Green Tea Vanilla Latte (lactose free)

Back in the summer, I was looking for a healthier way to get a caffeine kick, and green tea was the obvious answer. But truthfully, I'm not a big fan of the taste of plain green tea, so I needed to find a tasty way to drink it. What I came up with is delicious, and lactose free!

You'll need:

1 cup pure green tea (don't buy the premade stuff; it usually isn't just green tea and has unhealthy additions). I just run some water through the Keurig and use it to make the tea. Make sure your tea bag's ingredient list says "green tea leaves" and that's all it contains.

1 cup vanilla almond milk. When my CD isn't flaring, I've also used 1 cup of regular milk and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Vanilla soy milk would probably work too, but I personally haven't tried it.

2 tablespoons of honey, or to taste.

A sprinkle of cinnamon (I also use a dash of nutmeg)

Directions:

Brew your tea. Heat up your milk (but don't allow it to boil). Combine the tea and milk. If you're using regular milk, don't forget to add the vanilla. Stir to combine. Add the honey and stir until it has melted and mixed into the liquid. Sprinkle cinnamon on top and serve. This makes 2 cups, which was the perfect amount for my travel mug.

Tips:

Feel free to omit the cinnamon and add what you like. Try some orange zest or extract, or other sweet extracts. This might even be good with chocolate almond milk! Who knows! Playing is the fun part ;-)

You can reduce the amount of water used for your green tea if you don't want 2 cups worth of the drink. Just use 1/2 cup hot water for the tea, or 1/2 of the hot water for tea and 1/2 cup milk. Be aware, though, that the taste of the green tea will be stronger if you use this method.

Serve hot or cold! Follow the above directions for a hot drink, but if you're like me and drink iced beverages all year round, make it cold by stirring the honey into the tea while it's hot, then letting it cool and adding in cold milk instead of hot. Proceed with recipe, then add in some ice and a straw, and you're all set!

When I first tried this, I couldn't believe how tasty it was! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do :-)

Tiramisu (lactose free)

When I was extremely intolerant to lactose, I concocted this recipe for one of my favorite desserts: tiramisu. It's not like the Cheesecake Factory's, but it's pretty good!


Ingredients:

1 cup of your favorite coffee (make sure it's something that you can tolerate. For example, flavored coffees would be great, but read the ingredients). If caffeine irritates you, try decaf.

12 crushed vanilla wafer cookies, sugar cookies, or ladyfingers. Choose whichever suites you. I know there is at least one roll of sugar cookie dough that you slice and bake yourself that is lactose free. Also, the Pillsbury sugar cookies (the same kind they print with holiday shapes for Halloween, Christmas, Easter, etc) are lactose free as well.

1 cup or so of Cool Whip, thawed (MUST BE COOL WHIP BRAND! This is important. Again, double check your labels, but the generic brands I have encountered contain milk or other products that contain lactose, whereas the Cool Whip brand does not)

Cinnamon- Sprinkle to taste and mix into your Cool Whip, and if you like cinnamon a lot (like I do), use a little in the coffee.


Garnish of choice- If you can tolerate the slightest bit of chocolate, try just a little of grated chocolate or chocolate sprinkles. If not, you can top with a little more cinnamon or another sweet spice. Or be creative. I have problems with milk chocolate, but reading the back of the cocoa pebbles box, I discovered that it doesn't contain dairy, and I eat it just fine. So perhaps crushed up cocoa pebbles? Haha. Have fun with it!

Directions: Place crushed cookies or wafers into bowl, pour in coffee, and allow to soak for 2 minutes. When done soaking, carefully scoop a bit into the bottoms of parfait glasses or serving dish of choice. Top with a layer of coolwhip. Then add another layer of cookies/wafers, and then another layer of coolwhip, and so on, until dish is full. Top with garnish and serve.




Tips: For extra flavor, try adding an extract into the coffee or Cool Whip. For example, if you're ok with cocoa, try getting a chocolate accented coffee, and add a little orange extract into the cool whip. Chocolate and orange, yum-o.

Tomato Garlic Soup (low or no lactose)

Another soup recipe! Hey, we're snowed in here, so we need all the warmth we can get. This is extremely low lactose, or no lactose if you use a dairy-free butter substitute, like spreads made with olive oil. I'm fine with the acidity level of tomatoes, even when I'm flaring. But as we know, everyone is different, so use your best judgement. In addition, there should be little to no fiber content once the tomatoes are prepared according to the directions and cooked. Enjoy!

You'll need:1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon oil or vegetable oil
2 large yellow onions, quartered and thinly sliced
10 garlic cloves, minced
4 medium tomatoes, cored, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 3/4 cups low-sodium beef broth
1 cup low-sodium tomato sauce
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

Directions:

1. In a large non-stick saucepan over medium-low heat, melt butter and heat oil. Add onion and garlic and sauté 25 minutes or until onions are very soft and golden.
2. Stir in tomatoes, broth, tomato sauce, thyme, bay leaf, sugar, salt and pepper. Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer, covered, 15 minutes. Remove bay leaf and stir in parsley

Creamy Carrot Ginger Soup (lactose free)

Did you know that the first restaurant opened in France and served nothing but soups, which at the time were called "restoratives". I think we should bring back that term- it just sounds comforting to me- restoring. So, yeah. If you hear me referring to a restorative, now you know what I mean :P

This recipe's claim to fame is that it's easy to digest. It does call for avocado, which is high in fat, although healthy fat. The avocado gives this soup it's creamy texture, keeping it non-dairy, which is the focus of this recipe. Plus, it has a warming affect because of the ginger, whether it's served hot or cold, and what could be better for a chilly day, a rainy day, or a snuggle-in-bed-for-whatever-reason day?

You'll need:

3 large carrots
1 avocado, pit and skin removed
2 cups water
1 1/2 tsp grated ginger
Sea salt to taste
1/4 cup coarsely chopped or torn cilantro

Directions:

Grate carrots. In a food processor, process avocado and water. Once smooth, add carrots, ginger and sea salt. Process to desired consistency. Stir in cilantro and serve.

Voila!

I could go for a nice bowl of soup right now... Now if only I could get my boyfriend to cook!