100% Whey Gold Standard: 15 Smoothy Recipes | My Quick and Delicious Favs

This week, I'd like to show some appreciation for the Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey powder. To any of you fitness bugs out there, you’ve most likely heard of this name. Myself even— being not incredibly invested in fitness and muscle building— find myself enjoying the taste and benefits of this product several times throughout the week when paired with a workout. In this article I will provide some of my favorite smoothie recipes that utilize this powder, but first I will briefly explain this product for those of you who have never heard of it before. Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey is a classic, popular selection amongst protein powders for its taste, price, and quality. It is very versatile, comes in a bunch of different flavors (double rich chocolate, banana cream, mocha, strawberry, vanilla, cookies and cream, coffee, white chocolate, and many more) and is made with pure, high quality ingredients— making for a healthier choice among many others. The flavor that I have is double rich chocolate, and it is the most popular, well-reviewed flavor and my personal favorite. This product is available here: https://amzn.to/2EuYUtT

Without any further ado, here are 15 of my favorite Gold Standard double rich chocolate smoothie recipes (all of them have only a handful of simple ingredients which you can just toss in a blender for a few minutes for a healthy, dessert-like treat): 

The First 10 recipes can all be made with the Double Rich Chocolate flavor (or any similar alternative): 

1. Chocolate Banana Shake: 1 frozen banana, 1-2 scoops of powder, ice, almond milk (or any choice of milk), flaxseeds (optional) 

2. Peanut Butter Chocolate shake: 1 frozen banana, 1-2 scoops of powder, ice, almond milk (or any choice of milk), 1 tablespoon of peanut butter (adjust amount to personal taste) 

3. Chocolate Mocha Shake:  1-2 scoops of powder, ice, almond milk (or any choice of milk), 1 shot of espresso, 1 frozen banana

4. Oatmeal Breakfast shake: 1-2 scoops of powder, frozen banana, almond milk (or any choice of milk), 1 cup of cooked oats, a splash of water

5. Chocolate Frosty Shake: 1-2 scoops of powder, a dash of sugar free french vanilla syrup, 1 shot of espresso, almond milk (or any choice of milk), 10 ice cubes  

6. Choco Mint shake: 1-2 scoops of powder, a dash of mint flavoring or a 1-3 crushed mint leaves, almond milk, a splash of water, ice cubes, chocolate chips (optional)

7. Chocolate Strawberry shake: 1-2 scoops of powder, 1 cup of frozen strawberries, almond milk, ice cubes, chocolate chips (optional)

8. German Chocolate Cake: 1-2 scoops of powder, 2 tablespoons of coconut shreds, 1 tablespoon of coconut creamer of heavy whipping cream, almond milk, ice cubes, chocolate syrup (optional)

9. Chocolate fudge shake:  2 scoops of powder, 2 tablespoons of chocolate pudding mix, almond milk, ice cubes, cocoa powder(optional)

10. Chocolate Hazelnut:  2 scoops of powder, 1 tablespoon Nutella, ½ cup of cooked oats  almond milk, ice cubes, cinnamon powder, cocoa powder

The next 5 recipes can be made with the Vanilla flavored Whey Powder flavor (or any similar alternative): 

11. Orange Creamsicle: 1-2 scoops of vanilla protein powder, 2 tablespoons of vanilla pudding mix, 1 tablespoon of heavy whipping cream, orange slices, ice, almond milk (or any choice of milk)

12. Banana Oat Breakfast shake: 1-2 scoops of vanilla protein powder, 1 cup of cooked oats, 1 frozen banana, almond milk (or any choice of milk), ice, cinnamon, flax seeds

13. Mint Chip shake: 1-2 scoops of Vanilla powder, a dash of mint flavoring or a 1-3 crushed mint leaves, almond milk, a splash of water, ice cubes, chocolate chips 

14. Vanilla Frosty: 1-2 scoops of vanilla protein powder, 1 package of vanilla yogurt, 1 frozen banana, almond milk (or any choice of milk), ice

15. Strawberry Vanilla Shake: 1-2 scoops of powder, 1 cup of frozen strawberries, almond milk (or choice of milk), ice cubes, 1 package of vanilla yogurt 

Hope you guys enjoy these recipes! I love how versatile and delicious this brand of powder is. Feel free to tweak any recipe as needed. Enjoy!