THICK & SATISFYING STRAWBERRY SHAKE

THICK & SATISFYING STRAWBERRY SHAKE
1 cup chilled water
1/4 cup full fat cottage cheese
1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder (1/3 cup) *
1 packet strawberry flavor Yoohoo mix **
1/8 teaspoon xanthan gum
4 frozen whole strawberries (about 1 1/4 ounces)
2 large ice cubes

Put the first 4 ingredients in a blender. With the blender on low speed, add the xanthan gum through the hole in the lid. Turn the blender to the highest speed and drop in the berries and ice cubes one at a time. Blend until the ice and berries are thoroughly crushed and the mixture is very thick and smooth.

Makes 1 large serving

* The kind I use has less than 1 carb per scoop.

** They sell it near the coffee at Walmart and I've also seen it at Dollar Tree.

Per Serving: 183 Calories; 3g Fat; 32g Protein; 8g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 7g Net Carbs

VARIATION:
You can also make this without the frozen strawberries to save some carbs. Just add 2 more ice cubes instead of the berries. Here are the counts for the berry-less version:

Per Serving: 172 Calories; 3g Fat; 32g Protein; 5g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 5g Net Carbs

The cottage cheese is the secret to making this very thick, filling shake. The xanthan gum is also important. I tried making it without the xanthan gum once and the texture wasn't the same. You can omit the ice cubes and use more berries if you can afford the carbs but I found that about 4 small to medium size berries gave this a very nice strawberry flavor. I think that just two berries would probably be enough if you want the boost of flavor but have fewer carbs. Just add an extra ice cube if you cut back on the berries.

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