Celebrate Chocolate Mint Recipes & Giveaway

This post is sponsored by Celebrate Vitamins. I am excited to share with you one of my favorite products their Chocolate Mint Protein 20 Protein Powder and a heads up for an opportunity to win some!

One of my favorite protein powders is Celebrate Vitamins Chocolate Mint Protein 20. If you love Andes mint chocolates or Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies you'll have to give it a try. It's great mixed with water, milk, used in a variety of recipes but my ultimate favorite recipe is this frosty, frappe-style shake with a little espresso to kick-start your day or jump start your afternoon. It's better than anything at Starbucks and better for you too!

Shelly's Chocolate Mint Espresso Protein Shake

8 oz. Milk (any)
1 packet Celebrate Vitamins Chocolate Mint Protein 20 Protein Powder
1/2 tube Instant Espresso Coffee Powder (I used Café Bustelo Instant Coffee Single Serve Packets)
a few cubes of ice

Blend on high. I topped it with a little squirt of Homemade, No Sugar Added Whipped Cream and a sprinkle more of espresso powder.

More Eggface Protein Shake and Smoothie Recipes

It makes a great protein packed, no sugar added dessert too...

Shelly's Chocolate Mint Protein Pudding

2 cups (minus 1 Tablespoon) Milk
1 scoop Celebrate Vitamins Chocolate Mint Protein 20 Protein Powder
1 - 1 oz. small package Sugar-Free Chocolate or Chocolate Fudge Instant Pudding Mix (dry)
1 Tablespoon Sugar-Free Torani Syrup (any flavor)
Optional: Homemade, No Sugar Added Whipped Cream and Nonpareils

Pour the milk, pudding mix, protein powder and syrup flavoring into a shaker bottle. Shake for 3 minutes or until thickened slightly and place in fridge for about 5 minutes to thicken further. Spoon the thickened protein pudding into glasses or if you are taking them with you on a walk or to work use small mason jars with lids (don't forget to bring a spoon with you.) Optional: Before serving top with Homemade, No Sugar Added Whipped Cream and a sprinkle of nonpareils. Makes 4-6.

More Eggface Weight Loss and Bariatric Surgery Friendly Desserts

Head over to my Instagram for a chance to win a week's worth of Celebrate Vitamins Chocolate Mint Protein 20 and other great goodies to make these 2 recipes!

For the purposes of this post Celebrate Vitamins provided me with the product used to make these recipes. Thanks for the yummy protein. 

Heading to Denver

Heading to Denver, Colorado for the Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) Annual Planning Meeting and Retreat. Once a year we get the whole Board of Directors together to do planning for the year, work on projects that are best done in person and do a check in on how all our goals and plans are coming along. It's always held in the hotel that will be the host hotel for the big Your Weight Matters National Convention the OAC puts on each year (Hope to see you there in July! Sign up for updates, speaker and agenda release, discount room block, etc.)

If you'd like to follow my adventures this weekend be sure to check out my Twitter feed. I'll be tweeting my travels. You'll see lots of recipe and food posts on my Twitter account but warning, I have been known to go off on political and social rants or randomly bitch about something happening in my world. Of course, you can follow my other social media pages Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest for more food and recipe related posts those are rant-free zones (LOL mostly)

Health Goal: More Water

One of my health goals for the year is to drink more water. We all know the benefits: natural appetite suppressant, flushes wastes and toxins keeping our kidneys healthy, great for your skin. I wish I was better at it but I think this year I'm going to master it. Here's my 3 step plan.

1. I'm committed to using a reminder app. I've actually been messing with 3 different ones: Plant Nanny, a fun game app, you have to keep your plant alive by drinking water and logging it and Waterlogged and WaterMinder which are more traditional tracking apps. I'll let you know which I end up using the most.

2. I've got a cool bottle to help keep track of how much water I'm drinking each day, it's got these rainbow bands you can roll up each time you refill the tumbler.

and 3. I already love so many of the foods that are good sources of water so eating more of these will be an easy one...

Cucumbers: 95% water, low in calories and are my go-to replacement for crackers. Pictured: Cucumber Cold Cut "Sandwiches", Shelly's Greek Hummus Rounds, Cucumber "Fries," Cucumber & BLT Egg Salad, Cucumber and Greek Yogurt Dip, Cucumber Cold Cut Roll-ups, Cucumber Plank Scoopers with Curry Chicken Salad, Cucumber and Cottage Cheese, More Cucumber Cold Cut "Sandwiches."

Zucchini: Get yourself a spiralizer and make zucchini noodles. Zucchini is 95% water. Serve like pasta with sauces or in broth-based (more water) Zucchini Noodle Soup.

Lettuce: Makes a great Taco shells for a variety of fillings.

Cauliflower: 92% water. Try it roasted with a protein-packed Greek yogurt dips (which is another great source of water.)

Tomatoes: One of my favorites Caprese salad (Tomato, Basil, Fresh Mozzarella, Oregano) or Shelly's Pizza Tomatoes topped with cheese and seasonings and broiled till melty.

Strawberries: Strawberry Cheesecake Ricotta Pancakes for breakfast, one of my favorite post weight loss surgery desserts are Strawberry Cannoli filled with Ricotta cheese or a Strawberry Protein Shake.

Do you have any health goals for the year?

Happy New Year with Protein Packed Snacks!

Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a nice night. We stayed home and watched the Times Square Earth Cam and the craz... I mean dedicated people who braved the cold weather (it was 9° F. in NYC when the ball dropped.) Out of curiosity, I looked up all the rules they have to follow... you have to get there at noon the latest or you won't get a location worth having. You can't bring bags or backpacks (for obvious security reasons) so forget food or drinks. All street food carts are ousted for the day, so no Shish Kabobs or Sabrett Hot Dog stands. You can't leave your area and return so even if there were public restrooms or porta-potties nearby (there aren't) you can't go back to your area if you leave. So standing for over 12 hours in freezing temperatures, hungry, thirsty and peeing in an adult diaper. Umm Happy New Year? Nope. Couldn't do it.

Instead, we ate yummy bariatric friendly tidbits and laughed about how the event should probably be "proudly sponsored by Depends undergarments."

Our Tidbit Platter: Trader Jose’s Spanish Cheese Tapas Sampler (Iberico, Cabra al Vino and Manchego Cheese) Nuts, Dried Fruit (watch these if you dump easily, I stick with apricots with no added sugar), Ham, Salami, Olives, Trader Joe's Rosemary Asiago (one of my all time favs), Parmesan Crisps,

We also had Roasted Cauliflower with two Greek Yogurt Dips.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut 1 head cauliflower into florets. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Arrange in an even layer on a baking sheet. Roast for about 40 minutes, stirring at least twice. You want knife-inserted tender and golden brown.

Shelly's Middle Eastern Greek Yogurt Dip: 1/2 cup plain Greek Yogurt, 1 Tablespoon Zaatar seasoning (make your own) and a squeeze of Lemon.

Shelly's Horseradish Dip: 1/2 cup plain Greek Yogurt, Prepared Horseradish to taste (I add about a teaspoon), a sprinkle of salt.

For dessert...

Shelly's Sugar-Free Chocolate Protein Spread 

1/4 cup Protein Powder (dry, any flavor)
2 Tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1/4 cup Almond Butter (I use fresh ground)
3 Tablespoons Sugar-Free Torani Syrup (any flavor)

Mix till well blended. You may have to adjust based on your almond butter, I used fresh ground almond butter some jarred, store-bought brands of almond butters are looser so just add a dash more protein powder to thicken or alternatively add a little more syrup if it needs thinning out. You want spreadable.

Spread on anything (apple slices, protein cookies, celery sticks, baby carrots, those ricotta pancakes that I make, protein cake slices, soy crisps, a spoon, your hand...) I love it on Honeycrisp or Pink Lady apples. This recipe makes enough for 4 huge apples-worth of liberal dipping. Store leftovers in a small jar in the fridge. It'll last a week at least.

For the Almond Joy affect: I used a combo of SF Coconut and SF Almond Syrup in the recipe and had a little bowl of chopped almonds and toasted unsweetened coconut for dipping.

Happy New Year Everyone!