I was so relieved when, a little over a year ago, my all my beloved non-dairy liquid coffee creams jettisoned the trans-fats from their recipes. Bravo!
Lately, though, I've begun feeling a little bit like a fraud for promoting fresh, local foods when I'm dumping a bunch of chemicals into my coffee every morning.
I've tried to force myself not to think about it. It was my dirty little secret.
(I have another chemically derived food I can't seem to live without but that will be a subject for another blog. I have to keep some secrets!)
In an attempt to realign my coffee-whitening routine with all of my eating related ethics and values I ...
...tried Splenda (more chemicals) and half-n-half.
(Boring)
... tried sugar and half-n-half.
(Bad.)
... tried Splenda and skim milk.
(Worse.)
... tried black coffee.
(Just. Plain. Awful.)
At this point I was getting desperate, and when I'm desperate I usually go to the Internet.
(That works out better for me some times than others.)
I found pages and pages of recipes for homemade coffee creamers.
Some looked so rich that I might as well have just had a piece of cheesecake instead of my morning cup 'o joe.
Some had so many ingredients and steps that I knew I could never manage to throw them together in the right proportions my early morning state of half awakeness.
I ended up trying several and, the good news is, I met with some success. It isn't an exact duplicate for a non-dairy creamer but it's super-easy to make, has about the same fat and calories, costs less and is infinitely better for your health.
Mix one 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk (make sure the ingredients only list milk and sugar) with about the same amount of skim milk in a medium sized container with a lid. Add a few drops of a flavoring extract like vanilla or peppermint or, my favorite, banana and coconut. Shake very well. That's all there is to it!
(I know the flavoring agent are chemicals, especially the imitation flavors, but this recipe calls for such a minuscule amount that it doesn't really bother me. It's a vast improvement over the additive laden non-dairy creamers.)
So far I've tried cherry, cinnamon, banana/coconut, vanilla and chocolate/ peppermint (just added cocoa powder to get the chocolate-lyness).
