St. Patrick's Day Mint Milkshake

Looking for something celebratory to drink on St. Patrick's Day?

Other than beer??

Look no further! A smooth minty milk shake will do the trick :) 

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Hot Chocolate Bar

Decided to try something new (again) for a Christmas party we were hosting at our place this year :)
We made a very delicious crock-pot creamy hot chocolate, and provided a plethora of (adult) drinks and treats for our guests to flavour and decorate their own drinks:)

Check our our Hot Chocolate Bar!

Obviously a hot chocolate bar must start with delicious hot chocolate :)
Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
2 cups whipping cream
1 (14 oz) can of sweetened condensed milk
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
4 cups milk
2 tsp pure vanillla extract

I doubled this recipe and it just fit inside my crock pot :)

Combine everything and cook on low for a 2 hours (or longer if you double it!).
Whisk it every 30 minutes to an hour to make sure the chocolate chips are getting melted and mixed in.

I made tags for each of the toppings I provided - with cute little washi tape designs on them :)

The toppings I provided: 

Chocolate chips

Toffee bits

White chocolate chips

Mini marshmellows

Peppermint sticks

Cinnamon sticks

Chocolate stir sticks

Hazelnut/chocolate sticks'

Whipping Cream

Red and green sprinkles

Caramel flavouring

If it's an adult party... you can also provide:

Peppermint Schnapps

Baileys

Amarula 

Frangelico

or Kahlua

Then enjoy a steamy cup of creamy delicousness :) 

You WILL be asked for this recipe! 

Guests went back for seconds (despite how sweet and filling it is!) because this hot chocolate was so good!

Drink up!

{xoxo}

Healthiness in a Cup

Let me introduce: Our new best friend :) 

We got this lovely gift from my best friend for my birthday in September. 

The juicer is simply amazing! 

It's not something I would have thought I needed in my home, but now I don't know if I could live without it!

My husband and I rarely buy juice at home. Really only if we are having guests over.
I just know that it's better for me to drink water. If I have juice - I will drink juice. And take in all of its artificial goodness.
But this new juicer changes everything!
Now we can have juice, and know EXACTLY what goes into it.
We don't add anything to it (i.e. sugars or sweeteners) and it always tastes amazing.
We also throw in anything from our fridge.
Oranges. Apples. Carrots. Spinach. Banana. Lemon, Pineapple.
Somehow it's all tasted good so far!

I'm sure I'll share some of our favourite recipes soon. 

For now we're buying oranges by the dozens and making freshly squeezed orange juice for all out evening snacks - seriously a millions times better than store orange juice! 

{yumm}

Pumpkin Spice Latte [at Home!]

Three magical words when said together: Pumpkin. Spice. Latte.
Don't you just feel more relaxed already?!?
It's getting cooler outside, and I'm getting cozier inside, and coziness requires warm drinks, knitted blankets, and good books (in my opinion).
I already have the last two, so I thought I'd work on one of the classic fall drinks for my indoor evenings.

I found a few recipes that I liked, and amalgamated slash adjusted them so that they were just the way I like it: tasty and easy :)

Ingredients: 

Fresh brewed coffee (of your choice - I used decaf!)

1 1/2 Tbsp. Pumpkin pie filling

1/2 cup Milk

1 Tsp. Brown sugar

Optional [in others' view] Topping: 

Whipped Cream

Cinnamon

Nutmeg

Directions: 

1. Brew coffee of your choice
2. Whisk together pumpkin pie filling, brown sugar, and milk
3. Warm up whisked product and froth the milk (if you have a frother)
4. Pour milk mixture into your favourite fall mug, and fill up the rest of the space with coffee
5. If you want topping (which you should!) add whipped cream on top and sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg

Everyone we've served this to so far has liked it :) 

If you're making it for more than one person, just double, triple, etc. the recipe!

Enjoy! 

{yumm}

Fruit Infused Water

All I drink these days is water. Water, water, and more water. The wine and coffee have stopped flowing because of the whole "growing a child" thing. Tea is too warm for most days in the summer. Juice is too full of artificial nonsense and sugar. I haven't been drinking juice for ages. So that leaves me with the occasional glass of milk (which has increased since the Babykins started craving some), the occasional ice capp, and water.

So I decided to give fruit infused water a try. It works well for me because I often have an abundance of fruit in the house. It really just tastes like water, with a bit of flavour. I don't think Mr. A particularly liked it... he's more of a "sugar-and-artificial-nonsense-in-his-drinks" type person. I liked it though. The two I made below were peach infused water and strawberry/kiwi water. The strawberry kiwi one was best. Mostly because the peaches just weren't ripe enough to add the proper natural juices to the water (Or so that's my theory!). I'll keep experimenting and let you know what other concoctions I make up!

Drink up! 

{xoxo}