Red Bean Protein Shake

I know. A protein shake. So unlike me, right? At least on these pages, but protein shakes enter my reality on the daily, and so this time I thought I’d mix it up with some adzuki, and make this red bean protein shake. Come along, won’t you?

It’s not often that I throw protein powder on these pages, but here’s my exception. I figure you can find many an interesting post-workout smoothie elsewhere, and here I liked to keep the ingredients clean, the flavors bright and the interesting factor high, and that last point is where this recipe comes in.

adzuki shake

Mom and I had some adventures in the Asian market a few weekends ago and I ended up buying a random assortment of oh-that-looks-interesting ingredients, including some adzuki which I’ve used before. I wanted to reshoot the red bean cookies and, after doing so, was wondering what to do with the leftovers. I’ve already done the custard thing and am thinking that at some point later I’ll fill some puff pastry, but for now I’m keeping the oven mostly off and myself away from the stove. I looked into the idea of making this an actual milkshake with ice cream, but then it dawned on me that adding it to a smoothie would be quite nice! I mean, why should bananas and berries have all the fun?

The ingredients are simple here and while the bean-factor may seem like a complicating one, it isn’t. I’ve added just enough for a lovely, sweet background flavor because I feared adding too much would turn this into something too sickly sweet (another reason I opted out of the ice cream shake).

adzuki shake