Have you seen that image floating around Facebook talking about the McDonald's Shamrock Shake? Apparently the small Shamrock Shake has 73 grams of sugar, and honestly, that's kind of ridiculous. The American Diabetes Association recommends limiting added sugar intake to 40 grams per day. Typically, I challenge people a bit more and tell them to stay under 25 grams of added sugar per day.
I love a Shamrock Shake as much as the next person, but I don't have 530 calories to spend on one drink. I also feel a bit uncomfortable ingesting 53 ingredients in one drink. So, as usual, I recreated the recipe. The texture is thinner than the original shake, but it's only 104 calories per serving. It has 15 grams of sugar (mostly from the banana) and it contains 3 grams of fiber. Also, the green color comes from spinach--no artificial dyes or colors. Isn't that fabulous?
Ingredients:
- 1 ripe (or frozen) banana
- 1/4 tsp. pure mint extract
- 1 cup milk of choice (I used homemade almond milk)
- 1/4 cup spinach (to give it the green color)
- 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves (optional)
- 1/2 cup ice
Directions:
- Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Enjoy on St. Patrick's Day while wearing your favorite green sweater--or expect to get pinched!
*If you are feeling extra feisty, throw in a few chocolate chips to make this a mint chocolate chip shamrock shake!
