DIY Starbucks Style

 Maybe it is this damp cooler weather that has left me feeling like I am in a fog today, but I need to work on a huge project for school and decided to make myself a little pick me up.

Café Mocha Swap

Fresh, hot brewed coffee however you like it

1 packet of diet Swiss Miss hot chocolate

2 packets of Splenda

1-2 tablespoons Coffeemate fat free original nondairy creamer

I emptied the packet of hot chocolate, Splenda, and creamer into my coffee mug filling the rest with coffee.  I nuked it in the microwave about 45 seconds because I don’t like semi-warm coffee as much as a nice hot cup.  You will have to stir it a little because I have noticed that the diet hot chocolate takes a little longer to dissolve than regular hot chocolate mixes. 

My swap has 0 grams of fat and less than 50 calories.  Compared to a tall (12oz) café mocha from Starbucks which has 170 calories and 2 grams of fat.  Best of all mine was free since I had all the ingredients at my house. 

This is definitely going to become a staple in my morning routine!

Shamrock Shake Swap

So I have never had a Shamrock Shake from McDonald’s, but I received an email from Hungry Girl with a Shamrock Shake swap.  Her description of the shake plus reviews I found online make it sound enticingly delicious, but not at all worth the insane amount of calories and fat.  Basically, a shamrock shake is a mint flavored vanilla shake tinted green.  I decided to come up with my own version to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day.  I used the Hungry Girl email as inspiration, but mainly did a plain vanilla shake with a little extra add-ins. 

For my shake I used:

1 cup Breyers Smooth and Dreamy Fat Free Creamy Vanilla Ice Cream

1 cup skim milk

1 Splenda packet

¼ tsp peppermint extract

Green food coloring

I blended everything together with my immersion blender and topped it with a little fat free Reddi Whip

My shake had about 270 calories and no fat and when I googled the nutritional information for a McDonald’s Shamrock Shake a 12oz shake has 420 calories and 10 grams of fat (6g are saturated fat).  For a treat I am pretty impressed with what I came up with!!