Skinny Cherry Almond Milkshake

Surprise! 

No one fall over from shock or anything, but I've got a recipe of sorts.  Also, don't get too excited, because I'll be the first to admit that I'm likely going to post and then disappear for months again.  Life has taken a busy busy, but joyous turn, these days.

Anyway, this takes a little bit of planning and preparation, but it couldn't possibly be easier, and it's certainly worth it.  You're going to need to freeze some cherries and some milk cubes.  I suppose you could use whatever milk you'd like, but I suggest unsweetened almond, since that's part of what makes this milkshake skinny.  It doesn't take long to get the cherries frozen enough.  I pitted a cup while feeding the babies dinner, and popped them into the freezer for about three hours.  You're going to have to plan ahead for the milk cubes though.  I generally always have some on hand, because I've got a huge passion for frozen coffee drinks, but less of a passion for the price and the calories.

Skinny Cherry Almond Milkshake

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1 cup pitted, frozen cherries
• 1/4 cup frozen almond milk cubes (this is four cubes from a standard sized ice cube tray)
• Drop almond extract (almond extract is potent; I'm not kidding about the just a drop thing)
• 20 drops liquid stevia, to taste

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients into a high powered blender, and blend until smooth and creamy.  If your blender is not so great, you can add a bit more milk to get things moving.

Now let's do a bit of comparison.  Here is the nutrition information for a small Dairy Queen cherry milkshake.  It's got 510 calories, a whopping 19 grams of fat, and 45 mg of cholesterol.  You can go and check out the rest of the stats if you'd like.  They aren't pretty.

My version makes the same amount and has 117 calories, four grams of fat, and no cholesterol at all.  That's a HUGE savings, especially for such a yummy treat.

Enjoy!