Shamrock Shake Season- and an infinitely superior option
I actually posted this recipe last March, but since St. Patrick’s Day only comes around once a year, I thought I’d repost it for those who are actually tempted by the “Shamrock Shake” posters hanging in the McDonald’s windows this time of year.
I have to admit it. I used to love Shamrock Shakes (the McDonald’s variety). That’s an awful admission, isn’t it? And when I think about what those Shamrock Shakes are made from, it makes me feel even worse. But then when I consider what ingredients make up my Shamrock shake substitute, it warms my heart! There is nothing but wholesome stuff here- and even the minty green color is naturally made by the ingredients (no food coloring here!). If I took the time to run a nutritional analysis on it, it would leave the original Shamrock Shake in the dust!
And this is such a yummy smoothie option, many of you will want to consume it year round. You might want to call it “Minty Green Smoothie” or something like that if you want to avoid the holiday and McDonald’s association, but I think we’ll continue calling it “Shamrock Shake” in our home.
Avocados have been such a good buy recently that I’ve stocked up and been playing around with a “Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream” variation of this recipe. I’ll try to post one later this week. (My poor family will have to suffer through a couple more trials!)
Shamrock Shake/Minty Green Smoothie
1 cups water
1/4 cup walnuts (presoaked, if possible)
1/2 avocado, peeled and pitted
A handful or two of fresh baby spinach (or a couple of romaine lettuce leaves)
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract (or 3-4 drops of peppermint essential oil)
opt: 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (this is an uncommon ingredient in my recipes and can be left out)
2 frozen bananas
opt: 1+ Tbsp. honey or maple syrup (combine honey with water before adding cold ingredients or you’ll have difficulty blending it)
Process all but bananas in a heavy-duty blender until smooth. Add frozen bananas and blend just until smooth (keeping it as frosty as possible). Makes 2 medium servings or one super-size one!
Variation: Add 1 Tbsp. carob powder (or 1/2 Tbsp. cocoa powder and a bit more sweetener) for a chocolate mint version.
This blog post shared at Day 2 Day Joy, GNOWFGLINS, Natural Living Mama, Whole New Mom ,Vegetarian Mamma, Real Food Whole Health, Fresh Foods Wednesday, Poor and Gluten-free
http://www.gastronomicalsovereignty.com/
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12 Responses to “Shamrock Shake Season- and an infinitely superior option”
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By PDGACO gaballaloans.co.uk
Kim Wilson has spent over 12 years developing recipes based on whole, natural ingredients. She has seven diet and health books currently in print and still enjoys working on recipes to satisfy a variety of needs. She is particularly motivated to develop recipes that help those dealing with food allergies and conditions like candida. If you are looking for tasty recipes that avoid animal products, wheat, soy, dairy, eggs, yeast and other problematic foods, you've come to the right place. It's Kim's sincere hope that you find some highly enjoyable, highly beneficial foods on this blog. You can check out more articles as well as information on her books at www.simplynaturalhealth.com
looks great kim, pinned!
Love it…going to make it this week…thanks for deciding to post it
Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your smoothie with us at Allergy Free Wednesdays! Hope to see you next week too! Had this yesterday..tasty! Loved the mint…
I had this for lunch today. It was fantastic! Thanks for another great recipe Kim!
Amber Baughman
Thanks for reminding me about this smoothie, great recipe- like so many of your others!
This looks great! I love minty smoothies. Thanks so much for sharing this on Waste Not Want Not Wednesday
I’ve pinned it.
Great! Thanks.
Thanks. I needed a reminder too! I can’t stop making them now.
So glad you enjoyed it.
YUM! Thanks for linking up at our Gluten Free Fridays party! I have tweeted and pinned your entry to our Gluten Free Fridays board on Pinterest!
Thanks for linking back to the Gluten Free Fridays post!
Party starts tonight at 7:05 pm eastern time! Hope to see you there!
Cindy from vegetarianmamma.com
Looks great, could you maybe do a calorie comparison between this recipe and the shamrock shake? It’s obvious that yours has more nutrients but I would also be interested in calorie amounts.
You’ll enjoy my article on avocados this week if you’re signed up for my newsletter- sharing some of the reasons we don’t need to be concerned with the calories when it comes to whole food sources of fat. If you’d like to do a comparison though, nutritiondata.self.com/ is a great site for doing so.