Spiced Chocolate Coffee

A recipe from Bethenny Frankle's Valentines 2011 newsletter.

Makes 7 cups
Ingredients:

•     10 tablespoons ground coffee
•     1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
•     1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
•     6 cups water
•     1/2 cup steamed soy milk
•     3 tablespoons agave nectar
•     1/8 teaspoon cocoa powder

Preparation:
Combine coffee, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a coffee filter. Brew with 6 cups of water in a coffeemaker, according to coffeemaker’s instructions.

Mix steamed soymilk, agave nectar, and cocoa.
Pour coffee into mugs, and top with steamed soymilk mixture.

Mojitos (alcohol free)

Triple-Citrus Mojitos 

Ingredients: 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup water 1 pkg (.75 oz) fresh mint leaves (about 1 1/4 cups leaves), divided 1 orange 2 lemons, divided 2  limes, divided 5 cups chilled lemon-lime soda

Combine sugar and water in Small Batter Bowl. Tear six mint leaves in half and place into Quick-Stir® Pitcher; set aside. Finely chop remaining leaves with Chef's Knife and place into batter bowl. Zest orange, one of the lemons and one of the limes using Zester/Scorer; add zest to mint mixture. Microwave on HIGH 2-3 minutes or until sugar is dissolved. Slice orange, both of the lemons and both of the limes in half crosswise. Reserve half of one lemon and half of one lime for garnish. Juice remaining lemon and lime halves using Citrus Press; add juices to pitcher. Juice orange with Juicer; add juice to pitcher. Pour mint mixture through Strainer into pitcher; discard chopped mint. Add rum, if desired. Carefully add soda to avoid overflow. Slice reserved lemon and lime halves with Ultimate Mandoline fitted with v-shaped blade; place into pitcher. Place lid onto pitcher and plunge gently. Serve over ice. Yield: 8 servings Nutrients per serving: Nutrients per serving (about 1 cup, excluding optional ingredient): Calories 130, Total Fat 0 g, Saturated Fat 0 g, Cholesterol 0 mg, Carbohydrate 33 g, Protein 0 g, Sodium 20 mg, Fiber less than 1 g Cook's Tips: To garnish rims of glasses, zest an additional orange using Microplane® Adjustable Grater. Combine zest and 1/2 cup sugar in Prep Bowl. Place a small amount of sugar mixture onto Simple Additions® Appetizer Plate. Rub rim of glass with orange wedge to moisten. Dip rim of glass into sugar mixture. © 2010 The Pampered Chef used under license. www.pamperedchef.com

Egg Nog

From Foodtv.com
Goes well with Christmas cookies & Christmas dinner!!

1/2 vanilla bean
3 eggs
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups cream
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Ground mace, to taste

Split the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds, set aside.

In a bowl over simmering water, whisk together the eggs, sugar and vanilla bean seeds. Keep whisking until a ribbon is formed and the mixture has been heated to 140 degrees.

Hold it at this temperature for 2-3 minutes, and allow the mixture to thicken. Stir this mixture into the milk. Stir in the cinnamon.

Refrigerate this for 2 hours or until cold. Whip the cream and add it to the egg mixture.

Sprinkle the top with the mace before serving.

Lemon-Berry Punch

I got this recipe out of the latest issue of the Creative Memories Magazine - "Lasting Moments."

Start to finish: 10 minutes

--2 C cranberry-strawberry drink, chilled
--1 12-oz can frozen pink lemonade concentrate, thawed
--1 1-liter bottle lemon-lime carbonated beverage or carbonated water, chilled
--Lemons (optional)

1. Pour cranberry drink and lemonade concentrate into a 2-qt pitcher. Stir until well-mixed.

2. Slowly add the carbonated beverage to the lemonade mixture. Serve chilled or over ice and garnish with lemon slices, if desired. Makes 8 (8-oz) servings.

Hot Cocoa

1 Serving

This homemade hot cocoa is lower in sugar than other recipes. It can be made with soy milk. Try flavoring it with cinnamon or even chili powder for a little change.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp water
6 oz 1 percent milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp almond extract

Instructions:

In a small saucepan, stir together the cocoa powder and the sugar. Add the water and stir well. Cook over medium heat until the mixture comes to a low boil and the sugar dissolves. Stir in the milk, vanilla and almond extract. Reduce the heat to low and stir until warmed through.

Ultimate Hot Chocolate

Ingredients

Serves 4

* 4 cups milk
* 1 cinnamon stick 6 sprigs fresh mint, or 2 split vanilla bean (optional)
* 10 ounces semisweet or milk chocolate cut into small pieces
* Whipped cream for serving (optional)
* Chocolate shavings (optional)

Directions

* Heat milk to scalding in a medium saucepan. Add cinnamon, mint, or vanilla, if desired. Let steep 10 minutes. Remove saucepan from heat; strain, and return to saucepan. Reheat milk; using a whisk, stir in chocolate until melted and milk is frothy. Serve immediately with a dollop of whipped cream garnished with chocolate shavings, if desired.

---

I got this website from Macy's (dot) com believe it or not! From their Martha Stewart collection. Sounded yummy so I copied it over here.

Hot Cider Nog

Ingredients

2 cups half-and-half
1 cup milk
1 cup apple cider
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whipping cream, whipped
Garnish: cinnamon sticks

Preparation

Whisk together first 8 ingredients in a heavy saucepan; cook over medium-low heat, whisking occasionally, until mixture thickens and coats a spoon (about 15 minutes). Stir in bourbon, if desired. Top each serving with whipped cream. Garnish, if desired.

Yield

5 1/2 cups

Cran-Raspberry Fizz

Courtesy of Pampered Chef: Season's Best recipe collection, 2007

This simple beverage takes just minutes to make. Let the sorbet stand at room temperature as you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

---
4 limes, divided
1 can (12 oz) frozen cranberry juice concentrate
3 C cold water
1 pint raspberry sorbet, softened
2 liters (8 cups) chilled ginger ale

1. Slice 2 of the limes using Ultimate Mandoline fitted with v-shaped blade; set aside. Pour cranberry juice concentrate and water into Family-Size Quick-Stir Pitcher.

2. Juice remaining limes into pitcher using Citrus Press. Scoop sorbet into pitcher using Ice Cream Dipper; plunge to combine. Add ginger ale and lime slices. Plunge gently until well-mixed. Serve over ice.

Yield: 16 servings.

Eggnog Punch

1 3/4 - 2 quarts French vanilla or cinnamon ice cream
2 quarts dairy eggnog or canned eggnog - chilled (8 cups)
1 liter cream soda - chilled
Peppermint sticks, cinnamon sticks or candy canes (all are optional garnishes)

Place ice cream in an extra large punch bowl. Add 1/2 egg nog. Stir and mash mixture using a potato masher until ice cream is melted and it's well-combined. Stir in remaining egg nog. Slowly pour in cream soda, stir and combine.

To each glass, add a garnish (above). Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. (about 1/8 teaspoon per serving.)

Makes about 24 (6 oz) servings.

------------------

I got this recipe from a Home and Garden, Dec, 2006 magazine while I sat in a salon today getting a pedicure. :)

------------------

I made this for a church party in the punch bowl. I should have taken a funnel with me - I had a ton of punch left over & had to call my husband to bring a funnel. The people who actually tried it enjoyed it. Most folks didn't try it though - they had a pre-determined aversion to egg nog.

------------------

I made my cinnamon ice cream from scratch because I didn't want to bother searching for it in the grocery stores. I used a recipe from Megnut.com -- will post that in a seperate place on this blog.

Pomegranite Tea

I got this recipe from a Home and Garden, Dec, 2006 magazine while I sat in a salon today getting a pedicure. :)

----------

3 Cups Water
3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
4 regular tea bags or 1 family-sized tea bag
1 Cup Pomegranite juice
1/4 tsp almond extract
Lemon wedges (optional)
Raw sugar or brown sugar (optional)

1) In a medium sausepan, bring water and sugar to boil. Remove from heat. Add tea bag. Let it stand 30 minutes. Remove tea bag.

2) Add pomegranite juice and extract. Serve hot or iced. With lemon wedges. Sweeten to taste.

Makes 4 8 oz servings.

Leanne's Incredibly Easy, Non-Measured Smoothie

Makes 2 yummy smoothies

2-3 ice cubes
1 banana, frozen
a handful of frozen (organic if you can) berries, your choice (about
1/3 cup)
2 scoops protein powder (I use a vanilla whey protein powder)
1 10 ounce bottle of Stonyfield Farm low-fat yogurt smoothie (I use
vanilla mostly)
orange juice (just enough to add more liquid if you need it)

Put everything in a blender (I have a 450 watt blender that works
great!) and LET HER RIP!

COOKING NOTES:
For the berries option, you could use peaches, some more banana
whatever. Smoothies are pretty forgiving--the only necessary
component is frozen fruit to make it shake-like.

That's it. Pretty simple, isn't it? That's how easy breakfast can be
in the morning. This smoothie takes me all of two minutes to make.

Fake a Starbucks Frappucino

A recipe I got from Glamour magazine, April 2002

Fake a Starbucks Frappucino

Glory hallelujah! Someone-specifically food investigaor Todd Wilbur -- had re-created the coffee chain's addictive formula. Here it is, from his new book "Top Secret Recipes: Sodas, Smoothies, Spirits, & Shakes" (Plume):

To make 2 "grande" drinks, blend 3/4 cup cold double-strength coffee (brewed with twice the beans your machine requires), 1 cup low-fat milk, 3 tbsp granulated sugar and 2 cups ice in a blender on high speed until ice is crushed and drink is silky smooth. Serve with a straw.

--------------------------------

(ingredients listed in a better way for the Jodi-method)

3/4 C cold strong coffee
1 C lowfat milk
3 T sugar
2 C ice