Chocolate Protein Shake: reminiscent of the classic Frosty

A few months back when my roommate, Casey, first approached me about building a healthier diet, I wanted to show him that healthy eating did not mean giving up good tasting foods, and that applied to desserts as well. Like myself, he has quite the sweet tooth, so we went onto Pinterest and did some searching for a healthy, chocolate dessert to make. We came across a chocolate shake that sounded exceptionally appealing, its description claiming that it tasted just like a Wendy's Frosty. This sounded right up our alley, so we went to the store and bought the goods to make it.

I was a bit skeptical of the recipe provided in the description of the link, not seeing just how unsweetened cacao powder, some banana, almond milk, a bit of vanilla extract, and ice cubes could replicate the super sweet treat, but I gave it the benefit of the doubt. After all, I figured, I'm no master chef (if you've read my recent dessert posts, this is evident). With a positive mindset, we blended up all of the ingredients and poured them into a couple of glasses to take our first sips, after which Casey spit it out. I should've gone with my gut because it tasted nothing like a Frosty. It wasn't completely horrible, but far from delicious... definitely wasn't the best way to bring Casey into the world of healthy desserts. I drank mine (I just hate wasting food), Casey ditched his, and that was that.

The other day, the same mock Wendy's Frosty recipe appeared on my Pinterest feed, except the description on this one was slightly different. It seems as if a couple of very important ingredients had been omitted from the previous one I had seen, being vanilla protein powder and stevia (an all-natural, zero calorie sweetener), and the vanilla extract was nowhere to be found. I decided to give this version a try, and it actually tasted like a Frosty!

The only downside was that the shake didn't have the same thick consistency as the Wendy's version, but that's because I didn't click the actual link until after I made the drink and saw that xanthan gum (which acts as a thickener) was included amongst the ingredients as well. It just wouldn't have been a recipe made by yours truly unless I'd made a mistake of some kind... I also realized that both of the recipes I'd used had come from this same link, so lesson learned: do not have complete trust in the provided descriptions on Pinterest links, instead, click the link and read the recipe directly. Regardless of the thinner consistency, the drink tasted great, and in my opinion, the xanthan gum can be omitted.

To make the beverage yourself, the Faux Protein Frosty by Meals and Moves calls for:
- 3/4 cup almond milk or other milk of choice (I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
- 15 ice cubes
- 1 scoop vanilla protein powder (I used Designer Whey French Vanilla)
- 1-2 tablespoons unsweetened cacao powder (I only used one, which was plenty enough to get the chocolatey flavor)
- Stevia (the recipe calls for a single packet, but I added in two)

• If you're not a fan of stevia, the recipe provides you with a few different options for sweetening, so you could instead opt for 1/4 frozen banana, dates, xylitol, or agave

- 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1/4 teaspoon guar gum or more xanthan gum

Blend together and enjoy!