Pumpkin Spice Latte

I'll admitt it, last week during a lunch time trip to Target - I splurged on a Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks and it was AMAZING! Those warm-fall flavors got me thinking - I can make this at home and it can be healthy!

The recipe I came up with is a Pumpkin Spice Creamer you can mix up ahead of time and just use it in your coffee throughout the week.. best part it's low carb, dairy and sugar free! I think we could even call it is paleo-ish!

1-3/4 cup Organic Coconut Milk (13.5 oz can)
1/4 cup Organic canned Pumpkin 
1/2 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
Yield 2-3/4 cups

Add everything to a bottle and shake it up really well - it will turn a beautiful light orange color!
You can use it as-is and add sweetener separately in your coffee - but I like to streamline things, so I added stevia (to taste) driectly into the creamer mix - you could use coconut sugar also - but I'm carb-concious so stevia works for me! (you can put the rest of the canned pumpkin in the freezer in 1/4 cup baggies to use in weeks to come!)

Use your homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte creamer in your coffee - it will keep in the fridge for a week, if it lasts that long :)  Let me know what you think!

 The total recipe has 24g effective carbs (29g carbohydrate - 5g fiber = 24g) If you use 1/4 cup per cup of coffee that's 11 servings with 2.2 carbs per serving!!

DIY Vanilla Syrup - Just Like Starbucks!

I love a vanilla latte but I hate spending $5 on a single cup of coffee at Starbucks or Panera Bread. My last trip to the Salvation Army Thrift store I found a Mr Coffee Espresso Machine for just $9.99, then I came up with a method for making a pretty good Vanilla Latte at home using Organic Free Trade Espresso Roast Coffee, Family Cow Organic Raw Milk and (unfortunately) Starbucks Vanilla Syrup. Once I finished up the bottle of vanilla syrup, it was time for me to make my own recipe for Vanilla Syrup.... Here's my recipe:

In a pot combine 4 cups organic sugar, 2 vanilla beans and 4 cups heat and stir to dissolve sugar, allow to cool. I filled up my Vanilla Syrup Container with a Pump - since it's so easy to just pump in the syrup in the morning!

And it's so much cheaper than the $10 for the bottle from Starbucks and has no junk in it.. just sugar, water, vanilla! But remember - sugar isn't healthy - it needs to be avoided when ever possible!