3 Ingredient Orange Julius {Dairy Free}

Hey everyone! I know I haven't been around much the last few months, but my children have kept me busy all summer long. Now that the kiddos are back in school, I can breath for just a moment and share a yummy recipe with you.

This drink is very similar to the original Orange Julius, though it may not be exactly the same, it is just as delicious! My family adores this recipe and I hope you and your family will too. This Dairy Free Orange Julius is a perfect way to start the day!
I know you are ready for the recipe, so let's get started...

3 Ingredient- Blackberry Mint Spritzer

As you can see mint is exploding in my garden and what better way to use it than in a Blackberry Mint Spritzer.



This refreshing summer time drink was initially designed by my lovely daughter, she is the drink and cupcake creator of the family! She is still in school this week, but wanted me to get this post up for everyone to enjoy :) I love all the combinations of this Blackberry Mint Spritzer, it is perfect for a warm summer night. I hope you and your family will enjoy this wonderful drink at your next outdoor gathering.

Ingredients:
1- 2 liter of Sprite (or any other soda that is similar)
Place Sprite in the freezer for an hour or refrigerate overnight.
1/2 cup fresh mint, packed
2 1/4 cup of fresh blackberries

Directions:
In a blender combine blackberries and mint, blend until well combined. Then slowly pour the soda in a gallon size pitcher. Place a fine mesh strainer over the pitcher and slowly pour the blackberry mixture into the strainer. Work the mixture through the strainer with a spoon to remove the blackberry seeds. Once the blackberry mixture has been strained stir slowly to combine all flavors. Then serve over ice and garnish with additional mint and blackberries.

Enjoy!

Pineapple, Mango, Banana Smoothie

My local grocery store recently had fresh pineapples on sale for a $1, so I have been in pineapple heaven. I recently created this smoothie, not only was it economically friendly but it was delicious too. All the fresh flavors of summertime sit right here in this little mason jar waiting for you to enjoy!

Pineapple, Mango, Banana Smoothie
makes about 5 cups

2 cups of fresh pineapple, cubed
Need a tutorial on how to cut a pineapple, click here
1 cup frozen mango
1 banana
1 cup of 1% milk, or any milk of your choice
1 cup ice
sugar to taste

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth!

Strawberry, Peach, Banana Smoothie

Happy Day Light Savings Time! Yay, more sunlight in the days to come. As winter is coming to an end and spring is spouting forward, warm days are near. Smoothies are a favorite in this house when warm weather arrives and my family adores this combination of strawberry, peach, and banana. I hope you and your family will enjoy these refreshing flavors soon! Smoothies make breakfast a breeze and a wonderful snack choice between meals or after school.



Ingredients:
makes 5 cups

1 cup frozen strawberries


1 cup frozen peaches


1 banana
1-2 TBS (or to taste) of raw sugar, or sugar of your choice
(depends on the sweetness of the fruit)
2 cups 1% milk, or any milk of your choice

Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth!
If using fresh fruit add ice as needed to reach your desired consistency.


Enjoy!

Lattes for Two

Post by: Christian (Audra’s daughter)

A big mystery to me has always been how to make the perfect latte, and one Saturday my mystery was solved. I really wanted to surprise my mom with a good cup of coffee and one of her favorite coffees is a White Chocolate Mocha from Starbucks. With that thought in mind, I went into my kitchen and whipped up this recipe for a White Chocolate Latte. (Literally whipped up the recipe) This wonderful drink became an instant favorite for the both of us and is often made on Saturdays. Because of its deliciousness my mom asked me to post this recipe in honor of our lovely Saturday morning tradition and National Day of Coffee. I hope you can share this latte with someone special soon.

Ingredients
(makes 2 lattes)
1/3 cup White Chocolate Chips
(I use Nestle White Chocolate Chips)
1 cup Milk (We use 1%)
1 tsp. of Vanilla Extract
9 oz. extra bold or double strength coffee or
16 oz. when using light roast coffee

Step 1: Make your coffee and set aside. In a small sauce pan heat milk and vanilla on medium/low heat . While waiting for it to warm, measure out about 1/3 cup chocolate chips. I use a little over 1/3 cup so I guess you could consider it a “heaping” 1/3 cup. I have made several variations of this latte and found that this is the perfect measurement, because 1/2  cup makes the drink too sweet while a little less than 1/3 cup is not sweet enough for our taste.

Step 2: Stir milk occasionally until it is slightly bubbling on the sides and is steamy. This indicates the milk is warm enough to add the white chocolate chips.

Step 3: Whisk the chocolate chips until melted and after they are melted continue to whisk until enough foam has formed. This  usually takes about a minute or two. 

Step four: Divide coffee equally into two cups.Then equally pour this delicious creamer into each cup to desired taste. I usually put a half a cup to a forth a cup of the creamer in each cup depending on the strength of the coffee.

Tip: To get foam on the top of the coffee hold the spoon at the edge of the pot and pour creamer. Then scrape the top of the creamer from the pan with the spoon to collect foam and place on the top of your coffee.

I hope you and your coffee buddy enjoy this recipe as much as me and my mom do. Thank you for stopping by and Happy National Coffee day!

Passion Tea Lemonade with Melon Syrup

Post by: Christian Elizabeth, Audra’s daughter

As you probably know I am a huge fan of Starbucks coffees, teas, Frappuccino's, and all of their baked goods. My last Starbucks post was my take on a Mocha Coconut Frappuccino click here if you missed that post.
Well, I am here today to unveil another one of Starbucks drinks. If you a fan of passion tea lemonade you must know there used to exists a thing called melon syrup and I would have a few pumps added in my tea. Well there came a day when the Barista told me that they had discontinued the syrup and the tea has never tasted the same. So I did what any faithful fan of this drink would do. I went on a riot and never order the drink again in memory of my dearly beloved melon syrup. There is no reason to be on riot anymore because I have created a recipe that taste just like Starbucks used to make it. And here it is…

Ingredients
(makes one gallon)
2 filter Tea Bags of Tazo Iced Passion Tea
2 quarts of boiling water
2 quarts of Lemonade
(I used the brand Simply Lemonade but any brand or prepared lemonade would be fine)

Melon Syrup
1 cup of fresh pureed watermelon
½ cup of sugar

Cool Fact on Ingredients: Tazo Passion Tea is the same band they use at Starbucks ;) 

Directions:

1. Place tea bags into a gallon size pitcher. Bring water to a boil and then pour the boiling water into the pitcher with the tea bags. I leave the tea bags to brew for about an hour to an hour and a half. You really want the tea to have a strong flavor . This also gives the tea a chance to cool after being at a boiling point. Once finished brewing, compress the tea bags between two spoons until all of the extra tea is drained out.

2. To make the melon syrup, I placed fresh watermelon in a blender until I had one cup of its sweet juice. Then pour 1/2 cup of the juice into a small sauce pan. Add half a cup of sugar and place on low heat. whisk constantly until the sugar has completely dissolved. Once sugar is dissolved, let it cool. Then pour 3/4 cup of melon syrup into the passion tea.

3. Add lemonade and the extra 1/2 cup of watermelon puree to the pitcher and stir well! Consume and enjoy within 24 hours.

Do you know how much you just saved?

Starbucks price for a gallon of tea is about $26.60 (though you can not purchase a gallon of Starbucks tea, this is how much it would be according to their current price per ounce of tea)

Price to make this gallon of tea is around $3.23 (taken that you already have watermelon and sugar on hand)

Isn’t saving fun, especially when it taste so good too! Since this recipe makes a whole gallon the whole family can enjoy a Starbucks treat at a fraction of the cost. My brother Liam quite enjoyed this drink. After taking the picture below he grabbed my cup and quickly consumed the deliciousness, but no worries because there was a whole gallon in the fridge waiting for me. This summer fun drink pairs really well with my mother’s
Grilled Fish Tacos, check out the recipe here.

Watermelon Lemonade

Recipe inspired from: Frosted Bake Shop
Post by: Christian, Audra’s daughter

Now that it is summer, and I am free from homework, I am going to share with you recipes I love and try. I get a lot of inspiration from Pinterest especially my board,
things to cook
I recently pinned a recipe similar to this one and I was very inspired to make this wonderful drink. Today I am sharing a recipe for Watermelon Lemonade. This drink is absolutely tasty, it has the zing of the lemon and the sweetness of the watermelon that come together in a marriage of refreshing flavor. Need I say more, now on to the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice ( 6 to 8 large lemons)

3/4 to 1 cup sugar (depends on how sweet the watermelon is)

6  cups of water

7 cups of cubed or balled watermelon

Directions:

Place ingredients in the blender and blend until the drink is perfectly mixed together. Serve and enjoy the cool, refreshing taste of Watermelon Lemonade.

Tips: 

I recommend freezing the cubed watermelon for at least an hour just to make the drink cold and give it a little bit of a slushy texture.

It is impossible to fit all the ingredients at once in a blender, so I halved the recipe and blended the halves one at a time. I served this in a gallon sized pitcher.
This recipe serves 8-10 people.

Enjoy this drink at your next outdoor gathering!

Blueberry, Banana, Coconut Smoothie

 
Good Morning Everyone! I trust you all had a wonderful Mother's Day! I hope all your families out there spoiled you because you deserve it! Well, this morning I have a wonderful smoothie recipe for you to try.

When hot weather enters the Houston area, smoothies are made in my kitchen daily! My family loves fresh fruit and we enjoy experimenting with a variety of milk from coconut to almond. I love the flavor each one brings to a smoothie. Now on to the recipe...

Blueberry, Banana, Coconut Smoothie
makes about 2 cups
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 banana
1 cup Coconut Dream
Try the smoothie without sweeteners and if needed add
sugar of your choice
I used a 1/2 tsp of truvia in this smoothie

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth! If you use fresh blueberries add a few ice cubes at a time until you reach your desired consistency.

Now that's one nutritious, yet refreshing breakfast everyone will enjoy!

Mocha Coconut Frappuccino {Guest Post: my daughter}

This recipe has been moved to CherishedBliss.com, click here for the recipe!