Last week, I posted this on our FB page:
“Ok, so I’m majorly craving something sweet, creamy, and refreshing…but not ice cream.
You guys are super-smart. Please interpret my preggo brain and tell me what I want!”
And a whole passel of nice folks tried their hands at prenatal divination by throwing out suggestion after fabulous suggestion about what might satisfy my sudden urge.
So…which one did I go with?
Option E, I’m afraid (that’s “none of the above,” for those of you who haven’t taken a scantron test in a while).
That’s right. I took all of my wonderful reader suggestions and tossed them out the window and ate…ice cream.
Sort of.
Actually, I had my brother, who was on his way over, take a brief detour to the grocery store to bring home some Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla.
And then I rummaged around my kitchen and came up with this:
For some reason, even though plain ice cream didn’t sound that appealing, a shake—and a fancy one, at that—was really calling my name.
So the boys (my husband and my bro…who are mentally inserting the word, “men,” for “boys” right now) and I staged our own episode of America’s Test Kitchen and came up with this:
Here’s how it breaks down:
-
4 cups vanilla ice cream (in my humble opinion, Blue Bell’s Homemade Vanilla really is the—ahem—cream of the crop)
-
3/4 cup of milk
-
2 large bananas (best if frozen; we used fresh, but it made the shake a little runny; if you use fresh, be sure to reduce your amount of milk to 1/4 cup)
-
1 tsp vanilla extract
-
3/4 tsp cinnamon
-
Caramel (for drizzling)
-
Whipped cream (for topping)
-
Graham crackers (for topping)
And here’s what you do:
1.Throw items 1-5 in the order listed into a blender, and pulverize them into submission.
2. Divide among glasses (makes approximately three 12 oz. shakes or four 9 oz. shakes).
3. Add as much or as little toppings as you choose (my husband might have been unable to taste anything but caramel sauce when he got done).
4. Garnish with a graham cracker piece or two and a cute straw.
5. Sip yourself into creamy, banana-licious heaven!
Hello, there! Why, yes, I am as ridiculously scrumptious as I look and worth every last bit of my considerable calorie count.
Seriously. Every. Last. Calorie.
Now, I’ll be honest and say that I did not drink the shake you see in the picture.
In fact, I made this one a few days after our first round of trial and error, and Shaun, the boys (of the smallish, offspring variety), and I all split this one.
Which helped with the calorie count a bit.
Either way, I can honestly say that, although we do not drink shakes often (this is maybe the second time ever we’ve made them at home), this one will definitely be our go-to when the urge strikes Mama us.
Plus, the bananas are sure to help with a brand-new development in pregnancy that started just last night:
Localized abdominal cramps (kind of like a Charlie horse in a 3” diameter of stomach area).
They’re awesome.
Especially when you’re trying to teach a BODYCOMBAT class without looking like you’re about to start crying mid-punch. (Very confidence-inspiring).
I had one again this morning (a cramp, that is)…so I’m pretty sure that means I’m due for shake…right?
Of course, right.
P.S. Don’t forget to throw your name in the hat for our $50 Shabby Apple giveaway! I’ll announce a winner Thursday morning.
Linking up here: