Skinny Vanilla Iced Cappuccino

I absolutely love coffee. I can hardly function if I don't have my morning cup. I would love to enjoy my morning cup while relaxing, but the reality is that I usually grab it in a to-go cup and drink it on my way to work. The down-side to drinking it on the way to work is that summers are so hot in south Alabama, and hot coffee makes it almost impossible to cool off (even with my AC going full speed). 

Then I thought, "Why not make iced coffee?!?"  That way I could be caffeinated and cool off at the same time. This recipe is very versatile. I used vanilla flavoring in this batch, but you could play with flavors according to the season. I can't wait to try a pumpkin version when the pumpkin creamer comes out. Oh, and peppermint around Christmas time... get creative!


Skinny Vanilla Iced Cappuccino

Ingredients:
5 cups strongly brewed (or double brewed) coffee
14-ounce can fat-free sweetened condensed milk
2 cups fat-free half-and-half
3 teaspoons vanilla extract or flavoring

Directions:
Brew 1 pot of strongly (or double)-brewed coffee. Bring to room temperature.

Measure 5 cups of cooled coffee into a pitcher. You can use any leftover coffee to make coffee-ice cubes.

Add sweetened condensed milk, half-and-half, and vanilla to coffee in pitcher. Mix well and refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.

Source: barely adapted from baby food scoops

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

I go way back with smoothies. I remember going to the mall with my friends back in high school, and we would always grab a smoothie at the local smoothie store. Strawberry Banana has always been my favorite, and it's not often that I step away from that combination of flavors.

Smoothies are a great way to get fruits into your diet, and they are perfect for a pool-side snack on a hot summer day. I like to put almonds and Greek yogurt in my smoothies to bump up the protein.


Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Ingredients:
3/4 cup frozen or fresh strawberries
1 banana
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1/4 cup skim milk
2 Tablespoons unsalted almonds
1/4 cup ice (or more if you use fresh fruit)

Directions:
Place all ingredients into a blender and puree.
Yield: 1 tall glass

Source: Taste & See original

Raspberry Lemonade

One of our old neighbors gave us several fresh lemons from their lemon tree. They were the plumpest lemons I think I've ever seen. They were so big, they looked like a small orange. Even though this lemonade would be better on a hot day, I had the resources to make it during this cold front that's come through. It was still very good. I added more water to tone the taste down a bit. However, the combination of flavors from the lemons and raspberries were perfect together... not too sour, and not too sweet. I just like my juices and lemonades to be diluted. Maybe it's because of all the flavored water I drink. :)
This would also be beautiful to make for a wedding or baby (girl) shower.



Ingredients:
10 sliced lemons
2 cups raspberries
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 cups water (or more)
Mint, for garnish

Directions:
Combine lemons, raspberries, and sugar in a large pot. Pound the mixture firmly with the end of a straight rolling pin (or a large wooden spoon), extracting as much juice as possible, about 10 minutes. Stir in water. Pour through a sieve into a large bowl. Press the solids until all of the juice is extracted. Discard the solids. Serve over ice, and garnish with mint.

Source: Martha Stewart

Hot Chocolate

It is so cold today. Immediately after church, I came home, put on some flannel PJs, and ate a bowl of hot soup. Well, either the soup didn't warm me up enough or I just wanted something sweet (or a combination of both), so I made some really sweet hot chocolate.
In a small saucepan, heat up about 1 and 1/2 cups skim milk with 1 ounce semi-sweet chocolate. Stir until chocolate is melted. Pour into a mug with a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkle of cocoa powder. You can also put marshmallows on top. That's my preference, but I had no marshmallows. I'll blog on those on another day. They are one of my favorite things to make.




"Food" for thought:

On another note, I wanted to talk about a few verses in Revelation.

Revelation 3:15-16

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth."

This reminds me of something that happened while I was on a mission trip in Peru. I was at church, and the church members made everyone "hot chocolate." Well, a sweet lady gave me a cup, and I took a swallow. To my surprise, it was lukewarm (yikes). I started thinking of the impurities in the water and felt like spitting it out. I kindly put it down and pretended to be digging something out of my purse. When the sweet lady left, I gave the cup to my translator and told him that I couldn't finish it. So, my point of that story: I don't want God to "spit me out of his mouth" because I'm lukewarm. I want to be a pleasing taste to Him.

When we were children, do you remember playing hide and seek with an object? When the other person got closer to the object, you would say, "you're hot" or when they got farther away from it, you would say, "your cold" Well, the same is with us. When we get closer to God, we are "hot," but the farther we get from Him, we are "cold." I don't know about you, but I want to get closer and closer to Him day by day. If we do that, we'll be "HOT." Hot is good. I pray that each day of our lives would be a "hot" day until the day that we find and see Him face to face. Let Him burn within you!

I found a sermon by John Piper (one of my favorite preachers), and he talked about these verses in Revelation. This is what he says:

"In verses 15 and 16, Jesus brings his indictment of the Laodicean church and delivers his threat. "I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth." His indictment against the church is that they are half-hearted in their relation to him. They do not have the fervor and warmth and zeal of a true lover of Christ; nor are they outright unbelievers who flatly reject Jesus and make no pretence of faith. They are halfway in between. Christ has a moderate influence on their lives. They are not uninfluenced by the Lord; but neither do they go overboard or get very excited about the Creator of all. In relation to prayer, it would be safe to say that they probably pray at meals and pause for two or three minutes at bedtime. But they do not burn with a desire for more of God. They do not go hard after him in the secret place. They do not fling the door wide and welcome him to the innermost places of their emotions. But they keep him just outside the door and do their business with him cooly, lukewarmly through the mail slot. They like the ancient (but very unbiblical) proverb: Moderation in all things."

"Jesus' threat to the lukewarm church is that he will spew them out of his mouth. If you wanted to shock a lukewarm Christian, you could hardly think of a more gross and startling image: Jesus Christ putting the cup to his lips in the hope of tasting a pleasing drink, and then spitting it out on the ground. I find it very hard to make this mean that such people will, after all, be saved and enjoy the blessings and fellowship of Christ for all eternity. Surely the image of spitting the people out of his mouth means that he has found them to be unacceptable and rejects them. The faith that saves is not a lukewarm, half-hearted faith. And so he warns Laodicea, and every other church, if you do not repent (as verse 19 says) and become zealous, or hot, then the mechanical, cool superficiality of your faith will be your destruction, and I will spew you out of my mouth. There is ample reason in these verses alone for us to be on our knees in fasting and prayer..."

"The essence of lukewarmness is the statement, "I need nothing." The lukewarm are spiritually self-satisfied. To find out whether you are among that number, don't look into your head to see if you think that you are needy; rather, look at your prayer life. It doesn't matter what we think in our head, the test of whether we are in bondage to spiritual self-satisfaction is how earnest and frequent and extended our prayers for change are. Do you seek the Lord earnestly and often in secret for deeper knowledge of Christ, for greater earnestness in prayer, for more boldness in witness, for sweeter joy in the Holy Spirit, for deeper sorrow for sin, for warmer compassion for the lost, for more divine power to love? Or is the coolness and perfunctoriness of your prayer life 'Exhibit A' that you are spiritually self-satisfied and lukewarm?"

"Jesus' Word in verse 17 to people who feel that they need nothing, who feel that a week of prayer and fasting is a bit melodramatic -- taking this business of spiritual hotness too far -- the word of Jesus is this: "You are wretched and pitiable and poor and blind and naked." And if such churchgoers don't begin to do something to change their condition, Jesus will eventually spew them out of his mouth." (http://www.desiringgod.com/)

I don't ever want to be like this church that is lukewarm. I want to be "hot" for Jesus! I want my life to be a pleasing taste in His mouth so he doesn't spit me out. I don't ever want to be satisfied with where I am spiritually. If we're spiritually satisfied, we will never grow. I want to grow more and be closer with God each day of my life. I pray that each one of us will grow closer to our Lord and that we will be a sweet and hot taste to Him. Much sweeter and much hotter than hot chocolate!
Love,maryanna