We are discussing our favorite cold-weather drinks this week and that is a hard choice.
Right now, I have been drinking a lot of coffee. I only drink coffee in cool weather. My absolute favorite is Kenyan Arabica, which I stumbled across many years ago. I have been brewing quite a bit of flavored coffee, notably hazelnut, vanilla or something even more interesting, such as caramel or raspberry, perhaps raspberry/chocolate. When I had my bakery-restaurant, we had a coffee club and the flavored ones were a big hit. Coffee is also supposedly good against gout…that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
I go to the coffee aisle every time I go to the store, looking for sales
I do love a good cappuccino, especially from a John Conte machine, but I can’t handle the carbs any more. I use stevia in my homemade coffee.
I like original Ovaltine [malt], but usually when I have it, I make it in cold milk, when I am not cold.
I do love a good cup of tea. My grandkids and I often had ‘teas’, and I can still get the girls to eat well if I make finger foods or other foods ‘appetizeresque’ and serve it on fancy plates, with tea.
I really like fruited teas, but iced, and only in warm weather. I will have an occasional raspberry hot tea, but I normally go for a simple cup of black tea, no milk, but with stevia or a sugar/stevia mix. I will add lemon sometimes. But when it comes to lemon, I will often make plain hot lemon ‘tea’: slices of fresh lemon brewed in boiling water and sweetened. It is also said to be good against gout, but I took a liking to it when I was very young. My brother once looked into my cup and, quoting Eb from ‘Green Acres’, “Oh, boy! Hot water soup!” (I hope you know the context. If not, well, I actually found the clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzGdDqWJcFU ).
There have been times when, with this “Hot Water Soup”, I have spiked it and made a Hot Toddy. However, since for many years my situation called for me to be available any hour day or night to leave to get my grandson, or if he or the granddaughters were here I needed to be 100% clear-headed and quickly awake, I have not made one in some time. Also, now, it would be in conflict with meds I am taking. But I will tell you, if you need someone to calm down or if someone has a cold, a half-shot of Seagram’s Seven or Jameson added to a cup of sweetened hot lemon makes a nice, soothing cup. (Honey makes a nice addition here.)
I find most commercial hot cocoa mixes to be weak. The only one I ever truly liked is Nestlé’s Rich Milk Chocolate. Unfortunately, it is also full of carbs, (I am allergic to most artificial sweeteners.I get terrible headaches). When I have an absolute craving for a cup of cocoa, I do what my mother did, and use real, unsweetened ‘baking’ cocoa. Although she used sugar or honey, stevia mixed with sugar is now my choice. It can often be hard to get the cocoa powder to dissolve fully, so I place it in the bottom of a cup, add a couple of tablespoons full of boiling water and make it into a paste. I slowly add the sweetener and heated milk…and I have cocoa the way it should be made!
Have I raised any thoughts?
Angela Schroeder
Patricia Kiyono
Elaine Cantrell
Jeff Salter
Joselyn
Tonette Joyce
Four Foxes, One Hound 
Nestle is the instant hot chocolate of choice around here too. If I have to use instant I go with that.
Tea with your granddaughters sound like fun. Were those a winter activity? We have some all year round.
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Oh, no.Tea parties go on all year.My grandson liked them , too. I get to have food fun, too!
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I love tea party food. Wyatt is already planning a Mother’s Day tea party.
What food do you serve? I would love to try something besides our typical sandwiches and pastries.
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I serve anything they like, Angie, just as finger foods or on toothpicks.It could be cheese, bacon, sausage , turkey, ham…lots of pepperoni! Sometimes veggie rotini. Cut fruit, always. Mini-cut grilled cheese,or other sandwiches.It depends on the kids, what I have on hand and how they feel. I found that almost anything, (except soup!), can be adapted to finger-food to get kids to eat.
BTW, I have a multi-post series of appetizers on Food, Friends, Family. You might get some ideas for versions that fit your family’s tastes.
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I like that idea of adding a shot of whoosky (or bourbon) to a cup of tea. That might make it palatable for me, assuming the whoosky doesn’t have any gluten (which I think it does).
Gosh, I had nearly forgotten Ovaltine. I don’t remember LOVING Ovaltine, but I guess I liked it well enough, because I certainly drank a bunch… especially when I was a young child.
I believe the powdered chocolate (like Nestles Quik) eventually edged out Ovaltine at my house.
The only kind of hot cocoa I had (growing up) was the kind made with boiled / heated milk and Hershey’s baking cocoa. I’m pretty sure my mom added sugar, as per the likely recipe, of course.
The only drawback of that brew was that it formed a “skin” on top. I never liked that skin.
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Oh, Jeff, there are a lot of booze out there that are gluten-free; most, in fact. Vodkas, (made from potatoes), rums, tequilas and many others are made without grains, Many of those made with grains, (including whiskeys), are distilled, so that the gluten is removed. Few that do have any gluten are flavored brands.Since you don’t have celiac disease, I doubt that any would bother you at all.
As for the ‘skin’ on top, using the hot-water method should keep that from happening. Using lower-fat milk would also keep that from forming, as well.
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good to know. thanks!
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My husband always gives me a hard time about how much mix I put into my hot chocolate. The bottom of the cup had to be at least a quarter full. I told him I wanted hot chocolate, not chocolatish water. Then he made some following the instructions. It was a quarter cup of mix to 6 oz of water. Ha!
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There you go! Gosh, I hate thin hot chocolate! It’s worse than 1 % or non-fat milk! (Dirty water!)
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