Ever since I started strength training regularly, I've become a little obsessive about how much protein I can eat without also adding in a whole load of extra calories.

Along with doing resistance training at least twice a week, my friends at Be Mobile Physiotherapy, also say that as we get older we should be focussing on getting more protein into our diets. You can read more on why in their blog post here.

As a family, we've always eaten fairly healthily - not always easy as a B&B owner with leftover breakfast muffins, bread and cake - but recently, along with eating more protein, I've been focussing on eating more healthy fats, complex carbs and less refined sugar.

I've created a recipe for what I think is the ultimate protein shake without having to rely on protein powders! It also contains a hefty dose of fibre and probiotics.

I normally eat this slowly with a spoon, right after my morning workout 🏋🏼‍♀️

My guests used to love the smoothie I had on the breakfast menu, so it's a good addition to your B&B breakfast as well as being good for you.

I have no fear of eating healthy fats, but I easily get enough fat throughout the day - we get our EVOO delivered from a organic farm in Spain in big containers on a regular subscription basis - so I've made it with a zero fat Quark.

I've always liked quark and fromage frais, since first eating them in Switzerland as a child. If you don't already know, quark is a cultured dairy product like a thick yoghurt or soft cheese.

When I first wrote this blog I recommended a certain type of quark but that is now unavailable near me, but I've discovered another which also has the added advantage of being made with kefir, which I try to eat daily. You can also make it with Greek yoghurt or cottage cheese.

I use Biotiful Protein Original,  which is available in some Sainsburys and Tescos. It has 12g of protein per 100g, which is the best I've found in a natural dairy product with no added ingredients.

A few notes about the recipe:

• If you can't get quark, then use Greek yoghurt. It has slightly less protein, but more than most other yoghurts. You'll get more protein and fewer calories if you go for fat free. Check the labels though as they can vary quite a lot in protein content. Yeo Valley Organic Kerned 0% has the highest protein content I've found so far! ( apologies if you get stuck behind me in the supermarket as I look at ALL of the yoghurt labels!
• You can also make this with cottage cheese! My favourite is Longley Farm Natural Cottage Cheese which has 10.8g protein per 100g in it's fat free version. But to be honest any natural unflavoured fat free cottage cheese will do.
• Make sure the quark or yoghurt is natural and doesn't contain any added sugars
• I don't add anything to sweeten my smoothie, but you could add half a banana or a tablespoon of honey or maple syrup. Chop the other half of the banana and put it in the freezer
• If you serve fresh fruit for breakfast at your B&B, and have leftovers, then stick it in the freezer and use instead of the fruit in this recipe.
• If you didn't want to make it as a smoothie, you could just mix together all of the ingredients the night before, leave it in the fridge overnight and eat it as a breakfast bowl
• I love my nutribullet - you can find out more about it here on Amazon I used to use a large blender when I was making B&B smoothies and this is much easier to clean and great if you're making just one smoothie!

Note that the Amazon links I use are affiliate links, which means if you purchase the item from Amazon through my link, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. All commission go towards maintaining this blog! I only recommend products I love and use myself.

Protein Shake Nutrition

I take nutrition labels with a pinch of salt, as they can be up to 20% off and the amount you absorb of a nutrient can depend on a lot of things like how processed a food is ( for example you'll absorb more calories from eating ground almonds than you would eating a whole almond) and what you're eating it with. But I've plugged the ingredients into MyFitnesspal to give you a rough idea of what's in it!

Made with Biotiful Kefir Protein

• Protein 38g
• Carbs 34g
• Fibre 13g
• Sugar 14g
• Fat 11g
• Calories 392

Made with Longley Farm  Cottage Cheese

• Protein 35g
• Carbs 35g
• Fibre 13g
• Sugar 12g
• Fat 11g
• Calories 385

Made with Yeo Valley Organic Kerned Yoghurt Super Thick 0%

• Protein 33g
• Carbs 34g
• Fibre 13g
• Sugar 14g
• Fat 11g
• Calories 370

Protein Shake Ingredients

• 250g Kefir Protein Original Biotiful or full fat Cottage Cheese or Fat Free Greek Yoghurt
• 100g Frozen Raspberries
• 2 Tablespoons Ground Flaxseed
• 2 Tablespoons Oats
• 4 tablespoons water

Protein Shake Method

Put all the ingredients into a Nutribullet ( or blender ). I always put the water in first as this prevents the other ingredients from sticking to the top of the nutribullet jar!