I feel like I’m missing the girl gene that has fear of spiders/snakes/bees/all things creepy crawly (except roaches, those freak the hell out of me) and the desire to shop/spend time in malls/actually care what I wear outside of workout clothes.

In our house, I am the spider killer and my husband buys more clothes than I do.

Granted, he does it on eBay (yes, don’t even get me started how his site of choice for clothing is eBay) not in a mall, but the amount of clothes that get delivered to our house for him far exceeds the amount I get (not from eBay).

That said, I have a few select memories of mall hangouts as a teenager trying to fit in with girlfriends (even though walking around the mall for hours on end for “fun” was anything but that to me) and just as high up on the memory ladder as hanging out with boys in the quiet corner wing where Sears was is the many Orange Julius’ that were consumed.

Because even at 15, food trumped most things in life.

Even boys at times.

I really have no idea what went into an Orange Julius besides (from concentrate) orange juice and I honestly don’t even want to know at this point (a quick google search tells me oj, sweetener and mystery are the ingredients, so that’s comforting) but I do remember the taste quite vividly. It was like a dessert version of an adrenal cocktail.

These days you can boost your Orange Julius with things like bananas, protein, energy and antioxidants but I decided to make my own version at home where I can identify and pronounce every ingredient going into my drink and have no need for added boosters.

This dairy free orange julius uses real oranges, real vanilla extract (vanilla bean would be awesome too), agave (if you’re not into agave, 1. I don’t want to hear all about how you think it’s bad for you because I disagree and 2. just use honey instead) and creamy Silk organic unsweetened soy milk.

With 8 grams of plant powered protein in each serving, there’s no need for protein boosts in this version. I love using soymilk when I’m making smoothies and drinks that otherwise wouldn’t have a protein component because of its naturally higher protein stats. I’m partial to the unflavored, unsweetened Silk milk so I can add my own level of both those things since it’s such a personal preference but feel free to use one of the sweetened and/or vanilla varieties for this for even more sweetness and flavor.

Besides being dairy free and filled with ingredients you know and recognize, this version comes with a sugared orange rim too.

Pretty sure Orange Julius can compete with that.