Chai Tea Latte

Tags

chai, hot drink, milk, tea

As the temperature drops, one of the best ways to warm up is with a warm, cozy drink. A nice hot cup helps to warm your hands while the liquid warms you from the inside out! Perfect for this time of year! And, when the temps start going up again, just add ice and you have an iced chai tea latte. The spices are perfectly blended in this chai mix, and the sweetness can be adjusted to your liking. Next time I make this, I want to try it with eggnog… I absolutely love the chai eggnog lattes from Starbucks! So cozy on up with a delicious chai tea latte!

Chai Tea Latte
Yield: 4 lattes

3 tablespoons sugar
8 cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick
1 one-inch slice fresh ginger, peeled
5 whole cloves
4 whole black peppercorns
2 black teabags
2 cups water
½ tablespoon honey
3 cups milk

To make chai tea concentrate: Combine all ingredients except the honey and milk in a small saucepan. Add water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to medium heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and steep for 5 minutes. Remove the teabags, squeezing out any liquid and steep the spices for another 15 minutes. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, removing all the spices. Add honey and stir; adjust sweetness by taste. Cool completely and store in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to use.

To make chai tea latte: In a small saucepan or a microwave safe cup, combine 6 tablespoons chai tea concentrate with ¾ cup milk; heat and serve.

Source: Adapted from Janae Monir

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie, and an award!

Tags

banana, chocolate, honey, peanut butter, smoothie

I’ve been nomintated for another award! Thanks again to Giovanna of Blue Jellybeans! She just returned from at trip to France and has some wonderful photos of her journey, and just recently posted her 7 links challenge, so you can get a wonderful recap of her blog. Make sure to check her out, please! This award is for “blogs you like who have less than 200 subscribers, and who you feel should have more.”All I have to do is nominate 5 bloggers to pass this on to. For a lot of blogs I read, I can’t see how many followers they have so I’m going to try my best! Check them out!

fati’s recipes
Yummy Chunklet
With a Glass
Five Euro Food
Misadventures in Cooking

And now for the recipe!

Chocolate and peanut butter is a classic combination, as is chocolate and banana. Merge those two combinations, and you have an even greater combo! This smoothie is a perfect after-school snack, breakfast smoothie, or even dessert! It’s relatively healthy as far as smoothies go, full of protein, fiber, and even some vitamins and minerals! And small doses of chocolate are healthy, too, which makes this smoothie a great option to satiate any sweet cravings.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

2 bananas, frozen
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1 cup milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 tablespoon honey

Combine all ingredients in a blender; blend until smooth. Serve and enjoy!

Source: Adapted from Chef in disguise

Brazilian Lemonade

Tags

lemonade, lime, sweetened condensed milk

Sticking with drink recipes, lets go a little further south down to Brazil for another lemonade recipe! Yes, this doesn’t look like any other lemonade you’ve probably ever seen. It’s kind of white… and is that a lime on the glass edge? I guess in the US this is more of a limeade, but only because Brazilian lemons are closer in flavor to limes than lemons, at least that’s the case here. As for the creamy look, it’s sweetened condensed milk. And before that makes you want to close this page, you need to try it! I was a bit skeptical at first, but I like trying new things, and this seemed adventurous. Well, sort of… But it really is amazing, and I hope you try it, because you’ll be missing out otherwise! It’s such a unique flavor, and quite pretty as well 🙂 The only bad thing about this recipe is that you can’t make it in advance. Once you make it, it’s best if you can drink it all. The citrus and the sweetened condensed milk start doing funny things together. If you’re worried about it making too much, do like I did, and make a half batch the first time around. Just because you don’t believe me with how great this stuff is. It’s okay, I understand!Brazilian Lemonade
Note: Try to find limes with thin, smooth skin that are heavy for their size. They’re the juiciest and the thin skin will make the drink less bitter.

4 large limes
1 cup sugar
6 cups cold water
6 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk

Mix cold water and sugar very well and chill until ready to use.

Wash limes thoroughly with soap in order to remove the wax and pesticides. Cut the ends off the limes and then cut each lime in half, and then quarter each lime half.

Place half of the lime pieces in the blender. Add half of the sugar water, place the lid on the blender, then pulse 5to 8 times. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a pitcher and pour the blended mixture through the strainer and into the pitcher. Use a spoon to press the rest of the liquid into the pitcher. Discard the pulp and remnants in the strainer. Repeat with the remaining limes and sugar water. Add sweetened condensed milk; mix well. Taste test and add more sugar or sweetened condensed milk if the lemonade is bitter. Serve immediately over ice.

Source: Our Best Bites

Agua de Sandia (Watermelon Water)

Tags

lime, Mexican, watermelon

I have a binder where I keep all my tried and true recipes. It started as a family cookbook for my sister and myself, made for us when we moved out and started college. Since then, I’ve added to it quite a bit. But in looking through it, I’m noticing that it has some weak areas. Some areas where I really don’t have many recipes, which means it’s time to remedy the problem! One of the more barren sections is the beverage section. Thankfully, I’ve tried a few tasty drinks over the last few weeks that I’ve added to my collection, and will be sharing with you soon, too!

This tasty drink is an agua fresca, or a water refreshment, and is very common in Mexico and Central America. It’s essentially water and fruit, with some sugar. Hence, pretty healthy, and tasty!! This recipe can be adapted to most other fruits, or even cucumber. And yes, I realize summer is technically ending soon, but the heat isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, so kick back and enjoy some refreshing fruit water!Agua de Sandia (Watermelon Water)

4 cups seedless watermelon, diced
1 cup water, divided
½ teaspoon salt
1 lime, juiced
½ cup sugar

In a small saucepan over low-medium heat, combine ½ cup water and sugar to make a simple syrup. Heat until sugar is fully dissolved; set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, place half the diced watermelon in blender with ¼ cup water and blend until smooth. Pour watermelon mixture into a pitcher. Repeat with remaining watermelon and ¼ cup water. Add lime juice and salt to the watermelon mixture; stir to combine. Stir in ¼ cup of the simple syrup; taste for sweetness and add more simple syrup as needed, or add more water if desired. Mix well and enjoy over ice.

Source: Adapted from Sweet Life

Mango Lemonade

Tags

lemon, mango

A few days ago, we had an event at my workplace where people came to sample wine, beer, non-alcoholic drinks, and food while visiting with our tigers, lions, and bears. I work at a non-profit animal sanctuary and this was a fun way for people to come see our animals, from a safe distance of course, especially with alcohol involved! 🙂 My best friend/coworker made a pasta salad, while I was put in charge of finding a non-alcoholic drink. After some browsing online, I came across a recipe for mango lemonade. The recipe I found didn’t sound great, but it was a great idea so upon further research I found a delicious sounding recipe that I just had to try.

I’ve been buying mangoes whenever I see them on sale lately, dicing them up and saving them in the freezer. It was great to find another recipe to use them in, other than the most amazing mango bread, and it helped me use part of my 10+ cups of diced mango. Yeah, I know, I’ve really been stocking up…

This is a perfect drink for summer, with the tart lemon and sweet mango. The color is absolutely beautiful, too! If you want more mango flavor, you can of course add more mango. I also might try using sparkling water next time, to give it a little fizz and pizazz.Mango Lemonade

Yield: About ¾ of a gallon

2½ cups diced mango, about 3 mangoes
1½ cups lemon juice
1¾ cup granulated sugar
8 cups water

In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, combine sugar and 1 cup water. Heat until sugar dissolves and mixture boils slightly. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until chilled.

Meanwhile, in a blender, combine the diced mango and the lemon juice. Blend until the mangoes are completely pureed. Alternatively, combine the ingredients in a pitcher and use an immersion blender to puree. Add the chilled sugar mixture and the remaining 7 cups of water. Stir well to combine. Serve chilled or over ice and enjoy!

Source: Adapted from Joylicious