Happy National Cheesecake Day!! I love to indulge in a slice of creamy, silky cheesecake whenever the opportunity arises, and since today is the official national holiday I am definitely participating!
However, because I am watching my weight and actively trying to slim down, I avoided making a full cheesecake this year and made myself a Weight Watchers-friendly cheesecake-flavored protein shake instead that only costs 3 Freestyle Smart Points! (I’ll be going to Dance Church tonight for the first time in forever so it will be the perfect treat to help me cool down and recover afterward!)
CHEESECAKE PROTEIN SHAKE
Ingredients
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 tbsp sugar-free cheesecake-flavored pudding mix
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 frozen banana
a few cubes of ice (I used ~8)
1 tbsp crushed graham crackers
(for garnish; optional and will affect SmartPoint total)
Directions
Add almond milk into your blender first, then protein powder, pudding mix, and vanilla extract
Put frozen banana pieces and ice cubes in last — use this specific order for optimal blending experience
Blend until smooth; pour into glass, and for a little additional “cheesecake” experience, garnish with crushed graham crackers
Enjoy!
If you’re looking for “quick & dirty” cheesecake flavor and creaminess, try adding sugar-free Cheesecake Pudding Mix directly into Plain / Original Greek Yogurt! I like to combine a 32 oz container of Greek yogurt with a whole box of the mix — you can get eight 1/2 cup servings out of it (that are only 1 SP per serving!)
Top Tip: Mix the powder in gradually when adding to the carton of yogurt instead of just dumping the whole packet in at once because the texture will remain chunky (it’ll clump up) and won’t fully integrate. It gets thick pretty quickly, so it will end up being a pretty good arm workout by the end! lol
If you are participating in Weight Watchers or are generally looking for waistline-friendly cheesecake options, I have rounded up a few additional cheesecake-inspired recipes below:
– Zero WW Point Cheesecake 0 SP per serving –
– Strawberry Cheesecake Trifle 1 SP per serving –
– No Bake Graham Cracker Cheesecake 3 SP per serving –
– Berry Cheesecake “Salad” 3 SP per serving –
– Cherry Cheesecake Bites 4 SP per serving (2 bites!) –
– Mini Cheesecakes with Oreo Crust 5 SP per serving –
– Peanut Butter & Chocolate Cheesecake 6 SP per serving –
– New York Style Cheesecake 7 SP per serving –
– Reese’s Peanut Butter Cheesecake 9 SP per serving –
For comparison purposes, a slice of low-carb Cheesecake Factory cheesecake is 27 SP, so even though 9 SP is pretty high for a serving of the aforementioned Reese’s Peanut Butter Cheesecake, it’s still much lighter than the traditional version. #perspective
Save those Points for times like this!
Happy National Cheesecake Day, friends!! Enjoy!
Sending hugs —
xx, Natalie
P.S. I also have a “recipe” for a St. Patrick’s Day mint protein shake here if you’re looking for more blended protein shakes!
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