Ramadan Recipe: Matcha Chiller Milkshake

As you may or may not know, Ramadan is upon us yet again and this year is yet another hard one in the UK (current fasting time of 18 hours!), the longest in 33 years in fact.
Though I rarely do foodie type posts, I felt this was related to my mummy blogs as all mums (let alone fasting mums) could do with a ~yummy~ healthy recipe that will give them an energy boost.. right? This recipe is perfect for general Summer days too and tbh I buy myself a Matcha Chiller at EAT all year round (or matcha lattes in the winter) so it's a pretty versatile drink/ingredient.

yum!

I knew the weather would heat up when we would start fasting, so I already prepared myself this year with a strategy that I'm hoping will work, read on for my explanation!
Last year I realised I had become a caffeine addict, so I had major headaches whilst fasting; I avoided tea at suhoor (the morning meal) because I tend to find tea acts as a diuretic for me soon after which would leave me dehydrated during the day.
The thirst was real last year so I found myself wanting fluids more than solids when we broke our fast and made myself cold milkshakes; oreo, jaffa cake, cookie, you name it! All day I'd be wanting ice cream and cold things, so it went down a treat at iftar (time of breaking fast), but I'd have my caffeine fix even later and have to bear the headache a bit longer (I can't have cold and hot things straight after eachother!).
This year I decided to get my caffeine fix in a lot earlier.. and thought why not continue my milkshake habit as it helped cool my body down after a long day of fasting.
And so I decided to break my fasts with my own version of EATs Matcha Chiller (which I've been a fan of for years).
I've tried to watch them prepare my Matcha Chillers at EAT and sort of see them put a spoon of matcha, something that looks like condensed milk, vanilla syrup and ice but figured I'd attempt my own recipe at home and this is what I used:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 or 1 tsp Matcha powder

• Vanilla Extract

• Skimmed Milk (full fat shown in pic)

• Low Fat Vanilla Ice Cream 

1: Scoop a decent amount of ice cream out into your blending jug. 2: Whisk a teaspoon of matcha with a little boiled water until well blended 3: Add this to your jug with some milk and a bit of vanilla extract 4: It should look like this in the jug! 5: Blend blend blend 6: Voila! Matcha Chiller Milkshake made
You can opt to make this even healthier by using frozen yoghurt instead of ice cream but I'll be honest after these long fasts I just want sugar in my system and need the calories to keep up with my toddler!
Here's some facts about Matcha that made me an addict when I first found out about it back in my health crazy/nutrition learning days:

• Made from ground green tea leaves - you get the full health benefits as opposed to just the teabag which is thrown in the bin - drinking one cup can give you the equivalent nutritional value of 10 normal cups

• Gives you longer lasting energy - caffeine in an espresso coffee (60mg) lasts for a shorter amount of time than matcha green tea caffeine (34mg).

• Boosts metabolism - great if you're trying to lose weight

• Can contain 137 times more antioxidants than regular green tea bags- amazing for your skin and getting rid of toxins in your body

As a nutrition graduate, I've always felt strongly about fad diets and "teatoxes" (slimming teas that are basically laxatives with no nutritional value), so I have found matcha to be not only safe but tons better for you in comparison.
Try it yourself and see if your energy levels and skin change; as a coffee/tea connoisseur I genuinely think matcha is a much better substitute albeit a bit pricier; but so worth it!
I've tried TeaPigs in the past but have now discovered EatCleanTea who are slightly more affordable, so I'm giving their sample a try this month and seeing how it goes! I'm also quite intrigued about the matcha-mint flavour they sell; I'm known for my home made mojitos so I'm thinking this matcha mix would totally make them healthier.
Have you tried matcha before? If so, how do you have yours?