Since February, when I began my health and wellness journey (again), I started drinking protein shakes regularly. While they were full of fruits like strawberries, bananas and other berries, I also found that it was a great way to sneak vegetables into my diet that I may not eat otherwise – like spinach, carrots and zucchini. Since I was on a shake kick, my kids decided they would try it too and they were hooked. However, we’re clearly late to the game. It seems like everywhere I look (on Instagram mainly), people are posting pictures of their sweet, unique, and larger-than-life, shakes. It seems like ‘freak shakes’ are a new trend that is not going away any time soon. As the saying goes, “if you can’t beat them, join them!” That’s exactly what I did a few months ago when my boys had a day off school. I took them to get some larger-than-life, unicorn freak shakes. We all agreed that they were amazing!
The thing is, we can’t purchase a freak shake every time we feel like one as they are expensive. Not to mention, our favourite places to go are a bit of a hike from our house. So when Loblaws challenged me to come up with a freak shake as part of Occasional Indulgence, the latest Loblaw 2018 Canadian Food Trend, I was game! Not only could I easily impress my kids, but it is also a great way to serve up a summer treat for our guests. After all, desserts should not only taste good, but they should be fun too! You can learn more about this #TasteTheNewNext trend at Loblaws.ca
Since there are five of us in the family, there are also 5 discerning tastes, so I took on the challenge of creating three different type of Vanilla Freak shakes that would appease us all. Here are the recipes for my Unicorn, Chocolate-Peanut Butter and Strawberry Vanilla-Freak shakes. Hope you enjoy them!
Unicorn Vanilla Freakshake
Ingredients & Directions
Shake: 1 scoop PC Vanilla Ice Cream, 1 Cup milk (can substitute with Almond Milk or Lactose-free milk), 1/2 cup of water, 1 cup of PC Superfruit Blend Frozen Berries, 1/2 banana. Combine all ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth. If you’re having issues with your blender, visit https://juicyblenders.com/ for some troubleshooting tips.
Decoration: vanilla frosting, sprinkles, cotton candy, variety of lollipops, brightly frosted cupcake, coloured mini marshmallows, colourful gummies & skewers.
Directions: Spread vanilla frosting on the outside of the milkshake glass, coming down 2-3 inches from the top. Cover the frosting with a layer of sprinkles (tip: I poured the sprinkles into a bowl and rolled the glass in them). Add 1 scoop of PC Vanilla Ice Cream into the glass and pour the shake over until the glass is full. Put the skewer through the cotton candy to keep it steady and upright in the glass. Put the mini marshmallows, gummies, and cupcake on skewers and add to the glass. Finish by adding the lollipops and a straw.
Vanilla, Chocolate, Peanut Butter FreakShake
Ingredients & Directions
Shake: 1 scoop PC Vanilla Ice Cream, 1 Cup milk (can substitute with Almond Milk or Lactose-free milk), 1/2 cup of water, 2 spoonful of smooth peanut butter, 1 cup of mini Oreo cookies. Combine all ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth.
Decoration: smooth peanut butter, mini peanut butter cups (chopped), mini Oreo Cookies (chopped), 1 chocolate donut, chocolate syrup, round chocolate wafers & skewers.
Directions: Spread peanut butter on the outside of the milkshake glass, coming down 2-3 inches from the top. Cover the frosting with the chopped peanut butter cups and Oreo cookies (tip: I poured the peanut butter cups and Oreo cookies into a bowl and rolled the glass in them). Add 1 scoop of PC Vanilla Ice Cream into the glass and pour the shake over until the glass is full. Top the glass off with the donut and drizzle with the chocolate syrup. Put the round chocolate wafers through skewer and insert through the donut. Don’t forget the straw!
Strawberry Vanilla Milkshake
Ingredients & Directions
Shake: 1 scoop PC Vanilla Ice Cream, 1 Cup milk (can substitute with Almond Milk or Lactose-free milk), 1/2 cup of water, 1 cup of PC Frozen Strawberries, 1/2 banana. Optional: 1 scoop of Vanilla Protein powder. Combine all ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth.
Decoration: PC Black Label Strawberry jam, vanilla frosting, strawberries, strawberry gummies, variety of strawberry sweets from Loblaws bakery, red macaron, whipped cream, & skewers.
Directions: Spread jam along the inside of your milkshake glass using a tea spoon or a knife. Spread vanilla frosting on the outside of the milkshake glass, coming down 2-3 inches from the top. Cover the frosting with a layer of strawberry gummies (cut into smaller pieces of needed so they won’t be too heavy). Add 1 scoop of PC Vanilla Ice Cream into the glass and pour the shake over until the glass is full. Top it off with whip cream. Put the skewer through the strawberry, macaron, and other sweets, to keep them steady and upright in the glass. Add candied skewers into the glass and serve with a straw.
Enjoy & have a sweet Summer!
Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Loblaw as part of their Loblaw 2018 Canadian Food Trends campaign. In exchange for this post I have received perks in the form of product and compensation. All opinions on this blog are my own