Chocolate Mint Tea Latte

August 8, 2016 By

What does one make when they choose to not drink coffee?  They make a chocolate mint tea latte.

Several years ago I was diagnosed with Interstitial Cystitis and began my continuing education to what type of foods work best to nourish my body while managing this chronic condition.  One of my first lessons dealt with how coffee (my morning and through-the-day habit) was hurting my body.  I would take it out of my diet,  feel better and then think I can have a cup once-in-awhile.  Off I would go to “treat” myself to Starbucks or brew a cup at home and BAM! – I would be in pain again.  Talk about my own version of Groundhog Day – how often did I need to continue to hurt myself before I was willing to say no more?  Finally not suffering needlessly because of a poor food choice became the goal over a cup of coffee.  Now my hot and cold beverage choice is organic mint tea.  Drinking organic tea is a recent change for me and I’ve included a link toward the end of this post to explain why.  Many of my previous tea recipes in the blog do not reference organic teas as an ingredient.  Although the recipes are delicious – I would substitute an organic tea in the future.  Here is a recipe I came up with that helps me spice up my mint tea.  I’ve listed links of my tea-related products after the recipe.

Chocolate Mint Tea Latte
A chocolate mint hot tea beverage.
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Ingredients
  1. 1 Numi Organic Moroccan Tea Bag
  2. Hot Filtered Water
  3. 1/2 cup milk (I use coconut milk) or your choice of milk
  4. 1 Tbsp of cocoa
  5. 1/2 tsp organic vanilla
  6. 5 drops of Toffee Stevia
  7. Coconut Sugar - to taste
Instructions
  1. Brew a cup of tea
  2. Heat milk, cocoa, vanilla, stevia and/or sugar until well blended.
  3. Mix hot tea and milk together.
  4. Enjoy.
Deliciously Inspired http://www.deliciouslyinspired.com/
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Product Links that are helpful for this recipe.   (I won’t recommend anything I am not using.)   ***Deliciously Inspired utilizes affiliate links to help with the cost of the site.

Breville Electric Tea Kettle – Why I love – we have had our kettle for close to 10 years and use it daily for tea, coffee, and anytime hot water is needed.  Worth every penny.

Tea Maker or Mr Tea – Why I love – containing a tea for several minutes in an enclosed area makes a richer cup of tea.  They work well with tea bags but are an essential kitchen tool when using loose leaf tea.

Numi Organic Mint Tea – Why I love – I stick to organic teas because I want as clean of a product as I can to nourish my body.  Mint tea is one of the gentlest teas to digest.  I’ve tried other brands but this tea’s mintiness (is that a word?) is smooth and doesn’t have a bite to it.  Another benefit – this comes in bags and I always carry a few in my purse.  What to know more about what is in most tea you buy?  Here you go.

Toffee Liquid Stevia – Why I love – stevia is a natural sweetener made from a herb.  A little goes a long way so add a drop at a time.  Too much can taste bitter.

Organic Coconut Sugar – Why I love – coconut sugar processes slower in the body than white sugar. What to know more?  Here you go.

Hope you enjoy the recipe. Let me know if you have any questions.

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Favorite Product – Coconut Stevia

September 16, 2015 By

Did you know you can be an adventurer without climbing Mt Everest by just going to the market?  It takes quite a bit of courage to try a new food but more often than not that new addition has more uses than what we initially bought it for.

Coconut Stevia

One day I was  doing my food shopping at Sprouts and there it is – just waiting for me – whispering in my ear about all the fun we could have together.  Okay maybe it wasn’t doing that – but I picked the product up – looked at the price ($12.50), set it back down again – picked it up again because this was Coconut Stevia.  I quickly placed it in the cart – you see if you do it quick it’s almost like you’re surprised at the checkout – “Oh how did that get in there?”  You can pick up from Amazon for $9.99 – Here

Now the good news is that you only use a few drops at a time allowing the bottle to go a long way in the kitchen.  I’ve already used it in the following recipes and just made a coconut chia pudding with homemade cashew milk.  Yum!  Check back on Wednesday for the recipe. 

Lemon Treats
Last week I made these Lemon No Bake Treats using this recipe. I made a few changes to the recipe by eliminating the gluten free pretzels and replacing with 1/2 cup of macadamia nuts plus a few drops of the coconut stevia. I rolled them in balls and then dipped into some pastel rainbow sprinkles.  They were enjoyed by coworkers, my daughter and my 2-year-old grandson said “More please.”

Tropical Delight
The stevia is also used in the Tropical Delight Smoothie recipe.  The amount of ice used in this recipe will determine the thickness – you decide whether you want a milkshake or soft serve ice cream consistency.

One more idea – sparkling water, a couple of squeezed lemon wedges and a few drops of the coconut stevia provides a coconut enhanced lemonade.

What ideas are coming to your mind?

 

 

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Filed Under: Beverages, Breakfasts, Desserts, Favorite Products, Food Tagged With: , , , ,

Gluten Free Chocolate Bar

April 6, 2015 By

Wax Orchards - Choc Bar - Plated

I enjoy finding healthier ingredients to cook with and sharing those products with you.  Anytime we can reduce sugar, the happier our bodies are.  Wax Orchards is a company out of  the beautiful state of Washington and they have found a way to cook down three fruits (pears, pineapple and peaches) to a honey consistency.  Their products are rock stars.

Wax Orchards - Products

They use the Fruit Sweet product to make other products like these amazing fudge products.  

Now back to the recipe –  Hmm?   What to do?…What to do?  My soon-to-be daughter-in-law passed on a gluten free recipe; and I modified it to utilize the products.  It took me a couple of tries to get it where I wanted but it has been triple family-approved by my husband, daughter and 2-1/2 year-old grandson and that’s enough for me.

Gluten Free Chocolate Bars
Yields 30
With the exception of the chocolate, this treat is sweetened with fruit juice.
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Cook Time
40 min
Cook Time
40 min
Ingredients
  1. 2 (15 oz) can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
  2. 1 cup peanut, almond, or your favorite nut butter (no sugar added)
  3. 1/2 cup Wax Orchards Fruit Sweet
  4. 1/2 cup Wax Orchards Classic Fudge or Peppermint Fudge
  5. 3 cage-free eggs
  6. 4 tsp of pure vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean
  7. 1 tsp salt
  8. 1/2 tsp baking powder
  9. 1/2 tsp baking soda
  10. 3/4 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
  11. Sea salt for sprinkling
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  2. Coat a 9 x 12 pan with nonstick cooking spray.
  3. Rinse and drain garbanzo beans.
  4. If using a vanilla bean, slice down the center and remove the paste by scraping a spoon down the length of the bean. Set aside.
  5. Place garbanzo beans into a food processor and pulse 7-10 times, scraping occasionally until they start to break down.
  6. Add all other ingredients except the chocolate chips and blend until smooth.
  7. Add in half of the chocolate chips and pulse until chocolate is your desired consistency.
  8. Pour and smooth batter into prepared pan.
  9. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top of batter.
  10. Place in oven for approximately 35-40 minutes, depending on how your oven cooks. A toothpick should come out clean.
  11. Take out of oven. At this point you can leave the chocolate chips as is or using a small flat spatial or butter knife spread the hot chocolate on top (acts almost like a frosting).
  12. Now is the hard part - you have to let this cool completely. It's going to be hard because the smell says Eat me Now.
  13. Cut into squares - these freeze well.
Adapted from The Comfort of Cooking
Adapted from The Comfort of Cooking
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Wax Orchard - Choc Bar - Ingredients
Gather the ingredients

Wax Orchard - Choc Bar - baked
This is the hard part – letting it cool completely before cutting into bars

These are delicious as is but here are a few more ideas on how to plate them:
Wax Orchards - Choc Bar - Plated IC and Strawberries
Fresh Strawberries and an Ice Cream made entirely with frozen bananas in a food processor

Wax Orchards - Choc Bar - Plated with Banana IC and Coconut Cream
Banana Ice Cream and Coconut Cream

 

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