{Dairy Free} Chai Latte

Becca here with a recipe I'm excited to share; it has become my favorite afternoon drink lately.  While we were driving back home from celebrating Christmas with family that live about four hours away from us, it was getting bitterly cold, so we stopped at Starbucks and I used a gift card I had received for my birthday to order an Oprah Chai Tea, with no sugar or syrups, add honey and almond milk.  It was really delicious, so I have been experimenting to make a similar substitute here at home, and am really happy with the recipe I'm going to share today!  Because it's caffeine free, I am able to drink it as my after lunch, quiet time treat.  What is your favorite hot tea "recipe"?

{Dairy Free} Chai Latte
Makes 32 ounces

2 bags Celestial Seasonings "Bengal Spice" tea, or Good Earth "sweet & spicy" (I use caffeine free)
3/4 cup UNsweetened almond milk (my favorites are 365 Organic from Whole Foods, or Califia Farms I can get at Walmart)
2 - 4 Tablespoons honey, to taste
About 25 ounces of boiling water (we love our electric kettle!)
32 ounce container to make it in (I use my Ozark Trail "Yeti" style cup)

Combine the boiling water and two teabags in your heat safe container.  Leave it for ten minutes.

Remove the tea bags, add in the almond milk and honey, and stir well.  (Don't try to skip a step and not stir well, the honey clumps up at the bottom, and almond milk doesn't mix evenly if you don't!)

Enjoy!

Raspberry Cocoa Powder Smoothie

It's smoothie season! Well, technically not weather-wise, but waistline wise probably so.  I definitely indulged in many delicious Christmas cookies and was happy to do so!  And now, I'm happy to get back to filling my body with healthier choices, like this delicious and filling smoothie. 

When I make smoothies it's usually with at least one baby hanging off my legs (or sometimes two) so the measurements below are an estimate.  Feel free to use more or less, depending on your preference.  I usually just dump and make.  They always turn out great! 

Raspberry Cocoa Powder Smoothie

Ingredients:

1/2 cup frozen raspberries

2/3 cup plain Greek yogurt

1 cup spinach leaves

1/4 cup almond milk, unsweetened, vanilla

1/2 banana

1 TB honey

1 TB cocoa powder

Ice

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in the blender until smooth!  Drink and enjoy :).  This goes especially well with a handful of almonds for a healthy, quick lunch or snack. 

Sara 

Creamy Hot Chocolate

Jana here with a delicious recipe for Creamy Hot Chocolate.  The colder days have arrived, and sometimes all you need to warm up is a hot drink!  I love coffee, fruit flavored teas, and hot chocolate.  This recipe is so easy to mix up, and can be made with 3-4 basic ingredients.  My kids love this, and so do my husband and I!

Creamy Hot Chocolate

4 cups milk
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup boiling water

1. Mix cocoa powder, sugar, and boiling water in a saucepan over medium-low heat. 

2. Add half of milk slowly to saucepan. Heat, but do not boil. 

3. Once you remove from heat, add remainder of milk to cool to drinking temperature.

Enjoy!

Make: lemonade.

Hi all! Today I'm sharing a post from my personal blog (therosylife.blogspot.com) about a sweet, carefree afternoon activity I did with my oldest daughter: making lemonade. I hope you'll find as much enjoyment in this simple activity as we did! 

We made lemonade.

Anna Ruth loves to watch the episode of Curious George where they make their own juice.  She also loves lemons and will eat them just like an orange!  My mind put two and two together and thought it'd be a great big girl activity for us to make lemonade.  

And that's just what we did.  Anna was semi-interested in squeezing the lemons (she quickly realized what a sticky mess it left on your hands and wanted mama to do it). She was VERY into stirring though!  And tasting :).  In fact, she had two cups!  

This was a simple, enjoyable afternoon activity with my girl. 

 luscious Lemonade:

Combine one cup water and one cup sugar on the stove in a saucepan over medium heat.  Cook until sugar is dissolved.  Squeeze 5 lemons into a pitcher, and then add sugar water, plus an additional 4 cups of water.  Enjoy! 

Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Smoothie

Jana here with a breakfast smoothie that is delicious!  My kids love to help me make smoothies in the morning. They like to think of fun combinations, and things we can add to make them yummy!  Since they are only 2 and 4 years old, some of their ingredient suggestions are 'creative', but don't fall into the yummy category!  I saw this recipe for an Apple Cinnamon smoothie on Pinterest, and decided it would be a great breakfast addition!  It was very tasty, and we enjoyed a flavor that was different from any we had tried yet!

Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Smoothie

1 red apple, cored and sliced

5 raw almonds

1 banana

3/4 cup Greek Yogurt

1/2 cup nonfat milk

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Place all ingredients in a blender. Process until everything is blended well.

Enjoy!

Mitford Spiced Apple Cider

Jana here with a wonderful warm, winter recipe!  My mother-in-law passed this recipe to me, and she got it from her Jan Karon Mitford Cookbook.  This is a cider that is very easy to make, but tastes like you spent a lot of time on it!  Kids and adults alike will love it, and it is a great addition to any winter gathering!  You can make it in your slow cooker, and leave it there to stay warm.  This makes it easy for guests to be served a warm cup of cider at any point!

Mitford Spiced Apple Cider

2 teaspoons whole cloves
2 teaspoons whole allspice
6 cinnamon sticks
1 gallon apple cider
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1. Tie cloves, allspice, and cinnamon sticks in a cheesecloth bag.

2. Pour cider into a large slow cooker, and add brown sugar, salt, nutmeg, and spice bag.

3. Heat on high for one hour, and then turn to warm. 

Enjoy!

Dark Hot Chocolate Mix

Becca here with an amazing dark hot chocolate mix!  I've tried LOTS of different kinds of hot chocolate before, both premade from the store, and homemade.  And while several of them were good, I prefer a dark chocolate flavor, and find many of them too milky and/or sugary sweet for my preference.  I was most recently really disappointed by the Starbucks Dark Hot Chocolate mix that was super, super expensive at my local grocery store, and not good at all.  So, after googling recipes that were different than what we'd tried before, my kids & I tried this one last week and declared it a winner!  It's definitely my favorite hot chocolate that I've tried so far!  It is a nice blend of sweet and creamy, but with the deep dark chocolate flavor as well.  Even better, the recipe uses ingredients that you likely already have in your pantry right now!  I hope you'll try it soon.  And be sure & let us know how you like it!

Dark Hot Chocolate Mix

1 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder (I use Hershey's Special Dark)
1 cup sugar
1 cup powdered milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Combine all ingredients in an airtight container.  If it's a really tight seal, let the kids shake it well to combine (my recommendation!); otherwise, stir well to combine.

To make hot chocolate, add 3 Tablespoons to 8-10 ounces of hot water (or 2 Tablespoons to 6 ounces for a kid-sized serving is what we do).  Enjoy!