These strange times call for jazzed up home coffees! Social distancing isn’t really a coffee change for me. I tend to not spend $4 on a fancy coffee, but LOVE to whip up fun drinks at home. There’s still joy in sipping this while playing legos or putting shapes into the correct shaped hole. I’m aiming to post when I can, depending on what we an access. We’ll see!

Plus, you can order all these ingredients for groceries delivered.

Caramel Coconut Coffee

Ingredients:

1 cup coffee
1/4 cup coconut almond milk
1 teaspoon caramel syrup

Directions:

Brew coffee.
Warm the milk just to take the chill off. Then froth the milk (either with a milk frother or shaken vigorously in a glass jar).
Drizzle caramel sauce onto the sides of the cup then add in the coffee. Spoon the foam onto the top.
Enjoy!

The coconut is subtle and not as creamy as real milk but it foamed well! I have this one and it is the best treat $12 can get you!

P.S. I have some other ideas for your leftover caramel syrup: Caramel Apple Smoothie; or Salted Caramel Cider French Toast; or Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls with Salted Caramel; or Turtle Hot Chocolate.

Gingerbread lattes! Gingerbread americanos! Gingerbread hot chocolates! The possibilities are endless! I 100% wait until after Thanksgiving for Christmas things but these flavors felt fall enough to fit this week of Thanksgiving.

Gingerbread Syrup

Ingredients:

(makes ~2 cups, or 12 servings. Half unless gifting!)
1 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tbs honey
2 tbs molasses
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp grated or minced ginger
1 strip orange peal

Directions:

Heat everything together and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 5 minutes.
Pour through a mesh strainer, or through a cheese cloth, or through a coffee filter.

Stir into coffee and top with frothed milk. (Microwave milk in a glass jar for 15 seconds. Screw on the top and shake vigorously.)

Top with whipped cream and an extra sprinkle of nutmeg!

I keep fresh ginger in the freezer and use a veggie pealer to shave the skin off and then chop or grate. It lasts forever and is a great addition to peanut sauce or smoothies too.

I loved this! It was such a fun treat to have on hand! It is delightful in coffee or in hot chocolate. The flavor is strong so a tablespoon felt like plenty in a cup. This makes more than enough so I’ll half it next time.

This might be the easiest smoothie I’ve ever made yet it feels the most exotic! It only has 3 ingredients! Unlike many of my other smoothies, this one isn’t a meal, but is a great cool fruit serving as a snack or with something else for breakfast.

I buy these frozen dragon fruit puree packs at the grocery store and I went full on tropical for the flavors here: dragon fruit, mango, and coconut!

Dragon Fruit Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 dragon fruit puree pack
~1 cup frozen mango
1 cup coconut almond milk
1/2 cup water, as needed

Directions:

Add the dragon fruit. mango, and coconut almond milk into the blender.
Blend and add water as needed for your desired consistency. (I used ~1/2 cup)
Enjoy!

How pretty is THAT??? Dragon fruit = pitaya. I often see both words on the package. Those frozen packs are beautifully pink and a bit of a splurge but this nicely highlights the sweet flavor. The color is even more radiant without any dairy in there- not that I should call almond milk dairy. I really only use it for the flavor. There’s nowhere near the calcium or protein of regular milk but I don’t loooove milk so I can appreciate almond this with a more watery and coconut flavor.

I should have poured some into my popsicle containers! This would be a good one!

I took a different route on this smoothie and made it into a snack-like smoothie versus a breakfast kind of smoothie. It was really good and hit the spot on a coffee-sat-too-long kind of day. It isn’t super sweet so the coffee flavor is for real. Don’t get me wrong, I love a fun coffee drink, but the serving of fruit can’t hurt. Right?

Mocha Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 cup coffee, chilled
1 1/2 cups frozen pear or banana
1/2 cup milk
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground flaxseed meal

Directions:

Blend everything together. If it is too thick add in a bit more milk or some water.

Enjoy!

This was the perfect afternoon pick-me-up. A squirt of whipped cream made me fall more in love. I can see this one repeating when it is too hot to think!

Wayyy back, circa 2013 I made a peanut butter and jelly inspired smoothie. Since then, I’ve been drinking a new version with a green base. I made this one several times a week while pregnant with Baby C and my preschooler had some whenever I made it. The greens in the base are totally camouflaged so it is a great green-smoothie starter.

I often use a smoothie to be my breakfast- with something small later, like 1/2 cup Cheerios or a hard boiled egg. It also makes a great snack during this busy, on-the-go season!

PB & J Smoothie, Healthified

Ingredients (for 1-2 servings: 1 meal or 2 snacks)

1 1/2 cups greens (spinach or baby spinach & baby kale mix)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt (Greek or regular)
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
1-2 tablespoon peanut butter (or 1 scoop peanut butter protein powder)
water

Directions:

Add greens, milk, and yogurt to the blender and blend well. Keep blending once it seems like enough. The more the better!

Then add in the blueberries, ground flaxseed, and peanut butter.
Add small increments of water until desired consistency. (I end up using about 1/2 cup usually)
Blend well and enjoy!

I like it best with regular vanilla yogurt but Greek has more protein (and more tang). I buy this bag of “juicing greens” which is baby spinach and baby kale. Once it has hung around about a week and there is any left, I freeze it an break some off for smoothies.

I add the water to get it to a drinkable consistency. Milk would work too. I keep adding, very slowly, until it splashes on the sides of my blender. Then I know it’ll go through the straw well.