Happy Monday. Last week we went pretty deep into an article that can drastically help women in the gym, by adding some simple but effective supplements to your daily nutrition, and explaining why these are so important for women specifically, albeit benefiting both sexes greatly.

This week it’s all about getting ready for summer. I figure since things are starting to warm up, the best way to enjoy (not to mention combat) the heat is by making an old school favorite, with a new twist – protein packed Popsicles.

This one, like several prior posts is quick and easy.

Let’s get started.

Clean Snacking: Your Favorite Ice Cold Summer Treat – Protein Packed.

 

If you’re from my neck of the woods, this week got pretty warm. I’m not a huge fan of air conditioning 24/7, so if you’re like me, you’ll know there’s nothing more satisfying than sitting outside on the deck enjoying the evening breeze, or inside in front of the fan while enjoying your afternoon getting some work done.

Even then though, sometimes you just need something that’ll cool you down quick.

For me, a nice, chilled ice tea, some ice cream, or novelty popsicles usually come to mind when I think of the approaching summer heat (that or a good swim).

Like I mentioned in SUPP UP. No Bull, Whole Food Military Nutrition At Home, clean eating doesn’t have to be boring.

You can continue to enjoy things you like, without significantly altering your lifestyle – the main thing to focus on is keeping your lean muscle packed on and the waistline decent looking, so you stay fighting fit.

So when it comes to beating the summer heat, you can still make sure you get your protein hit, some healthy fats, antioxidants, minerals, and a good boost of vitamins, without sacrificing indulging your taste buds.

Here’s a quick, easy, nutrient and protein packed Popsicle recipe. The perfect way to have your cake and eat it too, for lack of a better analogy.

Enjoy.

Makes: 8 Popsicles, depending on how big your molds are.

Prep Time: Less time than it takes to blend your morning protein shake.

Freeze Time: Around 1-2 hours, depending on how cold you keep your freezer (mine’s like the South Pole). 

Total Time: 1-2 hours and a few minutes.

Items Needed: A frighteningly powerful blender. Popsicle molds.

Ingredients:

• 2 Scoops Protein Powder (pick whatever flavor you want – so far I’ve tried chocolate, banana, vanilla, strawberry, chocolate mint, etc)
  • These flavors and more can be found in the SUPP UP. store. Bear in mind if some of them are sold out, ON (Optimum Nutrition) is another great alternative in terms of quality.
• 1 Cup Almond Milk (unsweetened)
• 1 Cup Water
• 4 Huge Teaspoons of Cocoa Powder (opt for all natural)
• 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon (remember Chapter 7 in SUPP UP. No Bull, Whole Food Military Nutritition At Home? Yeah – comes in handy here.)
• 6 Ice Cubes
• OPTIONAL: Add some frozen fruit if you like – though you may have to add some more water.

Directions:

1. Throw all your ingredients into your blender, water first, almond milk last…close the lid.
   1. TIP: There’s a method to my madness. This creates a layer, ensuring everything blends smoothly, rather than sticking to the side or top of your blender.
2. Insert earplugs into ears.
3. Blend until smooth and creamy.
4. Take your Popsicle molds and pour your mix into them.
5. Freeze until your liquid mix starts resembling actual Popsicles.

Simple right?

Couple things to mention.

If you read either SUPP UP. On The Go or At Home nutrition books, you’ll understand the obvious benefits of the ingredients chosen – whey for the protein (plus other benefits mentioned in SUPP UP. At Home) and cinnamon and cocoa powder for the antioxidant benefits.

I will say that I generally don’t encourage drinking almond milk (which is probably why I’ve never bothered putting up a recipe on here, despite some requests after the Almond Butter recipe I posted a while back), largely because almonds are much more nutrient dense when eaten in whole form.

When you make almonds into a milk and discard the rest of the almond, sure, you’ve got a tasty drink – but you’ve also single-handedly thrown away a significant amount of the nutrients almonds come packed with in whole form. Good job buddy *patronizing pat on shoulder*.

Lastly, like I mentioned earlier, depending on the size of your Popsicle molds, the serving size may vary, not to mention you may need to add more water to fit the molds – that last point is really only applicable if you’re a perfectionist though. This isn’t a beauty contest.

I avoid adding more water as I like a Popsicle that doesn’t melt ridiculously fast, but that’s just me.

Here’s the approximate individual and total nutritional values for the whole batch, at 8 Popsicles.

Per Popsicle: 5 g ~ Protein, 4 g ~ Carbs, 1 g Fats

TOTAL NUTRITIONAL VALUES PER BATCH = 40 g ~ P, 32 g ~ C, 8 g ~ F

If you liked this recipe, share it.

If you really like this recipe, and the way it provides nutritional value breakdown, but don’t have the SUPP UP. books yet, buy either SUPP UP. On The Go or SUPP UP. At Home E-BOOKS now, and discover what other, unique to each book recipes are available under the “Snacks” chapters (preview of chapters available in shop).

Both books have recipes that provide nutritional breakdown so it makes things dead easy (as a heads up, this isn’t a recipe from the book – see ‘Recipe Credit’ at the bottom of this page).

Drop by next week for yet another great post to add to your workout and nutrition arsenal.

Stop doing guesswork, start making the necessities of your life easier.

SUPP UP. – Get your copies now.

If You Know How To Fuel and Train Your Body, Where You Are Matters Less.™

– SUPP UP.

Clean Snacking: Your Favorite Ice Cold Summer Treat – Protein Packed. is a post from and appeared first on SUPP UP.

Recipe Credit: Tania Gustafson
Photo Credit: Alison Marras