Almond Horchata

 

I think I've mentioned that we are currently living back east for a while.  There is good food to be found here, but not really when it comes to Mexican food.  Coming from the southwest, we could always find fantastic Mexican food, but it's not the same here.  The other day I was in the mood for a horchata.  If you don't know what that is, it's a rice based drink with cinnamon.  It is sweet which means it contains sugar, so I thought I'd tackle a processed free version.  In doing some research, I found that it takes hours if not days to make a traditional horchata!  I think because I'm a mom of three, days to do anything is just not part of our lifestyle right now.  So, I started to think what it is I like about the drink in the first place.  I like the creamy base, the flavor of the cinnamon, and the slightly gritty texture of the freshly ground cinnamon on top.  Here is what I already had in my house that could duplicate all of these qualities.  Hence, the quick and easy almond horchata was born!

 

One serving:

1 cup unsweetened organic almond milk

5 to 6 drops liquid cinnamon stevia (Sweetleaf brand)

cinnamon for garnish

 

Stir cinnamon stevia into the almond milk, sprinkle the top with cinnamon and voila!  Creamy, cinnamon goodness.  Now, I will admit that if you are a horchata connoisseur, this is not for you, but a refined sugar-free, quick fix - this is it!!  Even if you like a traditional horchata, this is a nice spin-off in flavors to change it up.  See what you think.  You can also customizes this to your tastes and add more or less cinnamon stevia.  If you can't find cinnamon stevia, you can order it online or just use regular stevia and add a lot of cinnamon.  The cinnamon stevia will give you the best flavor though.

 

Strawberry Lemonade Slushies

 

When we first started taking our kids to movies, we would buy lots of popcorn and frozen slushies to get them through the entire movie.  Yes, we used food as both a pacifier and a babysitter so we could enjoy the movies too.  I shudder at the thought of all the junk they consumed in one sitting.  I could never bring myself to do that again now that I've learned so much.  Movies in the theatre now include air popped popcorn made at home, and a bottle of water.  But what's even better is our movie nights at home!  We make these processed free strawberry lemonade slushies and the kids go wild.  These have the same consistencies as those red and blue frozen drinks at the theatre, but NO added sugar.  Lemons and strawberries - doesn't get too much better when this is what your kids are considering a super treat. 

Zest of one lemon (optional for more lemon flavor)

juice of 4 lemons

1 1/2 tsp. liquid stevia

1 cup water

3 cups ice

2 cups (heaping) frozen strawberries

Pour everything into a high powered blender and hold on tight!  This may take 1 to 2 minutes to completely pulverize the ice and strawberries.  I have had to play with this recipe several times to get the right proportions for what my family likes.  None of us like overly sweet lemonade, so if this is too sour, I suggest adding more strawberries rather than more stevia.  The liquid stevia is so strong that when you add too much, it seems to be all you taste.  You also might make minor adjustments if you have really juicy lemons or tiny ones.  If you don't like stevia, you could always use honey in a larger proportion, but I like the fact that stevia is 0 calories and has no effect on blood sugar.  Hope this makes for a fun movie night at your house too!

Strawberry Milk

 

My daughter has been talking about Valentine's Day ever since Christmas ended.  I like to stay ahead of the game and think up clean recipes and treats so the kids can still celebrate the upcoming fun, but not have all the sugar and processed junk that could be involved.  Here is our version of strawberry milk made processed free!  My kids love this and I don't feel guilty about this drink at all.  Plus, it's great that it's pink - perfect for Valentine's Day!

 

1/2 cup freeze dried strawberries

1 cup milk (use almond milk if you don't consume dairy)

10-15 drops liquid stevia (or to taste)

1/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract

 

Pour all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.  You can pour it through a fine strainer to remove any little strawberry seeds if you want.  My kids didn't mind the seeds, but I did.  This makes one serving, but's its just as easy to double or triple the recipe.  Let the pink foods begin!

 

Vanilla Cinnamon Grapefruit Soda

My sister received a gift card to the restaurant True Foods and invited my mom and I to have lunch with her.  Their food is more healthy/natural with real ingredients made fresh.  While we were there we ordered this house-made grapefruit soda.  It was really refreshing and I couldn't get it out of my head even days later.  So, I decided to try and recreate it on my own.  Soda is not something I really drink anymore since going processed free, but making one at home is not that hard and I can control the sweetener.  What I liked about the one at the restaurant its that it had no added sugar.  How's that for a great soda alternative!  I'm sure that if anyone actually knows how they make it at True Foods they would say I'm doing it wrong, but I still like the result I got.  Here's what you need.

1 grapefruit (the more pink/red the better because they are naturally a little sweeter) I prefer Texas Red

cinnamon

pure vanilla extract

liquid vanilla stevia

sparkling water (this is not straight seltzer or mineral water - the ingredients should just say "carbonated water")

In a small sauce pan, add the juice and pulp from the grapefruit.  If you have a really large, juicy grapefruit then add anywhere from 3/4 tsp. to 1 tsp. of cinnamon.  If it's not that big or doesn't seem like that much juice, add only a 1/2 tsp.  Set this on the stove and bring to a boil.

After a minute it will really bubble and you'll have to stir it constantly for about 5 to 7 minutes.  You are wanting to reduce the liquid by half to concentrate the grapefruit flavor and infuse it with the cinnamon.

You'll know to turn off the heat when it looks like it's only half of what it used to be.  Here's what it looks like after being cooked down.

Now, you will pour the liquid through a strainer to remove the pulp.  I like to strain in into a measuring cup to see how much I've ended up with.  If it's around 1/4 cup, I add 1/2 tsp. of vanilla.  If it's more than that, I will add anywhere between 3/4 to 1 tsp. of vanilla.  The last time I made this I ended up with 1/2 cup of the strained liquid - it was a big, beautiful, juicy grapefruit, so it required more cinnamon and vanilla - about 1 tsp. of each.  Oh, and by the way, don't throw away the pulp - it's delicious.  I like to put the cinnamon grapefruit pulp spooned over some of my clean vanilla ice cream recipe - it is so good!

Once you've added the vanilla to the cinnamon and grapefruit mixture, you are done making your syrup.  Easy, right?  Refrigerate it for a few minutes to cool it down.  Now you are going to make your soda.  This all has to do with your own personal tastes, but here are the general ratios I use for mixing - add more or less of anything you want.  For every cup (8 oz.) of sparkling water, I add 2 to 3 tsp. of the syrup.  You can drink it this way, but I prefer it with anywhere from 2 to 4 drops of vanilla stevia per cup as well.  My husband and kids like a few more drops of stevia than that, so it's all about personal taste.  I like to have the sparkling water already chilled because the ice melts too quickly otherwise and waters it down too much. You can always add more of the syrup if this happens.  I hope you try this and like it - I really do!

Green Machine Smoothie

This is a drink that I use for convenience when I don't have the time or ingredients to make a green smoothie.  What's great is that you can buy it in most grocery stores, although I get mine at Costco because it's bigger and costs less, and it's wonderful because it has no added sugar.  You can't say that for a lot of juices on the market.  Plus, if you read the ingredients, this is all you'll find: apples, bananas, kiwis,  mangoes, pineapple spirulina, chlorella, broccoli, spinach, blue green algae, odorless garlic, barley grass, wheat grass, ginger, and parsley.  I'm sure it's mostly fruit and a real "green" smoothie has mostly greens with some fruit, but it's way better than most alternatives.

You might be wondering how it tastes since it is green.  It tastes great!  When I drink it, I can pick out the pineapple most of all.  My kids don't love the color, so I started giving them this in a cup that has a lid and a hole to insert a straw.  If they can't see it, they absolutely devour it.  In fact, my two year old will ask for more and more refills unless I limit it to just one.  Give it a try.  You might be surprised at how good it is.

Healthy Hot Chocolate with Coconut Whipped Cream

My daughter loves to have what we call a "mommy sleepover" when my husband is out of town.  We stay up later than her usual bed time and do something fun like paint pictures, watch a movie or play games.  Then we cuddle up on my bed with a cup of hot chocolate before we go to sleep.  I must admit, that when we do this, she absolutely expects the hot chocolate or the night would end in tears.  This was a challenge when we decided to go processed free because I didn't want to disappoint her, but I also didn't want her to have all that processed sugar in her system either, not to mention whatever else was added.  I set out to find a substitute, but all the recipes I tried were never quite what I wanted.  I found that I needed to take a little of each of them and come up with my own. 

1 cup almond milk
1/2 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tbsp. pure maple syrup
1/2 tsp. vanilla

You can also add 1/4 tsp. of cinnamon and 1/4 tsp. of cardamom for a more sophisticated hot chocolate.  It has a great taste, but just a little bit of texture.

Heat the almond milk then add the remaining ingredients.  Then, you have one of two options.  Either put it in the blender for a few seconds, but be careful as steam will rise.  Or you can do what I prefer and use an immersion blender which I think is easier, faster, no worries about steam, and quick clean up.

Coconut Whipped Cream

1 can coconut milk (put in the refrigerator for at least a few hours, overnight is better)
a wholesome sweetener of your choice - sucanat, coconut sugar, stevia, erythritol, etc.

Open the can of coconut milk very carefully, you don't want to shake it!  Scrape off all the solidified coconut cream that has risen to the top and put it in a bowl.  You won't use the liquid underneath.  Beat the cream a little then add some sweetener to your taste, that's it! 

I wanted to explain just why this hot chocolate is so much healthier.  Of course taking out the refined sugar speaks for itself, but unsweetened chocolate is extremely healthy in small amounts.  There are all kinds of health benefits that I will explain sometime in more detail, but all of these are negated when sugar and dairy is added.  By using a nut milk as the base, replacing the sugar, and using coconut whipped cream, you have done all the right things to reap the benefits of this super food - and your end result was tasty too!