Love the minty shakes you can get at fast food restaurants, but want to ditch some of the unhealthy calories? Try my lucky mint shake recipes!
If March had a color it would be green. The month marks the beginning of Spring and all its glory of new life and possibilities. We say “Spring is in the air” because you can smell the scent of fresh greenery and blossoms as they float through the breeze. (Wouldn’t you know just as I typed that a butterfly fluttered past my window!)
March is also associated with the holiday St. Patrick’s Day and its symbol the shamrock or clover as it is commonly known. The shamrock represents the Holy Trinity, also associated with Spring and rebirth. Of course we like to have food associated with our holidays and St. Patrick’s Day is no different. The Shamrock Shake was first introduced by McDonald’s in 1970 and quickly gained popularity as the holiday favorite. The flavor of the Shamrock Shake is officially called “mystery” though it has a mint flavor. According to theweek.com “A 32-ounce large Shamrock shake contains 1160 calories and 88 percent of the USDA’s recommended daily allowance of saturated fat.”
Apart from the green color of the shake (made by synthetic food coloring) I can’t see how the original shake has anything to do with Spring. Or health. That’s why I set out to test healthy versions of this fast food calorie bomb. There are many recipes out there, so I collect many of them and mixed them up a bit to create my own. In the end I came up with two versions. One has dairy and one has bananas. Both have all natural ingredients and half the calories of the original.
Lucky Mint Shake v1
1/2 c frozen kefir
1 cup coconut milk (I used So Delicious Sugar Free Vanilla)
1/2 avocado
3 mint leaves
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp all natural mint flavoring
1/2 cup ice cubes
Makes approx 16 oz. and 300 calories
Lucky Mint Shake v2
1 frozen banana
1/2 cup packed spinach
1 1/4 cup coconut milk (I used So Delicious Sugar Free Vanilla)
1 Tablespoon vanilla protein powder (I used Garden of Life Raw Protein Vanilla)
2 mint leaves
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp all natural mint flavoring
1/4 cup ice cubes
Makes approx 16 oz. and 215 calories