Dairy-Free Eggnog

 

 I will be honest, this year it just didn't feel like Christmas. Maybe because the temperature has been so nice and mild here in Okinawa, or maybe it's because I've been sick and feel like I've been playing catching up. Either way, I've been in a bah-humbug mood and wanted to get out of it. So, I decided to make eggnog. I've never really had it before, I've baked with the grocery store stuff but that's about it. However, this year I decided to throw caution to the wind and make a dairy-free version using maple syrup instead of sugar. Thankfully, it turned out to be a delicious custard drink, that my friend says tastes like legit eggnog. So, I will consider it a win and share the recipe here.

 

• 6 large egg yolks
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 (13.5 oz) can  full-fat coconut milk
• 2 cups unsweetened dairy-free milk
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

 

1. In a medium bowl, add the egg yolks and maple syrup. Whisk together until light and creamy.
2. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the coconut milk, non-dairy milk and salt. Stir often, until the mixture just begins to simmer.
3. Add a big spoonful of the hot milk to the egg mixture, whisking vigorously. Repeat, adding a big spoonful at a time, to temper the eggs.
4. Once most of the hot milk has been added to the eggs, pour the mixture back into the saucepan on the stove.
5. Place over medium-low heat and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture reaches 160 to 165°F (about 2 to 5 minutes). The mixture should be just slightly thickened, it will continue to thicken as it cools.
6. Immediately pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a large bowl; stir in the vanilla and nutmeg.
7. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until well chilled, at least three hours and up to one week.
8. The dairy-free eggnog will thicken as it cools. If you want a thinner eggnog, pour the mixture into a blender with 2-3 tablespoons of cashew milk and blend until smooth.

 

* If using alcohol, you can either add it to the batch when you add the vanilla and nutmeg, or add a shot of your choice to your drink when you pour yourself a glass.

Butterbeer

Okay, so this isn't the best picture in the world. It's just so hard to get a good picture of a creamy, frothy drink without it looking like a white fluffy mess in a cup. So, even though this doesn't look as cool and colorful as the amusement park's version, it's still delicious. Trust me!

Now, if you've ever read or watched Harry Potter, then you are well aware of butterbeer. However, it's nothing anyone has ever had a reference to before because the author made it up. However, she's been quoted saying that she imagines it to be a "little bit like less sickly butterscotch." So, with that in mind I scoured the internet looking for a recipe that would match the description, and crazily enough I only found one recipe that matched that description. So many places, including The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, make their butterbeer with cream soda. Which to me, would make it far too sweet and not really falling under the author's description of what she envisioned when she wrote the drink into the books. This butterbeer recipe doesn't use sugary soda as the base, it uses seltzer water. It gets the flavor from the homemade toffee sauce you make, the creamy texture from the dash of half and half, and the wonderful foamy top from the dairy reacting to the carbonation in the water. That's it! You can add more or less of the toffee syrup and/or cream to give the drink more sweetness/creaminess based off of your personal preference. You can also make this both hot and cold. I tried both and wound up dumping the warm version. There's just something about a warm fizzy drink that didn't appeal to me. However, I love the cold version. This is actually my second year making butterbeer but it's a tradition I plan keep. There's just nothing better than sitting down to watch Harry Potter with a butterbeer in hand.

recipe adapted from The Fig Test Kitchen

Toffee Syrup

• 1 cup dark brown sugar, plus 4 tablespoons 
• 2/3 cup water, plus 1 tablespoon
• 1 stick butter 
• 1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Mix 4 tablespoons brown sugar with 1 tablespoon water and microwave for 30 seconds-1 minute until a syrup is formed.
2. In a medium-small saucepan, combine 1 cup dark brown sugar with butter and syrup. Heat over medium heat until sugar is dissolved and the mixture bubbles a bit.
3. Add 2/3 cup water and vanilla extract. Gently boil for about 10 minutes, until mixture begins to thicken and gets syrupy.
4. Remove from heat. This is also awesome on vanilla ice cream, just for the record.

        Butterbeer

• Toffee syrup 
• Half and Half
• Seltzer water (I used individual cans so it would stay carbonated)

Hot Variation

1. Mix 2-3 tbsp toffee syrup with 6 tbsp half and half and microwave for 1 minute. 
2. Fill rest of mug with seltzer. 

Cold variation

• Mix 4 tbsp toffee syrup with 6 tbsp cool half and half, whisking together with a fork. Pour in cold seltzer while still whisking with the fork. 

* If you want a crisp white foam on top, wait to add the toffee until the end. Stir slowly as to not break up the bubbles. 

Pumpkin Spice Creamer

Okay, I know that fall hasn't "officially" started, but c'mon, school's started back up, the local pools are closed, and it's starting to cool down. I don't know about you, but to me, that means fall is upon us. And if I'm being completely honest, I break out my fall decor the moment it hits September. The Mr. always looks at me like I'm nuts but to me, September is the start of fall, regardless of the day. Plus, I miss the seasons! I've lived in an area where it's sunny and warm all year round for over 5 years now. So, sue me if I break out my metal pumpkin decor, my artificial maple leaf branches, and start putting pumpkin in everything.

 Which leads me to this beauty. With the temperatures no longer in the "I'm melting" range, I find myself drinking more coffee and less tea. I love creamers but I hate the ingredients in them. I mean, have you ever read the back of those suckers? Vegetable oil... in my coffee?! No, no thank you. So, I've been trying fancier (and more expensive) creamers that are all natural. However, they have a TON of sugar in them. Which is probably why it tastes oh so good. I also wasn't a huge fan that it was dairy milk since I'm slightly allergic to dairy and try to limit it when I can so that I can enjoy cheese when I want to.  ;) So, I found some non-dairy creamer that was made with almond  and coconut milk. Well, let's just say that was not the route to go. It left this weird aftertaste in my mouth and I wound up dumping the rest of it, and my cup of coffee, down the drain. So, needless to say, I'm in the market for a good creamer that's natural, non-dairy, and delicious. Thankfully this one foots the bill.

Now I know everyone goes nuts over fancy pumpkin lattes from a particular coffee shop. I know I've had to have one at some point but it doesn't stand out to me. So, I cannot in good conscious say this is just as good as that since I don't have anything to compare it to. What I can say is that it tastes like I blended a piece of pumpkin pie in my coffee. You can smell the spices the moment you pick up your cup, and you can not only taste the spices in the coffee but you can taste the pumpkin, too. Plus, the pumpkin adds a bit of creaminess that my usual coffee lacks. I honestly can't believe it's taken me this long to make my own creamer. It's so easy to make. I just put it all in my small personal blender, blended it up, poured what I wanted in my cup, and then put the rest in a mason jar for later. Seriously, put down that gross coffee creamer and start making your own!

• 1/4 cup pure pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1 1/2 cups milk (I used cashew milk but any milk works)
• 2 tsp. sugar (I used coconut sugar)
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Add all the ingredients together in a blender and blend until smooth.
2. Transfer the creamer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator. Shake before using.

Swamp Water

For Trifecta's gator party, I decided to go with the gator theme for the drink and make swamp water. I'd never heard of it before and thought I'd just google "swamp water recipe" to see if anything came up and apparently it exists. There's many variations to the drink so I sort of looked through them and mixed different versions together to get one that sounded good and wasn't too complicated to make.

This recipe can be made per cup or for a large crowd. Since I've found this recipe I've made it both in a punch bowl and in mason jars. You can alter the measurements to your liking as well. I didn't want it too strong but if that's your thing, you may want to taste it to see if you'd like more brandy and/or vodka.

• 2 oz. apricot brandy
• 2 oz. vodka
• 2 c. of limeade
• 1 c. lemon-lime soda
• ice

1. Mix all ingredients together. Stir in ice to keep everything cold.

Trifecta's Gator Party (To get the full list of goodies)

Date Shake

This year I went to the annual Date Festival in Indio, CA. I thought it was going to be a festival revolving around dates. I was expecting a ton of venders serving up their date dishes like dates wrapped in prosciutto or date stuffed chicken breast but instead I found a county fair. A midway of rides, a ton of street car venders for funnel cakes and BBQ, a petting zoo and even a concert arena. It took the Mr. and I about an hour to locate the date section and all it was was one fold out table with someone selling bags of dates and date shakes. So of course, driving the hour and forty five minutes to get there, we bought a bag of dates and date shakes to go and headed over tot he petting zoo where I spent about 30 minutes cooing over the animals. Yup, the Date Festival was nothing like I pictured but I wound up with an addiction to date shakes and a bag of dates to take home, so the night wasn't completely wasted.

When I first got my bag of dates they were gritty and not all that sweet, unlike the guy promised. Fast forward a couple of months of them sitting in the fridge, they developed sugar crystals and became very sweet. My first thought upon seeing this was milkshakes. So I got to work making a shake, dropped in a handful of pitted dates, blended it together and I had the $5 date shake that I bought at the festival. Now normally I'm a Neapolitan shake kind of girl but there is just something about the sugary date that really makes the vanilla milkshake pop.

• 1/2 c. milk
• 1 c. vanilla ice cream
• 5 dates, pitted

1. Blend together until smooth.

St. Patrick's Day "Shamrock" Shake

I always like to try something new every year for St. Patrick's Day. This year the Mr. came home with a ton (okay, more like 4 boxes) of Girl Scout cookies. I still have 3 boxes of Thin Mint still in the freezer from last year. So since it's darn near impossible to eat just 2 cookies, which is the serving size for Thin Mints, I decided to turn it into an adult version of the Shamrock Shake using the cookies.

You can always add more or less milk depending on the shake consistency that you prefer. And of course for a child friendly version, skip the liquor and add a squirt of chocolate syrup instead.

Makes 1 shake

• 6 scoops (about 1 1/2 c.) fat free vanilla frozen yogurt
• 1/2 c. skim milk
• 1 1/2 oz. (1 shot) Baileys Irish Cream
• 1 1/2 oz. (1 shot) chocolate liquor
• 2 Thin Mint cookies
• 8 drops of green food coloring
• 1 Thin Mint cookie for garnish

1. Put all the ingredients except for the garnish cookie, in the blender and blend until well smooth. Pour into glass.
2. Using a sharp knife, slowly slice into the cookie using short shallow strokes. (if you get too overzealous, the cookie will slit in half.)

Review: VidaCup

I was given the opportunity to try VidaCup thanks to Ashley over at MommyGuru. VidaCup makes instant coffee, tea and energy drinks that are great for those of us on the go. Below are my personal thoughts on the products.

Ageless Brew

"Imagine a coffee that helps you look and feel rejuvenated.

Ageless Brew is a creamy, slightly sweet, low calorie latte that can do just that. Our gourmet coffee is infused with age-defying ingredients including our organic H1X1 Super Concentrate Agaricus Blazei. This latte will please your senses and your body inside and out. Ageless Brew is truly a Cup of Life.
We start with all-natural arabica coffee grown deep in Brazil providing a deep, dark, rich tasting coffee that smells as good as it looks. We then infuse our premium nutritional and herbal blend including grape seed extract, Extramel, red wine extract, resveratrol, and our exclusive H1X1 Super Concentrate Agaricus Blazei. You’ll feel great both inside and out. Lightly sweet and creamy, it’s conveniently packaged in single serving instant sticks so you can take your Ageless Brew anyplace...anytime."

My thoughts: It smelled like a delicious cup of cappuccino and I was really excited to try this one. It's supposed be light and smooth tasting while being low calorie, but I did not like the flavor at all. It had a very chemically enhanced taste. Picture Pepsi and diet Pepsi, for the non diet drinkers, you always taste a difference. I really wanted to like this because it smelled so good but I had to stop myself from spitting it back out into my cup. I quickly dumped it out and rinsed my pallet with something a little bit more appetizing.

Mo-Joe

"We start with all-natural Arabica coffee grown deep in Brazil – providing a deep, dark, rich tasting coffee that smells as good as it looks. We infused our coffee with our proprietary and unique herbal and nutritional blend. Conveniently packaged in single serving instant sticks so you can get your mo-joe with Mo-Joe anyplace… anytime. Our infusion begins with Green Tea, Bacopa, Ginkgo and Gotu Kola. We didn’t stop there. Like all our coffees, Mo-Joe has been infused with our H1X1 Super Concentrate Agaricus Blazei. Many other enhanced coffee companies infuse their coffee with less powerful medicinal mushrooms, but we believe, and studies will validate, that the H1X1 is by far the most potent medicinal mushroom in existence and we strive to bring you the best.
The result? Mo-Joe is a product designed to give you more of what you want in a morning coffee. The unique coffee blend is deep and dark, smooth and rich. It isn’t about just giving an extra jolt of caffeine, but also providing additional nutrients and herbs to increase energy, mental clarity, and an overall feeling of well-being."

My thoughts: Smelled more like coffee than Ageless Brew. It has good flavor and is a bit sweet, like the beans were roasted differently from what I'm used to. I would say that this is a pretty good representation of a freshly brewed cup of coffee and taste wise is better than those that I've tried from my grocery store. The only down side is that strange sweet taste to it. I like to be able to add a little bit of sugar to my coffee but this makes it nearly impossible.

XTREME

"Who needs ineffective, sugary energy drinks? What use is an energy drink that makes you burn out?
We developed an energy drink that is loaded with effective herbs and vitamins that will give you healthy, sustained energy – effectively, without the crash. Xtreme gives you more than just energy, you’ll get great nutrition. This refreshing, fruity flavored drink is unique, effective and convenient.
What’s in it? Only the most incredible proprietary blend of fruit and berries that give you an ORAC value of 5,000 per serving. Imagine combining grape, wild blueberry, cranberry, raspberry, prune, strawberry, acai berry, maqui berry, wild bilberry, goji berry, pineapple, apple, orange, grapefruit, plum, raspberry, watermelon, lemon, lime, cantaloupe, cherry, papaya, peach and pear. We could have stopped there, but didn’t.
Like all our products, Xtreme has been infused with our exclusive H1X1 Super Concentrate Agaricus Blazei.
This jam-packed formula means only three words…. HEALTHY HIGH ENERGY; all natural, low calorie, and tons and tons of sustained energy. Oh and did we mention it tastes great with only 30 calories?! Just rip, pour into your water bottle and off you go!"

My thoughts: This is a fruit punch flavored energy drink and it's actually... not bad. I'm not a huge fan of energy drinks but this one didn't taste bad at all. It didn't have a funky after taste to it and it would be a great thing to pack in your bag for work or when you know that you are going to be out and about all day long.



Conclusion: I'm not sure if because VidaCup uses something called H1X1 in their products and that is what I was tasting in their coffee but whatever it was definitely gave them a funky taste. However, I did find that the Mo-Joe had more of a coffee flavor than other instant coffees that I've tried previously. However in the end, VidaCup was unable to get me to bat for the instant team.

Peanut Butter Iced Coffee

Sometimes a recipe sneaks up on you that makes you think, "How did I not think of that myself?" This is such a recipe. I came across it while cruisin' pinterest and knew I had to have it... like immediately. So I went in the kitchen and got to work whipping up this delicious cold, frothy drink. Which in my opinion could outdo one of those fancy $4 coffee drinks any day.

This recipe comes from Sarah over at Baking Serendipity. She used vanilla almond milk which I don't drink. I get the original plain flavor which isn't as sweet or have a vanilla flavor to it. To balance it out I had to add more sugar than I probably would have if I'd used the sweeter vanilla almond milk. Regardless though, I don't think it made that much of a difference. Almond milk just adds a little bit of extra nuttiness to the flavor but not enough that if you used plain milk it would drastically change the end result.

• 1 1/2 c. black coffee, cold
• 1/2 c. almond milk or regular milk
• 1 TBSP peanut butter
• sugar/sweetener, to taste

• Combine coffee, milk and peanut butter in a blender. Blend until smooth. Stir in sweetener and serve immediately. 

This post is submitted in
My Meatless Monday

The New Green Smoothie Diet Review & Giveaway

The New Green Smoothie Diet by Hilary Greenleaf talks about the benefits of green smoothies and gives recipes and tips on making them. It goes over detoxifying the body, how to achieve increased energy levels, and how to incorporate green smoothies into a weight loss plan.

The chapters include recipes for

• Weight loss
• Detoxifying the body
• Increase energy
• Fight heart disease
• Prevent certain cancers
• Boost immune system
• Protect against diabetes
• Healthy skin and hair

Caramel Bailey-tini

With the big green only a handful of days away I decided that now would be a good time to share with you one of my favorite drinks. Like I have stated before, I am not a huge drinker but for some reason I have a weak spot for Baileys Irish Cream. This recipe came about about a year ago when the Mr. and I were in NY visiting family for the holidays. The Mr. was making himself a dirty martini and my best friend had brought over these really cute martini glasses so that we could have a few drinks to toast to the new year. Well, not wanting to be left out of the fun I told the Mr. to make me a Bailey-tini, which of course got me a confused look of "what is in that?". So the three of us got to work playing with the ratio until we got it to where we liked it.

Tropic Thunder

I made this drink to go along with the Island Drumsticks. I am not a huge fan of the taste of alcohol so needless to say, I rarely drink. However, it was Friday and I really wanted to try the new rum I bought for the drumsticks marinade so I came up with this drink. This has a kick to it but it is not so overpowering that you feel like you are drinking rubbing alcohol. I looked on the internet to see if this is a drink already known but came up with nothing. So it has been named Tropic Thunder. Now of course you can make this a virgin as well by using pineapple juice, coconut water and a squirt of lemon juice.

• 1 shot (1.5 oz) pineapple rum
• 1/2 shot (.75 oz) coconut rum
• 1/2 shot (.75 oz) lemon rum
• 1 Tbsp. grenadine
  
• ice
• orange juice
• fresh pineapple (optional)
• cherry (optional)
  

1. Put a handful of ice in your glass. Pour the liquor and grenadine in. Fill the rest of your glass with orange juice.
2. For a garnish cut pineapple in chunks. Skewer pineapple and cherry with toothpick and slice a slit on the bottom of the pineapple so that it will sit on the glass.

This post is submitted in
Make It Yours Day

Bubble Tea

I have never ordered this drink before at restaurants because they are always a lot of money for the small cup that you get. I always walk by this one smoothie place at my local mall and they advertise these drinks and they look so cool with dark bubbles of the bottom that I am always temped to pay the $5 for that small glass of bubble tea. I love Chai tea and if you love tea especially Chai tea than you will love this. I found the pearl tapioca at my local grocery store just ask around if you cannot find it. I had trouble finding it and when I asked the lady at the store, she immediately knew what I was talking about and took me to the tapioca pearls. Now I made this drink for a lunch I hosted at my house yesterday and they all loved it. I will be honest, these stores that sell Bubble tea are ripping you off!! I spent $2.50 for the box of pearl tapioca and that was enough for 4 quarts of tea. I doubled the syrup and tea recipe figuring that we would suck through the tea like it was a hot summer day, leaving me with none to enjoy later on. So if you have a big party coming up and you want to impress your guests or if you just want a spin on your average iced tea on a hot day, you should make this. Not only is it really cheap to make but it certainly is neat to look at.

• 7 cups water
• 1 (7-ounce) package pearl tapioca
• 10 black Chai tea bags
• 1 pint half-and-half
• Spiced Simple Syrup, recipe follows
• Straws
  

1. In a large pot, add the water and the pearl tapioca. Bring to a boil, over medium heat, then cover and cook for 16 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow it to sit another 15 minutes, covered.
   
2. Strain into a container and add 1/3 cup of the Spiced Simple Syrup. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
3. Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil over medium heat. Add the tea bags, let steep for 7 minutes and then remove. Allow the tea to cool.
4. When ready to serve, add 1/3 cup tapioca pearls, 1/3 cup half-and-half, and 1/4 cup spiced simple syrup to each glass. Serve with a wide barrel straw to get the pearls.

Spiced Simple Syrup:

• 1 c. water
• 1/2 c. dark brown sugar
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 whole cloves

1. Combine all the ingredients in a small pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
   
2. Strain the mixture into a glass jar and discard the cloves and cinnamon.
   
3. The syrup will keep refrigerated for up to 2 weeks.