My family drinks a lot of smoothies together, but we all have our personal favourites. So, most days when I’m visiting, we’ll mix up one big batch of someone’s favourite and split them … but every now and again, we’ll bust out the single-serving cups and make a different one for each person.
I like blenders that come with both a blending jar and a set of blending cups, especially for families. They give you the option of making one big batch of smoothies for the whole family (or for a party), plus the option to make a number of different smoothies for all of the picky eaters out there. This kind of versatility is available in the Braun PureMix Countertop Blender with Smoothie2Go Cups, or at a slightly lower price point, the Cuisinart VELOCITY Ultra Trio.
The chocolate-blueberry milkshake
I grew up on blueberry milkshakes, so for this post, I thought I’d make a protein-filled version thereof. My mom would throw frozen blueberries, milk, and ice cream into the blender around snack time (which for us was 9 PM; that’s what happens when you live in a houseful of insomniacs) and call us all into the kitchen to have a snack together.
As we got older, we had fewer and fewer milkshakes in the kitchen together, but it’s still something that I really love doing. I remember being in high school and not always having time to take a snack break in the nighttime, but my mom would bring the milkshakes to us. My sister and I have never been good at taking breaks when we were working (let’s be honest; we’re still not), but having mom interrupt our studying with blueberries and ice cream was a welcome relief every time!
Chocolate-blueberry Vega milkshake recipe (photos throughout)
1/3 cup 2% milk- 1/2 cup vanilla ice cream
- 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
- 1/2 scoop Vega Sport Protein Powder – Chocolate
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 Tbsp cocoa powder (option)
- 1 handful fresh or frozen blueberries, to top
Milkshakes are one of the easiest things you can make in the kitchen, so treat these amounts like a fast and loose guide. If you don’t like the taste of protein powder, add more blueberries; if you like a sippable milkshake, add more milk. You can’t burn, overcook, or over-mix a milkshake, so even if you’re a wreck in the kitchen, this recipe is safe for you to try!
Just take all of the ingredients listed above and add them to a single-serve blender cup. Pulse until fully blended and serve. This recipe is enough to make one big smoothie, or two mini mason jar-sized ones (as pictured).
If you’ll be eating your milkshake at a table, I recommend tossing in some blueberries at the end–yes, whole. I have a not-so-secret soft spot for frozen blueberries, so I always drink my protein milkshake through a straw and then spoon up the now-thawed blueberries left over to finish up. It erases that funny stevia aftertaste from your mouth before it can really set in, and let’s be honest: blueberries are fun to eat! They’re like little natural bubbles of fruit; what could be better.
Healthy blueberry yogurt smoothies
My mom (the milkshake queen herself) always bases her smoothie recipes in yogurt instead of ice cream, so we ate a lot of those growing up–our blueberry “milkshakes” were quite often yogurt smoothies instead!
This smoothie recipe is a healthier variation on a chocolate-blueberry milkshake, and it’s better for your gut health thanks to naturally probiotic-rich yogurt. It has less sugar and a texture that I can only describe as “fluffier.” Without the thick, frozen ice cream being used as a base, air gets whipped into the yogurt for a frozen yogurt-like experience.
More blueberries will result in a more dessert-like (and more frozen yogurt-like) treat, while more yogurt will give you a smoother texture. I definitely prefer this recipe with more frozen blueberries, but my mom is a strident fan of the yogurt!
Healthy blueberry yogurt smoothie recipe
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt
- 1Â cup frozen blueberries
- 1/2 scoop Vega Sport Protein Powder – Berry
Again, this is a smoothie recipe, not something fancy like a flan or a soufflé. It can’t fall on you, and the worst case scenario is that you have to tweak your amounts and end up with slightly more smoothie than planned.
Using these amounts as a guide, blend your three ingredients together in a single-serve blender until fully mixed. Pour into a large cup or a few small glasses and serve.
Vanilla mango lassi…ish
The mango lassi is my dad’s drink of choice, but over the past year, my family has kind of taken that idea and ran with it. He’s not picky, so while we started off with a classic mango lassi recipe (plain yogurt, ice, milk, and mango), we’ve really just hacked up the recipe to bits come a long way since then.
Our new mango lassi derivative is really more like a mango smoothie, but whenever someone’s making one, we still congregate in the kitchen for “mango lassis.” It’s the drink of choice of both my sister and I, and we’ll use either frozen mango or frozen pineapple as a base for it. The tropical fruit choice is pretty intentional, because my sister a) hates drinking things with seeds in it (which is fair; seeds are unarguably the worst), and b) has crazy allergies to many “classic” fruits and berries.
Tropical vanilla smoothie recipe
- 1 cup frozen mango or pineapple chunks
- 1/2 cup light coconut milk
- 1/2 scoop Vega Sport Protein Powder – Vanilla
Because mangos and pineapples are such a great way to get your vitamin C for the day, these smoothies are a great treat in the summer and winter (AKA flu season). One full recipe will give you about 10 grams of protein and 80% of your daily recommended intake of vitamin C; a half recipe will give you 5 grams of protein and about 40% of your recommended vitamin C.
So, really, the lesson here is that you should totally go for the whole smoothie.
What are your favourite frozen snacks to share with the family? Team Chen also eats a good deal of ice cream and homemade lemon sorbet, but it’s a lot tougher to sneak protein powder into either one of those!
