Shakes @ School

There's nothing better than a nice, filling, tasty, protein shake after a hard workout.  True, Freshens at school does have pretty awesome low-cal shakes available but with a blender and some not so expensive materials you can make your own in your dorm!!  Basically all you have to buy is a cheap blender and certain ingredients that aren't available for stealing at the DC's.  At Freshens I love the Strawberry Oasis shake (at only 89 calories for a medium size!).  The mango shake (~95ish cals) is also pretty good.  Since I didn't consider shakes my meals I usually ate some fruit and eggs after working out so I stayed away from the higher cal shakes last year.  I've heard the chocolate peanut butter shake is great as well.  I also love how there's a variety of "add ins" you can put in your shakes like protein, green tea boosts, and other things that I forget.  I think they use Metrx protein which I hear is decently okay for you, but because of my food allergies I use the Metabolic Effect whey protein that is gluten free and dairy free.  So hopefully I don't get weird looks in the fall when I ask them to add in my protein instead of theirs.  Oh well.  If you need help finding the right protein powder for you, go to Whole Foods.  They're seriously awesome, and everything there is natural and that is important!

Anyway, here are some shake recipes you can make at school!!!  Just buy your own protein powder and a blender to start.  You don't even need a super nice blender because chances are you can't freeze big ice cubes in your fridge so you won't be adding ice to your blender anyway.

Please Note: These recipes make enough for 2 shakes
MY FAVORITE: Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter DELICIOUS-NESS
-8 ounces unsweetened almond milk (obviously not found at DC's, but I've heard it's sold at Stop and Shop now!)
-1 tbs all natural almond butter (or all natural peanut butter) (also not at DC's)
-1 tbs all natural cocoa powder (most likely not at DC's)
-1 scoop protein powder
-1/2 banana (PROBABLY AT DC's)

Honestly if you buy these items (almond milk, almond butter, cocoa powder)--you'll be saving a lot more money than you would buying shakes at Freshens every day.  Also, this shake can serve as a meal.  Whey protein curbs hungers and leaves you feeling full for a couple hours.  This is a GREAT, quick, breakfast choice!!

MY SECOND FAVORITE: BERRY GOOD (from The New ME Diet)
-8 ounces unsweetened almond milk
-1/4 banana
-1/2 cup frozen blueberries, strawberries, and rasberries (Whole foods sells frozen mixed berries).

Usually if you're berries don't stay totally frozen in your fridge it's fine, the bags make enough for 4 or so shakes, as long as they're cold it's fine.

MY THIRD FAVORITE: TROPICAL SENSATION (my own lame name)
-8 ounce coconut water (unflavored or flavored--the acai pomegranate is amazing) (Vita Coco-sold at Whole Foods)
-1 cup frozen mango
-1 cup frozen pineapple (OR PINEAPPLE FROM THE DC!).

So as you can see you can use certain ingredients to make different shakes!!  You can also use these ingredients to make loads of snacks in the dorms:

-Almond Milk: cereal, oatmeal, by itself.
-All Natural Peanut Butter/Almond Butter: rice cakes, wheat toast, sandwiches, with a banana, with an apple, with grapes, crackers.
-Cocoa Powder: you can make your own hot chocolate!  Or freeze it to make PROTEIN CHOCOLATE (recipe to follow), or other tasty sweet treats (recipes to follow).

YUMMY BREAKFAST RECIPE!!! (Healthy, Clean breakfast recipe to leave you full for hours!! and SUPER EASY)

The MaCK Muffin (found in Clean Eating Magazine)
Ingredients
-white vinegar
-1 large organic egg
-olive oil cooking spray
-spinach
-whole wheat English muffin (I love the weight watchers--great source of fiber and only 100 cals/muffin).
-low fat cream cheese (I PREFER TOFUTTI!! non dairy cream cheese made from tofu!! its DELICIOUS).
-tomato slice
-sea salt and fresh ground pepper

1) Poach an egg! If you don't know how to do this it's kind of sad.  Bring saucepan to a boil (5 or 6 cups of water, and then add 1 tsp white vinegar to every cup of water you add).  Low heat to slow simmer, carefully crack the egg into a teacup or ladle.  Lower the teacup or ladle into the saucepan and gently pour out the egg.  Egg white will coagulate into water and turn white.  Cook until egg white is formed and yolk begins to thicken but it's not hard.  (~3-4 minutes).  Remove egg with a slotted spoon or strainer.  Set aside.
2) Heat a medium nonstick pan over medium heat.  Add spinach and saute for 1 to 2 minutes.
3) Toast muffin. Spread cream cheese or tofutti on each 1/2 of english muffin.  Then add poached egg and tomato slice.  Season with salt and pepper.

So this is a great breakfast, but at school you can substitute the poached egg for scrambled eggs, a piece of a hard boiled egg, or have the creepy omelet dude make you 1 egg over easy.