Coffee Protein Smoothie...sort of

I recently became aware of Tone It Up. They have some great short videos on their site showcasing exercises to target various muscle groups. They also post recipes on their blog, and I recently became a fan on Facebook. TODAY, they posted this on facebook - right before I went to the gym.

(Screenshot from Tone It Up's Facebook page, as there's no link to it on their blog).
Click on the picture to make it bigger if it is hard to read.

As a self-proclaimed coffee addict, this sounds fantastic and the picture is makes me want iced coffee real bad. I didn't get to making coffee cubes yet. We only have 2 ice cube trays, and I need them both for water ice cubes in this weather. I'll have to buy another tray to use for trying out coffee cubes.

So I brewed some coffee right before I left for the gym. I just so happen to have almond milk in the fridge, because I bought some a couple weeks ago to try out for the first time. I'm not vegan or anything, and I consume plenty of dairy - I was just curious to know what almond milk was all about.

AND I picked up some protein powder at Whole Foods last week when I went there for Coconut Water. They had some nice small packets that I picked up for me to try whey protein for the first time. I think they were something like $1.19 each, but I can't find my receipt.

L: Chocolate Fudge; R: Vanilla

So I didn't keep exact measurements as I made this smoothie. But I knew that 8 ounces of Coffee, 4 ounces of Almond Milk, 2 ice cubes, a dash of cinnamon, and 1 tbsp Vanilla Protein Powder (I know that's less than a serving - but: baby steps) was not going to make much of a smoothie. Actually I mixed that up first only to find some of the liquid shooting out of my blender cup. It didn't taste fantastic. Really thin. So I added a small glop of greek yogurt. Plain, but hopefully enough to thicken it up. Nope, still thin. So I added a medium banana. Might as well get a little nutrition out of this. The banana really helped! It was still very drinkable but not too watery. The result was this:


No idea what the end product was, nutritionally-speaking. It contained something like 2 ounces of 2% greek yogurt, 8 ounces of Dunkin Donuts Dunkin Dark Roast coffee, 4 ounces of Silk Pure Almond Milk, 2 ice cubes, 1 tbsp of BioChem Vanilla Whey Protein (1/3 or 1/4 of a serving?), sprinkle of cinnamon, and a Medium Banana.

If I just used regular skim milk instead of almond milk + protein powder, it would probably result in the same amount of protein.

By the way, if you're curious, here is a (nutritional) comparison of Almond Milk to Skim Milk:

L: Almond Milk; R: Skim Milk

On the Almond Milk container, they compare Almond Milk with 1% Milk.
I can't say Almond Milk is healthier for you - but it's not a bad option if you can't or don't want to drink dairy. I have never tried Soy Milk so I cannot compare (nor am I interested in trying it. Long story, but it has to do with when I saw Wesley Willis live about 7 years ago.
Anyone know who Wesley Willis is? But I digress.)

The following comparisons are based on one cup of each kind of milk.

• Almond has 20 less calories than Skim
  
• Almond has 2.5g fat more than Skim
• Almond has 3g less of cholesterol than Skim
• Almond has 30mg more sodium than Skim
• Almond has 4g less carbs than Skim
• Almond has 1g more fiber than Skim
• Almond has 4g less sugars than Skim
• Almond has 7g less protein than Skim
• Vitamin A, Calcium, Vitamin D are the same

Anyone try Almond Milk? Thoughts? Any creative uses? I've only been using it in my coffee and the occasional smoothie. Not sure what I'm going to do with this whole container :)