Latte With Me: recipe

Don't you just love milkshakes and ice cream? I sure do - it's one of the pleasures that James & I both have so we have to really limit our trips to the ice cream shop. I got this article in an email today or yesterday and thought I'd pass it along to you. It's courtesy of HungryGirl.

Shake Down
If we're being honest (and we always are), we need to let you in on a little secret. Vanilla milkshakes are one of our greatest weaknesses. They're thick, creamy, frozen, and completely delicious. Unfortunately, behind most thick and delicious milkshakes lies a TON of fat and calories, usually due to TOO MUCH ice cream and full-fat milk.

For example, the crazy Vanilla Hand-Scooped Ice Cream Shake at Carl's Jr. has 710 calories and 33g fat (POINTS® value 17*), which is more calories and almost as much fat as the chain's Famous Star with Cheese hamburger. Yikes!

Chances are, when you get a milkshake, it's only PART of your meal. And frankly, no one needs to add hundreds and hundreds of calories' worth of drinkable ice cream to a meal. Need a reasonable solution?

DRINK OUR MILKSHAKE INSTEAD. Seriously! Our shake is delicious and thick with a sweet 'n creamy vanilla flavor you'll LOVE. (The picture is from their website.)

'Nilla Light!
Pretty much EVERYONE is gonna love this creamy, dreamy vanilla-licious shake. So grab your shake stuff and toss one together, Blendy!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Breyers Double Churn Free Creamy Vanilla fat-free ice cream
1/2 cup light vanilla soymilk
1/2 tbsp. Coffee-mate Sugar Free French Vanilla powdered creamer
2 no-calorie sweetener packets (like Splenda or Truvia)
1/8 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup crushed ice or 5 - 7 ice cubes
2 tbsp. Fat Free Reddi-wip
Optional: maraschino cherry

Directions:

Place powdered creamer in a small dish, and add 1/2 tbsp. very hot water.
Stir until powder dissolves, and then transfer mixture to a blender.
Add all other ingredients except the Reddi-wip to the blender.
Blend at high speed until completely mixed.
Pour into your favorite glass and top with Reddi-wip. If you like, finish it off with a cherry!

MAKES 1 SERVING
Serving Size: 16 oz. w/ whipped topping (entire shake)
Calories: 155
Fat: 2.5g
Sodium: 108mg
Carbs: 28.5g
Fiber: 3g
Sugars: 16g
Protein: 6g
POINTS® value 3*

(Non-Hungry Girl Shake)

Serving Size: 16 oz. w/ whipped topping (standard medium shake)
Calories: 648
Fat: 27.5g
Sodium: 293mg
Carbs: 88.5g
Fiber: 0g
Sugars: 62g
Protein: 13g
POINTS® value 15*

YOWZA! If you try this before I do, let me know. I'm not so keen on soy-milk, but I'm thinking if it's blended in with other things then I might be ok!

My friend, Wendy, blogs for al.com. She blogs about all things frugal and if you haven't checked out her blog in the past, I hope you'll take the time to do so! She's a beautiful person ~ inside and out and I feel blessed to call her friend. (And as much as I adore her, I guess you can tell by the title that this isn't an Ode to Frugal Mom blog...) I digress alot, don't I?

I have struggled on how to make tea. Sweet or unsweet - didn't really matter - it tasted gross either way. I like strong tea - not that weak tea like they serve at some restaurants (interestingly, those are the same restaurants that serve Pepsi products...correlation, asks the Coke product drinker?) Oh, I've digressed again, haven't I?

My friend posted a recipe on how to make sweet tea on her blog a couple of months ago and I finally tried it out of thirst desperation ;) and it's GOOD! I substituted the 2 cups of sugar for granulated Splenda and it's a little too sweet, so next time I'll try a little less, but other than that, It's GOOD! I made GOOD SWEET TEA! I know all my readers *cough* are wanting the recipe, so I want to share it with you:

Southern Style Sweet Iced Tea: Cheap and Delicious!
Posted by Wendy McCormick July 31, 2008 9:56 PM
Categories: Food
I love sweet iced tea. I especially love to drink it on a hot summer day with a slice of lemon and tons of ice.

My husband loves to drink Milo's Sweet Tea. I love the convenience of buying tea already made verses having to take the time and effort to brew it myself.

I used to buy Milo's Sweet Tea by the gallon until I realized how much money we were spending each year to buy our delicious drink.

Let's just say you buy two gallons of Milo's Tea each week. (That is a low estimate around our house... we can go through three gallons a week during the summer ---we don't drink many soft drinks.)

If you buy it at Sam's Club, you can get it for $1.99 per gallon. If you buy it at the grocery store, you are looking at around $2.49 per gallon.

Now for the math. Let's take an average of $2.25 per gallon of Milo's Tea multiply it times two for two gallons purchased per week. We are at $4.50 per week. Multiply that times 52 weeks in a year... You have spent around $250 per year (if you include tax) on iced tea!

To make your own sweet tea for a fraction of the price, here is my recipe:
Southern Style Sweet Iced Tea
3 family-size tea bags (I like Luzianne)2 cups granulated white sugar 8 cups cold water
Start with cold water. Bring it to a gentle boil. Add 3 family (large) size tea bags.Remove from heat and let it steep for at least 5 minutes (but no more than 10).Mix concentrated hot tea with 2 cups of sugar and stir well in tea pitcher. Add cold water until pitcher is full and stir to combine. Serve over lots of ice with a garnish of lemon. Enjoy!

_________________

MMMMM, I'm loving my OWN SWEET TEA! I'm excited about this - can you tell? Y'all just don't know how many things of tea I've thrown out and it's almost shameful to be from Alabama and NOT be able to make any kind of tea. I can hold my head up high now :-). Thank you, Wendy. I heart you!

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jer. 29:11