Monday, March 19, 2012

50 Calorie Iced Cafe Mocha

Yum
I love to enjoy a frozen coffee drink from time to time, but I'm always paranoid that I'm getting far more calories and sugar than I would like in just a beverage.  I also find fancy coffee store drinks completely over priced (I'm known to be frugal!).  I am not a coffee connoisseur so coffee is just coffee in my eyes.  So what is a frugal and health conscience girl supposed to do?  Grab her blender of course!   I was completely blown over by this homemade version of an iced cafe mocha and it was only a whooping 50 calories! Even my husband who likes only hot coffee drinks thought it was pretty darn tasty.  He could not believe it was as low calorie as it was. If you love coffee drinks and want a way to save money and fit into your jeans,  get those blenders ready!  
PS... I was also nominated for a 7x7 Blogger Award so please check it out below. :)

Ingredients:
3 cups almond milk (35 calories a cup)
2 Tbs of Hershey's Unsweetened Cocoa (10 calories a Tbs)
1-2 Tbs of Instant Coffee (trace amounts of calories)
Sugar free sweetener- I used Splenda  (trace amounts of calories)
1/2 cup of hot water
1 tray of ice (about 16 cubes)
lite whip cream (optional)
Cinnamon Powder (optional)
Sugar-Free Lite Chocolate Syrup (optional)


Directions:
Boil 1/2 cup of hot water. Add sweetener, chocolate powder and instant coffee to hot liquid and stir until everything is well mixed. Add a few ice cubes into the hot coffee mixture to cool it down. Then put all ingredients (except for optional ingredients) in blender and blend until smooth. Top with any optional ingredients you like. Drink immediately.    Enjoy.
Note: If you want a stronger drink add 2Tbs of instant coffee and only 1Tbs for a lighter coffee drink.  Adjust your sweetener to taste.


This makes about 8-9 cups of ice cafe mocha.  Serves 3-4 people. The entire blender contained less than 150 calories making it less than 50 calories a serving



 Now onto the Award!

I am honored that Preena from  A Teaspoon of Turmeric nominated me for the 7x7 Blogger Award.  She has an outstanding blog and gorgeous recipes so please check her out. :)  Thank you Preena for this lovely award and honor. :)

 The rules for receiving the award:
1. Thank the person who gave it to you.
2. Share seven random facts about yourself.
3. Share seven of your worthy posts under the following headers: Most Beautiful Piece, Most Helpful, Most Popular, Most Controversial, Most Surprisingly Successful, Most Underrated and Most Pride Worthy.
4. Nominate seven other bloggers and notify them.

Now I must share some random facts about myself... hmmm... this should be interesting:

1. I don't know how to ride a bike.  Okay... this shocks people sometimes.  I don't usually tell people because when I worked  I told my co-workers during a team building exercise and they all laughed hysterically. The truth is I was never really interested to learn as a kid (although my older siblings all know how to).  Now that I'm a middle aged, I really don't see the point of learning.  My hubby has begged me several times to let him teach me.  I have gotten on an adult bike and freaked out... so I would need the biggest set of training wheels ever!  When someone says "it's just like riding a bike"... that certainly doesn't put me at ease. :)  Okay.. stop laughing.

2. I went almost a decade without ever baking a cookie... yes... it's a long sad story of rock hard hockey puck cookies.  I finally found my cake mix method and now I'm even feeling confident to venture to scratch made someday soon. :)

3. I am on the hunt to buy a good/affordable DSLR camera. I am a big researcher so I like to get everyone's opinion.  Please if you have some advice, help a girl out. :)

4. I hate cilantro.  Yes, I'm one of those people that just can't eat the stuff and for years I thought I was the only one.  Now I realize there so many of us out there and I feel an instant kinship to those that don't like it either.

5. I love historical dramas and some of my favorite movies are Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice both by books from Jane Austen.  I am also a big fan of the proverbial "chick flick". :)

6. I am deathly afraid of any kind of reptile. The worst thing is in the past few years my garden gets invaded by some freaky lizards in the spring and summer because I planted a low growing ivy that they love. If I had known all those years ago when I planted that darn ivy... I would have certainly changed my mind.  I literally look outside before I walk out so I can scan to see if I see a lizard "sunning" itself on my front step.  I have been known to wear winter boots to go get my son from school (yes even in May and June) so I won't feel a lizard touch me.   

7. I collect a lot of things (no I'm not a hoarder... although my husband may think so). I mostly collect cookbooks, mortar and pestles and cool crockery.  I am trying to curb my impulse to buy these things when I see them.  I have succeeded in the crockery and the mortar and pestles... but those darn cookbooks!  It's hard when new cookbooks from my favorite authors keep coming out.  I recently purchased The Pioneer Woman's New Frontier cookbook.... Yes... it's a sickness. :)

Share seven of your worthy posts under the following headers: Most Beautiful Piece, Most Helpful, Most Popular, Most Controversial, Most Surprisingly Successful, Most Underrated and Most Pride Worthy.

Most Beautiful Funfetti Fruit Tart    I could look at this one all day. It tasted wonderful too! :)





 


Most HelpfulChinese Chicken Stir Fry 101 This was a great basic starter stir fry without a lot of complicated ingredients so it could take some of the mystery of stir frying at home.





 
Most PopularGarlic and Oil Pasta (Aglio Et Olio) with Asparagus  This one caught everyone's fancy. Pasta is so comforting!





Most ControversialDeviled Onion Sambal   
 This one is really not controversial unless you hate onions or can't handle the heat.  I really is hot! :)







Most Surprisingly SuccessfulSavory Stuffed Biscuits I took help from the store with this one so I didn't think it would become so popular but I guess everyone could use a little bit of help from the store sometimes.

Most UnderratedMasala Roast Chicken  I was so sad when my beautiful roast chicken was not noticed... it was so pretty!


 




Most Pride WorthyValentine's Day Red Velevet Strawberry Cupcakes 
           Just look at them... enough said. :)










Now I must nominate 7 bloggers to enjoy this award.  I'm sorry I couldn't nominate everyone that is so kind to me.

Anna at Crunchy Creamy Sweet

Alyssa at Mom de Cuisine

Grubarazzi at  Grubarazzi

Becka at The Elegant Eggplant

Stephanie at Eat-Drink-Love 

Kiri at Healthy Foodie Travels

Ridwan at Ridwan's Kitchen/Asian Spice Mix

 

 

 

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