Better than Cold Stone® Milkshake

I just made the BEST milkshake ever—thanks to my brother-in-law! While down for a visit, he shared with us about his “protein shakes” (a.k.a. glorified milkshakes), and I decided tonight—as odd as the recipe sounded—to give it a try. After all, if it went bad, I could just toss a cup’s worth of milk and ice cream right?

Well, I don’t need to say that the result was astounding! Islands, In-n-out, and Cold Stone, in my humble opinion, have some of the best shakes around (trust me, I was allowed a milkshake every time I got braces on or off, and whenever I had teeth pulled—so I’m a valid authority on milkshakes); but I have never—and I mean NEVER—had a milkshake as good as the one I made tonight.

Basic recipe:
Several scoops ice cream
2 eggs
milk (just enough to make it smooth)

My shake:
Several scoops ice cream
2 eggs
milk (just enough to make it smooth)
+
1-2 spoonfuls chocolate syrup
1-2 scoops peanut butter
Shredded coconut

Blend a couple scoops of ice cream, 2 eggs, and whatever else you want, together until smooth. Add the milk only after you’ve blended everything else—and use it sparingly. I added chocolate syrup, peanut butter, and a scoop of shredded coconut. LR adds a scoop of protein powder to his.

I know: “raw eggs in a milkshake?” I was a bit put off by the recipe too at first, but LK loved the shakes her husband made; and she’s not one to eat raw eggs—except if it involves chocolate-chip cookie dough…but that’s another story. The eggs are responsible for the great texture—not to mention the protein! Did you know that one large egg contains 6.3 grams of protein? So a shake using 2 eggs has 12.6 grams of protein—wow!

I have no idea what the calorie count is on these things, and I really don’t want to. Hey…if it’s got 12.6 grams of protein, who am I to complain?

Tea

What could be more refreshing on a hot and humid day than a glass of iced tea? This afternoon I was craving some iced tea, but we didn't have any already made--and besides, I don't like the (often bitter) taste of most conventional iced teas. Last summer, Mom made some southern sweet iced tea for a group of us that had gone hiking. I loved it! It was sweet, but not too sweet. Today I was wishing we had some of that tea, but I couldn't even find the recipe to make myself some--so I improvised.

Ingredients:
3 c. water
2 Lipton Iced Tea Brew (family sized) bags
1 cup sugar (approx)

Combine water and tea bags in a small saucepan, and bring just to a boil. Boil for a minute or two--not too long or else you'll bring out the tannin [bitter stuff] in the tea. Turn off the heat and let sit for 3 minutes with the lid on. Remove the tea bags--without squeezing them--and add 1 cup sugar, stirring until dissolved. Taste and add more sugar if desired. (I originally put in 1 1/4 cup sugar, and found the result too sweet). This will make a tea concentrate.

To serve: fill a cup with ice, and add the tea concentrate. I added enough ice to effectively dilute the concentrate in a 50-50 ratio. Add more ice if the tea is too strong, less if it's too weak.

Enjoy!

Now all I need is a hammock in the shade.

Addendum: After another batch of tea, I think 1 cup of sugar is still too sweet--even for a concentrate. Instead, start with 1/2 to 2/3 cup suger, and add more if you want it sweeter.