeaking by' on the 15 calorie additions, here, and I had to go through a bit of nutrition fact gymnastics to figure this out, BUT, a teaspoon of the Jello SF,FF cheesecake pudding has about 17 calories in it. A single package of this dessert mix has the ability to make 6 shakes taste like delicious, creamy cheesecake. It will also change the consistency of a shake to something more like soft serve ice cream. THIS is how I manage to stay on a diet. (Now if only there was a magic bullet for getting me to continue to improve on my exercise minutes.) I also love black cherries. I tried to use SF, FF jello cherry gelatin for a straight 'cherry cheesecake' flavor, but there is a grainy texture when using gelatin powder that is a bit strange to me. I'm thinking of getting some of that sugar free cherry flavoring for snow cones to try for the cherry flavor. (It's on sale at the end of the summer.) Stay tuned for that. On to the recipe:

12 to 15 black cherries, washed, halved and pitted

1 teaspoon Jello SF, FF cheesecake flavored pudding mix

1 scoop vanilla HMR Shake powder

3/4 cup water

8 - 10 ice cubes, or a cup of crushed ice

Put the water and cherries into the blender, and mix until cherries are almost liquified. While still mixing, add vanilla shake powder. Then add cheesecake powder. Add ice cubes one at a time, or crushed ice slowly. With the pudding powder, the consistency gets very thick very quickly, so be aware that it becomes more difficult to mix. I turn my blender to high and use crushed ice to ensure that all of the ice gets crunched up. Use a rubber scraper to get all of the shake out of your blender. I use a spoon to eat mine, but it does melt a bit if left to stand at room temperature.

Tropical Breezes Shake

This is a mix of three tropical flavors that I enjoy: banana, pineapple and coconut. It is easy to make this shake year-round, because fresh bananas are available any time of the year. You'll need:

1/2 to 1 cup of pinapple (I use either a single serving container or take some from a can of pineapple packed in its own juice) either tidbits or crushed.

1/2 teaspoon of coconut flavoring (find this in a little bottle in the extracts and flavorings section of the baking/spices aisle of your grocery store.)

1 small or 1/2 large banana (broken into chunks)

1 scoop vanilla powder

3/4 cup cold water

8 to 10 ice cubes

I put the pineapple, juice and all, in the blender container with the water and the coconut flavoring, and process on 'mix' (medium speed) until the pineapple is almost liquified. Then, add the vanilla powder and

banana chunks. Continue mixing, until creamy consistency. While continuing to mix, add ice cubes one at a time. You may wish to increase the blender speed to insure that all ice is crushed. Pour into a glass, and enjoy!

(The photo shows pineapple in heavy syrup - PLEASE, use the kind 'in its own juice' instead - I purchased the wrong kind to replace my previous can.)

Peaches and Cream Shake

For this recipe I use:

1 ripe peach, cut into 4 to 8 pieces, skin on

1 scoop vanilla shake powder

3/4 cup water

8 to 10 ice cubes

Add water to the blender, and start at slow speed. Add the vanilla powder, then add the chunks of peaches, one at a time. Set the blender at a higher speed, and then add the ice cubes one at a time. I usually add at least 8 ice cubes, sometimes more. Pour and drink. This one often fills more than a 20 oz. glass, especially if you add lots of ice.

No picture for this one, yet. I'll have to start photographing my food before I eat it so those photos can be posted here.