This post by The Veg Life! has been sponsored by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser, Bigelow Tea. All recipes and opinions are mine alone. #AmericasTea #CollectiveBias

St. Patrick’s Day will be coming up before you know it and everywhere you look it’s green food, drinks, crafts…you name it! I thought I’d go with a more natural approach. I first created this coconut-based Green Tea Ice Cream and from that recipe, followed that up with my healthier version of that oh-so-famous, Shamrock Shake. It was pretty amazing.

We used Bigelow’s Green Tea with Lemon tea bags. It has a very gentle flavor that worked really well in this recipe. I always like to research the products I use in my recipes and I found even more reasons to love the Bigelow brand!

Bigelow Tea is All American: 100% American made by a family whose Charleston Tea Plantation is America’s largest working tea garden. Guests are invited to the Charleston Tea Plantation for weddings, tours and even a variety of music festivals. It’s a tea-riffic way to experience historic Southern culture and a living piece of American history!

Additionally, I learned that almost 4 million bags of tea have been sent to troops overseas with Bigelow’s Tea for Troops program. You can find additional information about Tea for Troops at https://www.bigelowtea.com/Responsibility/Support-Our-Troops

This particular tea is very readily available. I found the Bigelow Green Tea with Lemon at my local Walmart in Scottsdale, Arizona.

In order to make our Shamrock Shakes, we first need to make the Green Tea Ice Cream. It’s so creamy and mild. Really yummy on it’s own or, you can continue on to make our Green Tea Shamrock Shake!

I must mention that at this stage, the color of the ice cream has a very pale light green tint. This also depends on how many tea bags you use.

The first step is to steep the Bigelow Green Tea with Lemon bags in almond (or coconut) milk.

I used four bags for this recipe, but you could certainly use more to taste. Keep the strings attached, I loop them around the handle of my pan for easier removal. Steep for about 5 minutes on a gentle boil.

I couldn’t be more thrilled with how the addition of this next ingredient changed the future of ice cream making for me. Aside from the rich depth of flavor with subtle sweetness that it adds, the first and biggest difference I noticed was with scoopability. While my previous versions of coconut milk-based ice creams were delicious, they were difficult to scoop. This was as smooth and creamy as traditional ice cream. If you’ve never experienced it before, brown rice syrup is used as a healthier version of traditional corn syrup.

My favorite taste-testing point in the process is right about here. Soft serve ice cream. I think the flavor is at its’ peak when the ice cream is at this particular temperature. I spread this into a loaf pan and freeze over night.

Now we get to transform the ice cream into our healthier version of the famous Shamrock Shake. Instead of food coloring, we added fresh spinach. Don’t worry, just like in your favorite smoothies, you won’t taste it at all. I also add a little ice, some almond milk and fresh mint leaves (or pure mint extract). Go easy with the mint. It’s pretty strong and can be really overpowering. A high speed blender really makes easy work out of pureeing this mixture.

You might be wondering about that whipped topping. You have options here. There are several non-dairy whipping toppings on the market, including those that come in spray cans to create this beautiful presentation. You could also make coconut whipped cream from scratch. Add a sprig of fresh mint and enjoy immediately.

To learn more about Bigelow Teas, you can visit them at: https://www.bigelowtea.com

You can also find them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bigelowtea and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bigelowtea

I’d love to hear how you celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and if you try this recipe, please tag me with your photos on Instagram: @theveglife1

For more inspiration and stories about Bigelow Tea, visit their Pinterest board:

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