Write a commentWhat better way to start a Monday than with a big glass of protein packed ICED COFFEE? Nothing. Especially on a hot summer’s day.
The problem is that not all ice coffee is made equal. If you’re a coffee lover, you know this. And if you’re my husband, you not only know this but you also come up with a solution to make it better.
So, today, instead of me going into all the details about why this recipe rocks, I am going to hand it over to my husband who apparently knows a thing or two about iced coffee....
With the hottest summer on record, it is hard to enjoy a hot coffee when the temperatures are climbing over 85 degrees before 8am on your morning commute to work.
On this day, I was waiting on line, much like I did most of the summer. I pulled up to the speaker, “Good morning, can I have a medium iced coffee, french vanilla, with just cream please?”.
Now I do not know how the Dunkin Donuts is where you are from but where we live, the odds of getting what you ordered are about 50%. However, this particular day, I had the luxury of watching my order be prepared. The cup was filled about 3/4 with ice cubes. The young lady then pumped 2 squirts of vanilla flavoring and three pumps of cream into the cup.
At this point the cup was already almost half full. Then finally, the remaining of the cup was filled with coffee. This troubled me more than it should. I mean consumed my mind for the rest of the trip to work and hours into my work day. Why was it so odd to me that the iced coffee was made this way. Have you ever had something just not seem right, I mean SO conceptually wrong that you can not shake the idea of how wrong it is?
[ Yes, folks. He means to tell you that you should be making iced coffee cubes for your ICED COFFEE. But he also wants to take it a step further...]
Think about it, when is the last time you went to a restaurant that actually blended margaritas??? I mean actually put ice cubes in a blender and blended the ice into the mix. Not only is it extremely time consuming but it also waters the drink down considerably.
Someone along the way thought of putting the ingredients in a slush machine and not only cut down production time, it also made the drink much more concentrated and tasty. I know I’m probably giving away a million dollar idea but I feel like the world should know what they are missing. Let’s leave the water out and make our iced coffee great again!!!!
Of course, I couldn’t just give you an iced coffee recipe...I had to take it a step further. Therefore I present to you this Iced Coffee Vanilla Protein Smoothie that is not only gluten free but it’s also dairy free and pretty darn delicious if I do say so myself.
ICED COFFEE VANILLA PROTEIN SMOOTHIE
RECIPE
Ingredients:
• 3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 8 oz frozen coffee ice cubes
• 1 cup fresh brewed coffee or 2 tbsp instant espresso
• 1 scoop vegan vanilla protein powder (I used PlantFusion)
• vegan whipped cream (optional)
• 1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips (optional)
You might also like: 'Tis the Season for Smoothies and Festive Mocktails!
Directions:
• In a large blender, blend the milk, coffee ice cubes, coffee and protein powder until smooth/no chunks of ice are left.
• Pipe or spoon on desired amount of whipped cream then place in freezer for a minute.
• Melt chocolate chips in a small glass mug for approximately 40 seconds.
• Remove smoothie from freezer and drizzle on melted chocolate.
• Enjoy!
Notes: Make coffee ice cubes the night before by simply brewing 1 cup of coffee then pouring into an ice cube tray.
Make 1 smoothie.
