In keeping with my usual tradition of throwing in a random off-topic post every now and then, here is my favourite post-run meal, a banana/peanut butter/vanilla protein shake. When I get it just right, I think it's better than any thickshake I've ever tasted. It's vegetarian, but not vegan (although probably could be made so).
Ingredients
- 1 large banana, optionally frozen
- 1 tablespoon peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon cottage cheese
- 1 scoop (usually 15 grams) of fine vanilla protein powder
- 5-10 ice cubes (vary according to how cold you like it)
- 300-400 ml cold water (vary according to preferred thickness)
Blend all ingredients with a stick mixer in an appropriate container.
Notes
For the protein powder, I was a happy consumer of INC vanilla protein mousse for a number of years, but it has stopped being available at my local supplier, so I'm currently using their 100% Dynamic Whey instead. This is a combination of milk- and soy-based protein. If you're vegan, you could substitute this for their plant protein and leave out the cottage cheese. Other brands would surely work also, I just found that the INC mixes are a reasonable price and have great flavour.
The thing I really liked about the mousse protein was that it thinkened really well (especially after I added the cottage cheese to the recipe), producing a consistency near that of a typical thickshake, sometimes thicker! With the whey protein, I've found that the only way to get it to thicken well is by starting with frozen bananas, and softening them in the water for a minute or two before blending.
MyFitnessPal tells me this has approximately 288 kCal (about 1200 kJ) and has a nutrient balance of 48% protein, 26% fat, and 26% carbs. After a big run, I often make myself a double batch; it goes down easily without making me feel bloated, and keeps me full for hours afterwards.