Category: Beverages

This is a pretty heady mixture with a high alcohol content, and very very rich--a must for the holiday season! It's so rich, in fact, like a mousse, that I'd recommend--while I originally made it with all cream--mixing cream and milk half and half just so you can get it out of the container later. Using all cream, it will literally solidify in the fridge, though it's lovely for drinking right away.

I concocted this for my mother-in-law, who cannot have caffeine, but loves white chocolate since she can't have regular chocolate. Eventually, I will have to get her to try it...

In the past, I would let the milk separate overnight and scoop off the "cream" the next day, but nowadays, using the Vitamix, I find that it actually homogenizes the almond milk! This milk will not last long, however, and can only be kept around 3 days at fridge temperature on its own. It keeps much longer frozen. Almond flour is a byproduct of this recipe.

Technically this is a fermented drink, and while I will probably add a brewing category at some point, that will be for alcoholic drinks. Kombucha is essentially a fermented black tea, using a "SCOBY" or "mother" for the culture, a "symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast," to produce a probiotic drink. A quick search will yield a wealth of health benefits for this beverage, which I will not go into here, but suffice it to say that it makes a refreshing cold drink for the summertime that has low sugar!

You will need to find a starter SCOBY for this--ask your friends, or pick one up at the health food store, but once you have one, you will be set for life, because every batch produces a new one, and you can still use the old one until it turns brown.

Extremely easy to make (unless you pit your own cherries) and low sugar, high alcohol, this liqueur just takes some patience. Essentially it is really a cherry tincture, with brandy and vodka, and after setting it out of sight for a month to do its thing, you can then bring it up and serve at parties to really wow people. The cherries themselves provide the sweetness. Afterwards, the cherries can be used in ice creams, as they will not freeze solid, and are a great alternative to maraschino cherries.

My husband and I were going on a cross country trip a few years ago that would involve camping, and I wanted an easy, sugar-free hot cocoa mix without chemicals. This mix will last a long time, though it may darken with age, and is really delicious! I use goat's milk powder because it's higher in fat, but you could certainly use another powdered milk (as long as it's instant). The directions for mixing will be influenced by what powdered milk you use.

Usually in summertime, I make this from fresh herbs, picked from my garden, and don't measure other than to take a colander out and fill it with the same herbs I use dried--chocolate mint, tulsi, lemon balm, stevia, and maybe some others such as catnip. This tea is predominantly mint, and really helps to cool one down in hot weather. Since most people have access to dried herbs, the recipe will be written for that. And sometimes it's just too hot to go out and pick those herbs... The sweetener in this is stevia leaves, fresh or dried.