Tag: Coffee

Try This—Oatmeal Latte

So this happened. An Oatmeal Latte! I seriously can’t believe that I never thought to do this before. I love coffee and I love oatmeal. This recipe should’ve been a no-brainer. As it is, I only heard about it from a high school friend of mine who was back in New York on a short visit after living in Colorado for a long time. There’s a coffee shop in Breckenridge that has this on the menu. Gah! Yet another reason to visit Colorado! Anyway, this is delicious, you guys. Like D-E-licious…TRY THIS!!!
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Oatmeal Latte Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup old fashioned oats
  • 2 1/2 cups milk
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 2 (or 4!) shots of espresso
  • granola for topping

Directions:

Place the oats and 1 1/2 cups of milk in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the salt and cinnamon. Stir to combine. In the meantime, froth or steam the remaining 1 cup of milk. Add about 3/4 cup of the steamed, frothed milk to the oats. Cook, stirring often, until the oats are super creamy and milky. Remove from heat. Stir in the remaining milk. Stir in the brown sugar and vanilla extract.

***The measurements are slightly different, but honestly the measurements are only a suggestion. It all depends on what consistency and sweetness you prefer. I have replaced the whole milk with soy milk a couple of the times that I made this. I’ve left out the cinnamon once or twice. Whatever. Point is— Play with your food, y’all!!! This one is almost impossible to mess up.

Source: Oatmeal Latte | How Sweet It Is

Coffee, Water, or Both?

Long black coffee at Coffeehead in Camberwell

Photo credit: ultrakml / Foter / CC BY

Are you a morning person? One of those people who hops out of bed, does a killer workout, showers, gets dressed, and is ready to kick the crap out of the rest of the day… all before a cup of coffee?

I must confess, I’m as far from being a morning person as Dracula is. I genuinely NEED coffee to wake up. Not sunlight. Just coffee.

You’ve heard the rule of thumb, though: your body needs about 8 glasses of water a day. To me, that’s a lot of water and I refuse to let water interfere with the quiet enjoyment of my all day coffee habit. So I ignored all the signs my body was throwing my way to try and convince my brain that I needed more water. I was plagued by a dull complexion, occasional breakouts, scarring from old acne, not to mention headaches, digestive issues, and an overall sluggish feeling. All of these are symptoms of being sick, right?

I remember in my 10th grade health class, the teacher asked us to wash our hands with liquid soap and soda. A totally disgusting and uncomfortable experiment to show the class that we need water to purify our bodies, not only externally, but internally as well. I remember her saying, “you wouldn’t choose to bathe your skin with soda, why would you choose soda to bathe your insides?” Lesson learned, health teacher lady. Lesson learned.

Water Mug

Photo credit: Yashna M / Foter / CC BY

It’s been quite a few years since high school, and I still hadn’t truly internalized (no pun intended) that lesson. I just kept right on ignoring the signs. Then about 2 months ago, I’d finally had enough of all the nagging symptoms I’d been experiencing. I decided to start thinking of water as the medicine that could treat what was ailing me. It’s not an overnight miracle by any means. I mean, think about it. Imagine how filthy you’d be if you spent your entire life bathed in coffee, soda, and juice instead of water. It would take a while to clean off all those years of accumulated goop. Same thing applies to your innards.

Anyway, I invested in an awesome water bottle, an absolute must when you’ve decided to change your water intake. I like to take a step by step approach to any lifestyle change I decide to make so I don’t get too overwhelmed and then quit. The water bottle you invest in has got to make it somehow easier for you to drink more water. I don’t mind plastic water bottles (I know some of you prefer glass), and the fact that mine holds 32 oz allows me the ability to separate the overwhelming task of drinking 64 oz of water a day into just 2 manageable steps. I have an AM water bottle and a PM water bottle.

Of course I realize that this won’t work for everyone, but I must say it’s done wonders for me. The beauty of it all is that I’m still drinking as much of my beloved coffee as I was before, but now I’m also drinking more water than I ever have in my entire life.

Feeling better and looking better. Awesome-ville. Population: Me.