My Milkshake Brings All the Boys to the Yard...

This recipe is not mine at all. I take no credit for it. My coach, Michelle, got me hooked on these shakes from DashingDish.com. The owner of the blog, Katie, has come up with a low calorie, high protein shake that actually tastes good. Yes, not a lie, it ACTUALLY TASTES GOOD. Throughout my athletic career I have tried and tried to get myself to tolerate protein powder. I know I don’t eat enough protein but I am picky. I also don’t like eating things I don’t like. Most people would say “suck it up” but I think that this recipe helps solve my problem.  So Katie, I owe you and your blog a lot.

Here is the main recipe for a basic shake that I modified a little. You’re supposed to use all cottage cheese instead of yogurt but to be honest, cottage cheese creeps me out.  I tried half cottage cheese and half yogurt for a while but the cottage cheese never blended well enough and every once in a while I would get a salty cheese explosion, which is why I mainly use the yogurt. I also like a thick shake, so I put more ice cubes in it, but the less you put in, the thinner the shake will be. You could also add more yogurt depending on how you want it to taste.

Base Ingredients

6 ice cubes

½ cup water

¼ cup plain Chobani

1 scoop protein powder

1 tbsp sugar free Jello powder or pudding mix similar flavor to protein powder

Optional: sprinkle of sugar to taste (Katie uses sweetener to reduce calories but I use real sugar because I worry about cancer and chemicals and all that good stuff)

Here are some variations that I’ve tried with different powders and add-ins, etc. These are just my varations and the more shakes I make, the more I play with the ingredients to get different consistencies and flavors.

Mocha Shake

Ingredients	Calories	Protein
6 ice cubes	0	0
½ cup coffee	1 cal	0
¼ cup plain Chobani	35 cal	7g
1 scoop  Designer Whey Protein in Double Chocolate	100 cal	18g
1 tbsp Jello chocolate pudding mix (sugar free)	30 cal	0g
Optional: sprinkle of sugar to taste	7 cal	0 g
TOTAL	173 cal	25g

*I think that the Designer Whey Protein doesn’t mask the protein flavor as well as some other brands so sometimes I add some Hershey’s syrup to make it more chocolate-y. But the coffee instead of water gives it a little extra kick and the caffeine is great for when I have a class right after practice.

Vanilla Shake

Ingredients	Calories	Protein
6 ice cubes	0	0
½ cup water	0	0
¼ cup plain Chobani Greek Yogurt	35 cal	7g
1 scoop  Platinum Hydro Whey protein powder in Velocity Vanilla	140 cal	30g
1 tbsp Jello vanilla pudding mix (sugar free)	30 cal	0g
Optional: sprinkle of sugar to taste	7 cal	0 g
TOTAL	212 cal	37g

*This one is my favorite! And it’s the only one that all three of my shake-drinking housemates will eat, so I often double the recipe and divide it between the three of us.

Banana Cream Shake

Ingredients	Calories	Protein
6 ice cubes	0	0
½ cup water	0	0
¼ cup plain Chobani Greek Yogurt	35 cal	7g
½ medium sized banana	52 cal	.5
1 scoop  Gold Standard Casein in Banana Creme	120 cal	24g
1 tbsp Jello vanilla pudding mix (sugar free)	30 cal	0g
Optional: sprinkle of sugar to taste	7 cal	0 g
TOTAL	244 cal	31.5 g

*The change in protein is on purpose. Unlike whey, casein is a slow acting protein which takes longer to digest, which helps me not wake up from my nap marathons ready to eat my entire refrigerator.

Berry Berry Shake

Ingredients	Calories	Protein
4 ice cubes	0	0
½ cup water	0	0
¼ cup plain Chobani Greek Yogurt	35 cal	7g
1 scoop  Platinum Hydro Whey protein powder in Velocity Vanilla	140 cal	30g
1 cup Stop and Shop frozen berry mix	65 cal	0g
Optional: sprinkle of sugar to taste	7 cal	0 g
TOTAL	247 cal	37g

*The best thing about this one is that it can be made with any kind of fruit, frozen or not. I use the frozen kind because it’s cheaper and then I don’t have to use as many ice cubes or yogurt to make the shake thicker.

Cookies and Cream Shake

Ingredients	Calories	Protein
6 ice cubes	0	0
½ cup water	0	0
¼ cup plain Chobani Greek Yogurt	35 cal	7g
1 scoop  Platinum Hydro Whey protein powder in Velocity Vanilla	140 cal	30g
2 Oreo cookies	106 cal	0g
I tbsp. Jello chocolate pudding mix (sugar free)	30 cal	0 g
TOTAL	311 cal	37g

*So this one is definitely less healthy than the other ones, but after a really hard workout, I figure I deserve it. I consider this shake to be a “once in a while treat”, but I look forward to it because it’s so good and almost makes the pain of an awful erg workout worth it. Almost.  

Other things that I’ve added to various shakes:

·         almonds

·         chocolate chips

·         caramel creamer

·         lemon jello mix

·         strawberry jello mix

·         oatmeal

·         cinnamon

DashingDish also has a lot more variations here, most of which I plan on trying in the near future. BodyBuilding.com also has some good looking recipes here. It’s amazing how versatile this can be and basically anyone can make a shake that fits their taste preference and calorie needs.

However, unlike Katie from DashingDish, I don’t consider these a meal replacement. Whether you do would depend on how often and how intensely you’re working out. I usually eat two big meals a day (breakfast and dinner) with three or four smaller meal/snack type things in between, so I consider the shake to be a small meal.

I have to say that my favorite thing about the shake is how quick it is. I can roll out of my nap ten minutes before I have to head to class and I have a quick and easy on-the-go snack AND I can make them from easy ingredients that I almost always have around the house.

It should be noted I am not any kind of nutritionist or expert, just someone who likes to eat and is interesting in staying healthy! All the calorie and protein counts are done by me, according to the information on the packaging. Please let me know if you find any mistakes or if you make a great new shake that I have to try! 

**Special thanks to my art major friend Angie for teaching me Photoshop....hopefully my pictures will be cooler now!

In Memoriam.

          This past weekend, three Marist College students lost their lives in an off campus fire. Yesterday the college hosted a memorial for them. It was a beautiful service and even though I didn’t know these three as more than friends of friends, it was incredibly touching. After the service, I felt the overwhelming need to be in a place that felt like home. I’ve read that grieving is a complicated process and different people react very differently. My reaction is to normalize myself, to fool myself into thinking that this bad day is just any other day. Here at Marist, the place where I feel the most at home is the boathouse.

            Marist’s boathouse isn’t fancy or state of the art. We don’t have tanks or locker rooms. The paint is peeling, the pictures are faded, the plaques are falling off the wall. The pieces of furniture look like an assortment of the best of garage sales and basement cleanouts. The weights are dusty and the mats are stained with who knows what. The stairs got painted this summer because the janitor told me she was “tired of washing them all the time and they still look dirty”. No matter how many coats of paint later, she will likely always have that problem. But I consider this building my home away from home.

            Having spent two summers and three winter breaks in Poughkeepsie, I have probably spent more time at this boathouse than anyone except for the coaching staff. The place is full of memories for me. I remember the first time I came, as a sophomore in high school, looked at the erg scores on the board and thought “woah, these girls are fast”. I remember as a sophomore in college when I looked at the erg scores on the board and thought “woah, I actually got pretty fast” and then I remember looking at the board two weeks ago and thinking “woah, these underclassmen are fast”. It was at the boathouse where one summer I learned to row a single, and then the next summer when I learned to row it well. It was here that I stood on the balcony in a thunderstorm at 7:30am one morning after a PR, just staring at the lightning in the sky and feeling invincible.

Some days, I hate going to the boathouse. I wake up and wish that I could go back to sleep and forget what an erg is forever. It was here that on the third day of practice my freshman year we did a 75’ erg piece and I didn’t think I was going to survive college rowing. It was outside the boathouse where I ran hills almost in tears after not getting boated the way I wanted to. It was the boathouse that I have left in a cranky mood because a teammate was pissing me off. It is still the boathouse where I sit, begrudgingly, on the erg that has been “mine” for three years, praying to hear those four awesome words that signify another sweat-soaked practice is over: “Clean off your ergs”.

Yet for all the painful memories I have, the good ones outweigh them ten to one. The friendships I have made under that roof are the strongest friendships I’ve ever made. I know that I will be able to call these people up in ten, twenty, thirty years and say something like “Remember that day that we got waked so badly that we had to bail out the boat with our shoes?” Or “Remember the time when we played that really good April Fool’s joke on Tom?” Or “Remember that freak hurricane/windstorm where the freshmen had to be rescued?” Or “Remember that practice where we were supposed to do pieces but then we followed a teenage bald eagle around the river instead?” And we’re going to laugh hysterically and walk around smiling for the rest of the day, because the memories are that good.

Yesterday, I spent a long time in the boathouse. I read a little bit, I daydreamed, I accidentally fell asleep, I ate lunch, I talked to the rowers and coaches who wandered in and out. I procrastinated the things that I should have been doing with things I wanted to do, like staring at the Hudson and listening to the ice crack as the pieces bumped into each other. Because life is too short, and in four months, Marist won’t be my home anymore. If anything, the recent events have made me remember to try to live life to the fullest every single day, to tell my friends, family and teammates how much I care and appreciate them, and to take joy in the little things, the big things and everything in between. So yesterday, instead of doing homework, I stared at the river and hoped that in heaven, there is a place as special as the boathouse for Kevin, Kerry and Eva and that one day, we will all join them there. Rest in peace.

12 Things I Love in 2012

So it’s been a long blogging hiatus for me, as I was quite sick for an annoyingly long period of time. Now that I am on the mend, I plan on trying to remember to appreciate things that I take for granted, like being 22 and having a body that normally recovers like Wolverine. That being said, I now will take a moment to be materialistic and give a nod to twelve of my favorite products that I am excited to use and abuse in the New Year.

1. Eos chapstick

While this round chapstick may cause your male workout partners to make immature jokes, its shape and size certainly makes it a lot easier to find in the bottomless pit that most of us call a practice bag. The brand totes its 95” organic, 100% natural ingredients but to be completely honest, it’s the shape that sold me. Being able to find chapstick one minute before a 60’ erg piece is clutch.

2. Wool socks

Everyone likes rowing more than erging until it’s 43 degrees out and you’re stuck behind someone whose backsplash could give the Japanese tsunami a run for its money. Wool socks are the key to combating the frozen foot. These socks are super comfortable, no itching at all, and high enough to tuck long spandex into without looking completely foolish.

3. Pre-Wrap

I was blessed with a tiny cranium. Good for baseball hats and bike helmets, bad for getting hair bands to not fall off my head. I also lose everything. Pre-wrap is perfect because I can size it to my head and if I have a roll in my bag, I always have a way to keep hair out of my face. Now with neon green, red, blue and orange, I can also match the colors to my workout outfits. Pre-wrap is nerdy athlete love in a small roll.

4. LL Bean Fleece Lined Flannel Shirt

Insert your Canadian jokes here, but this shirt is awesome. I decided I needed this shirt at a race when one of my friends, only wearing flannel and sweats, was warmer than I was in a parka and snowpants. Anyone else who froze their ass off at Head of the Fish this year can understand how amazed I was. The flannel pattern certainly doesn’t scream feminine but if I’m warm, I don’t really care.

5. Five new nail polish colors from L’Oreal

Of course there’s nail polish on this list. These were a present from my aunt and I think she might have been overwhelmed at just how excited I was about them. The colors (Chicklette, Just Rosey, Drama Queen, Exotic Expedition and, aptly named for my life, Caffeinated) are a range of gorgeous pinky-reds…and somehow, she didn’t duplicate any color already in my collection.

6. Nike Moisture Management Crew Socks

Ok, so I like socks. In fact, if I won the lottery, I would wear a new pair of socks every day because that’s how much I love new socks. My friend Eleni started wearing these Nike to lifting practices and I dug the look a lot, as they made her super long legs look even longer. “Wow”, thought I, “maybe this look will work for me like that!” It doesn’t, but hey, I’ll keep trying because even if it doesn’t work, they are still great socks. Having "crew" in the name doesn't hurt either.

7. Underarmour Escape Running Shorts

I bought these for 10 bucks at the local Finish Line on a whim and I love them. Bright enough to combat winter workout blues and comfortable enough to rock during a long run or squat day, they are on the fast track to becoming my favorite pair of shorts.

8. Sperry’s Angelfish Slip-On Boat Shoe

I was so excited to receive this Christmas/birthday gift from my two best friends that I wore them around for a whole week of sub-freezing temperatures (not recommended). I love these shoes. They are comfortable, durable and cute. I now finally own a pair of shoes I can wear to work and to the boathouse.

9. Orange Flavor Clif Shot Bloks

Okay, so I loved these in 2011. And in 2010. But the Orange flavored Shot Bloks are by FAR my favorite pre-exercise supplement. They taste good, they’re easy to access and they have caffeine. I am often plagued by forearm cramps during long erg pieces and these add much needed electrolytes to my system (and the caffeine kick doesn’t hurt!)

10. Lubriderm Advanced Therapy Lotion

I suffer from really dry skin, but I don’t like putting moisturizer on because I feel like it makes me smell either too fruity or too much like a nursing home. This unscented formula is actually unscented and doesn’t make me feel greasy. And unlike other lotions, it doesn’t sweat off, a necessity during two-a-days.

11. J.Crew Pearl Snowball Necklace

Another preppy Christmas present that I love. These strands take a twist on the classic pearl necklace look which means that I can satisfy my love for pearls without getting made fun of for having a Stepford Wives-esque pearl necklace. Win-win!

12. New Marist Crew Gear from Nike

Our team has three favorite moments: 1. any time we win or have a great race, 2. the moment after the last erg test of the season, and 3. the moment when we see the boxes from Nike and know that our gear order has arrived. This year we are getting some cool new gear and in six weeks it will be like Christmas all over again.

Happy belated New Year!!