Chef Laura Lea is a Certified Holistic Chef and food writer based in Nashville, Tennessee. Her company, LL Balanced, provides you with easy, nutritious and family-friendly recipes that will make healthy eating a pleasure and restore balance to your life!
You can learn more about Chef Laura Lea and LL Balanced here. You can also purchase a copy of her cookbook, The Laura Lea Balanced Cookbook, here which contains 120+ delicious and healthy recipes!
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A BLOG AND RECIPE FOR A HEALTHY VANILLA MILKSHAKE BY OUR FRIEND AND CONTRIBUTOR, CHEF LAURA LEA WITH LAURA LEA BALANCED.
I have a confession. I have made a point to skirt around one of your top requests. Said request being, “Can you please share more smoothie recipes?”
I don’t think I realized why I’ve been shying from the question until I went to photograph today’s recipe.
This Healthy Vanilla Milkshake, though not a smoothie per-se, is so beyond crazy delicious that I had no choice but to imprint it forever on the web. But MAN is it difficult to photograph beverages and make them look beautiful and not lonely and awkward and get the cup and the contents in one shot and OY! How much pressure can one food blogger handle?!
I did my best, though. But if these moody photos of a forlorn milkshake don’t get you running to the blender, I hope my word will. My Healthy Milkshake is all things creamy, cool and luscious, and I think it will become a summer staple in your house. I made this for a few sweet kids in a Summer Treats class recently, and they said it was their favorite of all!
The secret ingredient in this already-healthy shake was inspired by a friend and colleague of mine, Danielle of Uncaged Cuisine. She recently created beautiful purple smoothie that includes cauliflower, and I knew it would be a perfect stealthy addition to my milkshake. I like to steam or blanch/shock mine to soften the florets and make them more digestible, but you can try them raw.
The rest of the ingredients are packed with their own stellar nutritional profiles, and there’s absolutely no dairy or refined sugar like you’ll find with any drive-thru shake. The additions of vanilla and cinnamon add depth of flavor, and you will finish this blend feeling energized and decadent.
I can’t wait to y’all to give it a try, and if you do make it with your kids, I’d love to see photos! Tag me in the on instagram (@lauraleabalanced).
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