Drinks

Almond Pumpkin Spice Steamer Recipe

6 · Oct 7, 2014 ·

Today, I stumbled upon something AAAAAMAZING!!

A little back story. I’m not a coffee drinker, however I love a good warm drink like hot chocolate, Choffy or a simple hazelnut steamer. I love the fall and I have always felt a bit envious of all you PSL lovers out there. For those of you who don’t speak Starbucks, that’s the iconic Pumpkin Spice Latte that appears at Starbucks this time of year. It has always been so intriguing. I started to think about how I could create my own PSL experience and I came up with this… The Almond Pumpkin Spice Steamer!

Yes, you will thank me after you try this sinfully simple treat!

Two ingredients, three minutes, some optional garnish and you are enjoying the flavors of the season. I use Light Silk Almond Milk. Why you ask? Well, first off it’s…

• 60 calories per serving – 60 calories for 1 whole cup!

• 50% more calcium than dairy milk

• Excellent source of vitamin E

• Absolutely no cholesterol or saturated fat

• Free of dairy, soy, lactose, gluten, casein, egg and MSG

• Verified by the Non-GMO Project’s product verification program

• No artificial colors, flavors or funny business

On top of all of that, it tastes great! I thought it would be the perfect base for my steamer experiment.

The next ingredient can be a little tricky. Getting ahold of some pumpkin spice syrup to add to your steamer. Here are your options…

Sweet talk your Starbucks barista into giving you a cup with just a few hits of the liquid gold (yea, I’m not above that at all!) I have been known to pay for a Tall PSL minus the L.
I have found a lovely Sugar-Free Pumpkin Spice Coffee Syrup by Archer Farms at Target. I’m sure that’s a seasonal item, so go and grab some quick. It’s in the coffee isle at your local target.
You can order some Torani Pumpkin Spice online. Where there’s a will, there’s a way! If you are a pumpkin lover, you can find some pumpkin spice syrup.

Now, all you need to do is pour your Silk Almond Milk into a small sauce pan over medium high heat. Gently warm your Almond Milk until it starts to steam. This will take 3-4 minutes. As soon as you see steam remove from the heat.

Pour into your mug and add a splash or two of your Pumpkin syrup. Start with a little bit and add until you have your perfect pumpkin flavor. Top with whipped cream and some pumpkin pie spice and voilá, you have fall in a cup! If you want to keep this dairy-free skip the whipped cream topping and it’s the perfect dairy-free autumn treat.

For more Silk ideas, visit their Facebook page. For all kinds of Silk fun, sign-up to receive Silk news and special deals right in your in-box! Seriously, check it out! This month they are giving away a CAMERA. Go join the Silk fun!!

What’s your favorite fall treat? Are you part of the pumpkin craze or are you holding out for egg nog?

This conversation is sponsored by Silk. The opinions and text are all mine.

Herbal Tea Lemonade

11 · Aug 4, 2014 · 8 Comments

+ Herbal Tea Lemonade a Starbucks Knockoff +

I am a HUGE lemonade addict… Yes, it’s that serious. I would rather drink lemonade than any other beverage on the planet. There is just something special about that sweet pucker of lemon flavor that I just adore. I tend to like my lemonade high on the pucker meeter, leaning more for the tart rather than the sweet.

As much as I love regular, fresh squeezed lemonade I don’t love all the calories and sugar that come along with that. I tend to keep the good stuff only for special occasions. Starbucks has a shaken lemonade that I just adore. It’s a combination of herbal tea and lemonade and it’s divine. Again, this is more of a drink reserved for special times due to the sugar content and the high price tag. Soooo, what’s a girl to do when she has a craving for Starbucks shaken Passion Tea Lemonade… I DIY it of course!

I have experimented with a few different flavors on top of the Passion tea and have found three that I just love. Celestial Seasonings Country Peach Passion is my all time favorite paired with lemonade and then my other two favorites are Tazo Passion and Vanilla Rooibos Parfait.

I brew up some tea using two tea bags, steeped in roughly two cups of hot water. Then I transfer the tea to a bottle and add more water until the bottle is full. My bottles hold a little more than 1 quart of liquid. If your container is larger, you may want to steep more than 2 tea bags.

To make the herbal tea lemonade, fill a large glass or jar with ice and a single serving Crystal Light lemonade packet…

Then I pour the tea over the lemonade mix and the ice, stir and enjoy!

+ Mason jar lid from The Mason Bar Company // Jar lid painted gold with Elmer’s gold Painters Markers +

My all time favorite herbal tea lemonade is the peach tea mixed with raspberry lemonade… To die for flavor!! What I love about this drink is the burst of fruit flavor without any of the guilt!! What are your favorite flavor combinations?

Disclaimer // This is not a sponsored post.

Ladies Fiesta Dinner Party

4 · Jun 30, 2014 · 6 Comments

+ This Ladies Fiesta Dinner Party brought to you by Pepcid® +

As you all know… I LOVE to entertain! The idea of spending time coming up with a menu and cooking all day makes me happy… Seriously I love it! Recently, I had the chance to throw a fun Ladies Fiesta for a few friends for a fun Girls Night IN at my place. SUPER FUN!! Some of you may have followed along on Instagram while I was prepping for the night. Here’s the menu…

Frozen Shirley Temples

Spicy Scallop and Shrimp Cocktail

Creamy Avocado Gazpacho

Light Tacos

Creamy Corn Cups

Fiesta Summer Salad

Dirty Diet Coke

ChocoFlan

Many of the recipes are from or inspired by one of my favorite Food Network Chef’s Marcela Valladolid from Mexican Made Easy. When I decided to have a girls night, I thought a classy fiesta would be super fun and Marcela was the perfect chef to turn to for all kinds of classy fiesta recipes. I didn’t want a night full of chips and guacamole followed with a pan full of enchiladas. I wanted it to be light, fresh and refined. This menu was perfect… Except for one thing.

Here’s a little known fact about me… I have struggled for years with mild heartburn. Over the years, I have learned what foods trigger this condition in me and you would be surprised that even a relatively fresh and light fiesta menu like the one above could cause all kinds of issues with my sensitive stomach. You would think that the typical fiesta fair like heavy burritos and enchiladas would be the only culprits, but it’s not. Everyone is different but even fresh food, if they are high in acid like tomatoes, can trigger a rough night. That’s why when it comes to nights like this, I turn to Pepcid® to help me enjoy the food that I so lovely prepared for my friends! Wouldn’t it be a shame to go to all that work just to suffer in the end? If you are like me at all, you should visit the Pepcid® Facebook page for all kinds of ways to help keep your stomach happy!

Here’s how the night went… I prepped food all day, and while I was doing that I watched as the clouds rolled in. The plan was to eat outside and enjoy a nice summer evening and a rain storm was NOT on the menu. Sure enough, about an hour before the ladies were to arrive, the clouds opened up and DUMPED a ton of rain. YAY! Not to worry, I kept working on party prep and when my friends arrived I put them to work, drying of the table and chairs, no worries there. The rest of the night was perfect, so we didn’t let that little bump create issues for this fiesta! We set the table with fun mismatched plates and dressed it with some simple greenery, lanterns and candles. It looked lovely!

Cocktail + Frozen Shirley Temple +

Once everything was dry, we had my version of a frozen Shirley Temple.

How fun is that? I made a cherry popsicle in my Zoku with all the tasty cherries that are in season right now and then paired it with some coconut La Croix seltzer water to make a fun “cocktail” to start off the night (we aren’t big cocktail drinkers here.) You can get the recipe here!

Appetizer + Scallop & Shrimp Cocktail +

For an appetizer I served a scrumptious scallop and shrimp cocktail…

I kicked this up a notch with some doctored cocktail sauce and then added pan seared, chilled scallops to the shrimp and it was divine. To make it even easier I removed the tail on the shrimp and added it right to the cocktail sauce. It’s much easier to eat with a fork and you don’t have to deal with messy hands… perfect! You can get this recipe here.

Soup + Creamy Avocado Gazpacho with Spicy Croutons +

Next, for the soup course… I served a creamy avocado gazpacho that really hit the spot.

When it comes to cooking for a dinner party, you want simple, yet tasty. Especially in the summer, when you have access to all kinds of fresh veggies, gazpacho is perfect. It’s a chilled soup that is perfect for a classy fiesta. You can find this recipe here.

Main Course + Light Tacos, Fiesta Summer Salad & Creamy Corn Cups +

Since this was a fresh summer take on a fiesta, I decided to go with a lighten-up version of tacos. I found this fun recipe from Marcela for a light taco that used butter lettuce for the shell rather than your traditional corn tortilla. It was super tasty and you can find Marcela’s recipe here.

With the light tacos I served the most amazing salad…

It is a mexican take on a panzanella salad full of tomatoes, olives, spicy croutons and few more tasty surprises. You can find that recipe here.

The last side dish was a little more decadent than the other lighter recipes that we had enjoyed throughout the night. Creamy corn cups are an iconic Mexican treat full of all kinds of creamy goodness. I took that recipe straight from Marcela and you can find that recipe here.

Dessert + CocoFlan & Dirty Diet Coke +

Get ready… this dessert will ROCK YOUR WORLD! Yea, not kidding…

If you are a chocolate cake lover and a flan lover (which apparently I am) This recipe will knock your socks off. It’s chocolate cake and flan together. Again this is one of Marcela’s recipes and it is for sure a show stopper. I will have to say, your guest may beat down your door the following day to get access to the leftovers (if you have any!) Surprisingly enough, this actually pairs nicely with a dirty Diet Coke! You can get the recipe for the ChocoFlan here and the dirty Diet Coke here.

All in all the night was SUPER fun, a total flavor festival and thanks to Pepcid I wasn’t regretting it afterward.

Disclaimer // I have received information, product and materials from McNeil Consumer Pharmaceuticals C0., the makers of PEPCID®. The opinions stated are my own. This is a sponsored post.

Fiesta Frozen Shirley Temple with Cherry Popsicle

4 · Jun 30, 2014 · Leave a Comment

+ Fiesta Frozen Shirley Temple +

There is a fun new food trend these days that I just love. Creating a drink using a popsicle as one of the elements of the drink, so whimsical and fun! I decided for the fiesta I was to make my version of a Shirley Temple using this fun food trend idea. Since cherries are in season now, I thought it would be perfect. I made a simple syrup and blending that with a bunch of pitted cherries, added a little almond extract and then froze it in my Zoku. You can use a traditional popsicle mold if you don’t have a Zoku. I think it’s actually pretty fun to have your guests make their own popsicles and then add them to their drinks in just 7 minutes. It’s kind of a fun way to start off your party!

Then all you do is add your cherry popsicle to a cup of either seltzer water, I used Coconut La Croix water, or you could use ginger ale or your favorite lemon-lime soda. Either way this is a super tasty treat to start off any party!

Cherry Popsicles

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Take your Shirley Temple to a whole new level with this fun cherry pop recipe.

Author: Heather // WhipperBerry

Recipe type: Drinks / Dessert

Cuisine: American

Ingredients

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 cups pitted cherries - fresh or frozen
1 tsp almond extract

Instructions

Add water and sugar to a small sauce pan and over medium high heat dissolve the sugar to make a simple syrup.
Once the sugar has dissolved into the water remove from heat and cool.
Clean and pit your cherries and add to a blender jar.
Pour in cooled simple syrup and blend until you have a nice puree.
Pour into popsicle molds and freeze for at least 4 hours or 7 minutes if you have a Zoku.
Enjoy the popsicle as is or create a frozen Shirley Temple by placing your popsicle into a cup with seltzer water, ginger ale or lemon-lime soda. Enjoy!