Blended Mocha Iced Coffee

Just a quick post to help beat the summer (spring?) heat. A good blender is a great investment, especially when you can churn out tasty drinks like this that aren't cheap at your local coffee place (and are really mostly ice anyway). Add whatever you want to this base recipe to customize it to your liking.

INGREDIENTS

Makes 2 servings

- 4 tsp instant coffee

- 4 tsp cocoa powder (I like Dutch process)

- 1 1/2 cups non dairy milk

- 1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar

- splash of vanilla extract

- 14 ice cubes (i.e. one tray)

- whipped topping (optional)

METHOD

1. Place all ingredients except the whipped topping in the blender and blend on high until smooth.

2. Top with whipped topping, if desired. I like the "Better than Whipping Cream" from Homemade Vegan Pantry. That stuff is some serious vegan voodoo.

Holiday Nog

OK, I think I have all of my holiday beverages sorted out now.  For the past few years I have made Isa's Matrioshka EggNog, but the problem has always been getting the perfect avocado (as this image suggests).  Considering how far avocados have to travel to get all the way up here, it's no surprise.  If you have a party to host and all the avocados at the store are as hard as rocks then it's no nog for you.  So this year I swapped out the avocado with cashews, blended like crazy, and presto: holiday nog!  For better or worse it is very much like the 99 cent cartons of eggnog we used to quaff down when I was a kid (i.e. sweet milk with nutmeg).  Works for me.

.  For the past few years I have used Isa's

INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup whole, raw cashews soaked in cold water overnight
- 3 cups plain almond milk, divided
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1/2 tsp turmeric (optional)
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- rum to taste

METHOD
1. Place the soaked cashews and 2 cups of the almond milk in a blender.  Blend until very smooth.  If you are like me and have a pretty crappy blender, you can pass the mixture through some fine cheesecloth at this point to remove any graininess.  Or leave it as is if you don't mind a little texture.
2. Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.  Chill and reblend right before serving.

Vegan Irish Cream

Another quick post because I have not posted enough calories on this blog for the holiday season.  Har har.  When Vegansaurus posted this recipe for vegan Irish Cream it caught my eye because Bailey's was one of my all-time faves back in the day.  I'm not sure why I have not explored Irish cream before because there are a bunch of recipes for it out there on the interwebs that are easily veganized.  I made the recipe linked to above, but I remember Bailey's being much sweeter.  Granted, it's been a good 8 years since I have had the original version, but the combination below satisfies my food memory. The above pic is a 50/50 mix of the Irish Cream and almond milk with ice--delicious!  Here is what I did, just in case you like specific measurements.   

INGREDIENTS
- 1/2 cup extra strong coffee
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup each maple syrup, white sugar, brown sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups Irish whiskey
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1/2 cup plain almond milk (optional, see note)

METHOD
1. Brew coffee and place into a pitcher.  Blend in cocoa powder, then sugars and maple syrup until dissolved.
2. Add extract, whiskey, and coconut milk and blend with an immersion blender until smooth.  Thin with almond milk if desired.
3. Refrigerate in a glass jar with a lid and serve cold.  Shake jar to re-blend before serving.

Note: I made this with full-fat coconut milk.  It's a bit thick and rich, so I thinned it with almond milk.  I think this would work just as well with low fat coconut milk, but you might not want to thin it.  Do what works for you.

Butterbeer

Vegan Mom came up with the great idea to make New Year's Eve a Harry Potter Day for the kids. We played Potter-related games, watched The Goblet of Fire, and ate Potter-inspired food. The kids had a blast and so did I, though I have a lot more sympathy for the house elves now. When we solicited the kids for food ideas, butterbeer was at the top of the list. The Googles pointed me to a variety of recipes, all similar in that they mixed some kind of butterscotch flavour or syrup with soda (usually cream soda). The recipe posted on this blog looked the best to me, though perhaps is the most complicated. Of course, it needed the appropriate veganizations. Here is what I did:

INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 6 tablespoons Earth Balance margarine, cubed
- ½ teaspoon cider vinegar
- 1 can light coconut milk
- ½ teaspoon rum extract
- large bottle plain (i.e. not pink) cream soda (I used a 1.5 L of Fanta)

METHOD
1. Place brown sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture reads 240F on candy thermometer.
2. Remove from heat and stir in the butter, salt, vinegar and 1/4 cup of coconut milk. Set aside to cool to room temperature. When cool, mix in rum extract.
3. To serve: pour 2-3tbsp of the butterscotch mixture into the bottom of a small glass. Add in some cream soda and mix well. Top up with more cream soda. Then, pour about 2 tbsp of coconut milk down the back of a spoon on top.

VERDICT: This stuff will put you in a sugar coma in 2 seconds flat. The link above suggested using club soda, so you could try that. It's not exactly the warming beverage the books describe, but it's not bad. I did not use all the butterscotch syrup, but that's OK--it will be awesome over ice cream.

I also made pretzels that are supposed the be shaped like the deathly hallows symbol. Each pretzel is 3oz, brushed with some margarine after baking (450 for 15 mins), and sprinkled with a little kosher salt.

Iced Chai Soy Latte

I just made this and am sipping away whilst I type. I love chai tea, but on warmer days like today I don't feel like throwing back a steaming hot beverage. The solution? Iced tea!

INGREDIENTS

- 6 cups water

- 15 chai tea bags

- 2 to 2.5 cup sugar

- ice cubes

- plain or vanilla soy milk

METHOD

First, make an iced tea concentrate so you can easily whip off more iced tea over the next few days. Half the recipe if you like.

1. Put water and tea bags into a pot and bring to boiling. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 5 mins. Remove tea bags with a slotted spoon. Add sugar (more or less sugar depending on how you like your chai--I (no surprise) like a sweet tea) and stir to dissolve. Allow to cool, then pour in a pitcher and store in the fridge.

2. To make the iced tea. Put some ice cubes in a tall glass. Fill glass with a ratio of 1 part concentrate to 2 parts soy milk (you can adjust the ratio a bit according to your taste).

Strawberry Mango Shake and Orange Julius

I have managed to contract a nice case of strep throat. So, everything I eat tastes like sand. Needless to say, I have not been eating a lot but I have been looking for nice cool drinks to soothe my throat. This mango shake is awesome and has a strawberry milkshake texture and taste without any dairy. The Orange Julius is bright and refreshing. Do they still have Orange Julius stores in the mall anymore? I have not seen one since the 80s. I have yet to figure out a good way to photograph a beverage, so here is a stock photo of mangoes.

Strawberry Mango Shake

INGREDIENTS

- 1 ripe mango, peeled and chopped

- 12-15 frozen strawberries

- plain soy milk

- sugar

METHOD

1. Place mango and strawberries in a blender. Fill 3/4 of the way with soy milk (about 4-5 cups). Add sugar to taste and blend until very smooth.

Orange Julius

INGREDIENTS

- 1 tray of ice cubes

- 2 cups orange juice

- 2-3 cups plain soy milk

- sugar to taste

METHOD

1. Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.