It’s definitely almost St. Patrick’s Day and this time of year always reminds me of getting Shamrock Shakes as a kid with my dad after school. About once a week, he would stop at McDonald’s on our way home and get a small fry for my sister and I and a Shamrock Shake for himself. And I remember always loving that shake as a kid.
And just in case you might have loved that shake too, today, we’re making over the McDonald’sShamrock Shake into a vegan shake that is PACKED with plant nutrients. So not only will it taste good- it’s also good for our bodies!
So what’s in a Shamrock Shake?
Besides the Shamrock Shake having dairy in it, it has a lot of other ingredients that I avoid eating. Ingredients like artificial sugar, corn syrup, “natural flavors”, high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, yellow 5, blue 1, liquid sugar…. this list is a long one.
A small McDonald’s Shamrock Shake comes in around 15 grams of fat (including some dangerous trans fat), plus 58g rams of sugar. And a lot of those sugars are coming from artificial refined sugars. I talked about why I stopped eating artificial and refined sugars previously in this How I Quit Sugar video, so if you’re interested in learning more about quitting refined sugar and what it does in our bodies, you can check out that video.
Whole Food, Plant-Based Shamrock Shake
The bomb smoothie we’re making today has the same Shamrock Shake vibe, but incorporates whole food plant ingredients to replace the nutrient-deficient artificial stuff and dairy with beautiful plant nutrition.
So what’s in this smoothie?
Spinach
Spinach adds a dose of Vitamin A, Vitamin C (which is awesome for our skin health and immune function), Vitamin K1 (our body needs this for blood clotting), folic acid (which is important for cellular function and tissue growth), iron (that helps to create hemoglobin which brings oxygen to our body’s tissues), and calcium (a mineral that is crucial for our bone health).
Mint
Mint adds some more vitamins to this smoothie, like Vitamin A (which is helpful for our eye health), and a dose of antioxidants. Antioxidants help to protect our body from free radical damage (which I talk more about in this video.)
Coconut Whipped Cream
So this gorgeous Coconut Whipped Cream is definitely not necessary, but it does make the shake just that much more fun. I added a nice little helping of homemade Coconut Whipped Cream (which is pretty much just whipped coconut cream- you can watch the video on that here). You can also buy vegan whipped cream, but I usually make it at home so I can skip the refined sugar.
Alright- let’s get to the recipe!
Whole Food, Plant-Based Shamrock Shake
Ingredients
- 1 cup spinach
- 1 cup plant-based milk
- 1 small handful fresh mint
- 1/4 of an avocado
- 2 frozen bananas
- a few drops liquid stevia or 1 pitted date
- 1 tbsp coconut whipped cream (optional)
Instructions
- Add all ingredients except coconut whipped cream to a high speed blender.
- Blend until fully mixed.
- Top with coconut whipped cream.
So are you ready to make your own healthy, packed-with-nutrients Shamrock Shake? Tag me on Instagram when you do- I’d love to see it!
Enjoy the smoothie and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
xo, Lauren
— Make a bomb Banana Bread Green Smoothie here
–Get the scoop on my nontoxic, clean morning skincare routine
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