Hands down, my favorite recipe right now is my morning protein shake. Now, before you go back to reading someone else’s blog, or back to your email or to make yourself a sandwich – take a look at this scrumptious concoction. I admit, the first publication of this recipe was not a protein shake.

Eating Well, a wonderful website and even better magazine, published this recipe as a frozen mochaccino, an excellent (and cheaper) version of Starbucks Frappuccino. Being a vegetarian, I’m always on the prowl for more protein that is NOT cheese, egg whites or tuna. And, being a former Starbucks employee, having lost my discount there, I am always on the prowl for yummy drink substitutions.

I have provided a link to the original Eating Well recipe, here, but if any of you are even moderate health-nuts with a tub of protein powder in your pantry, at least try my version.

Abby’s Protein Shake (that I literally drinks every single morning, and would like to drink 2 a day!)

1 Cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk [I use Almond Breeze]

2 packages artificial sweetener

1 scoop of protein powder (vanilla or chocolate depending on your preference) [I use Isolyze]

1 Tbs. cocoa powder or PB2 if you like peanut butter and who doesn’t?

At this point, if you want to add some pizzazz, you can add a Tbs. or so of Davinci flavored syrup

And NOW for the secret ingredient: frozen coffee ice cubes. The day before, save your left over coffee, add a Tbs. or so of instant coffee to double the strength and freeze in an ice cube tray. I add 8 cubes + 1 regular ice cube to my mixture.

It’s so easy. One blender – toss it all in and blend like crazy! The longer you blend, a whey protein will tend to thicken and volumize. I love that it usually overflows one Eskimo Joe’s cup and I get to drink the rest straight from the blender.

If you make this recipe as I have listed above, and use a sugar free flavored syrup, your drink (the whole thing) will have about 190 calories. It doesn’t get better than that!

Enjoy!