Monday, May 7, 2012

Homemade Latte

I love a good (decaf) latte, but I    a) don't want to spend the money necessary to buy them at a coffee place on a regular basis..... b)  want to know exactly what I'm consuming..... c) don't generally have time to go to a coffee shop!

I recently read about a way to make a homemade latte without having a frother attachment, and was so excited! I had an awesome little frother that my mom had gotten me from IKEA, but unfortunately it broke. :( But now there is a solution!

Begin by brewing your favorite coffee - full 'caf', decaf, hazelnut, what ever your cup of tea coffee is! While your coffee is brewing, heat up some milk in the microwave.... I heated for 1 minute, until warmed through. And a latte is generally 1/2-2/3 milk, which means you're using half or less of coffee. But honestly, at moderation4life, we're all about tailoring things to your needs and tastebuds so if you want more or less coffee, do what you want!

Once your milk is warm, either place it in a blender, or grab your handheld egg beater.


 I only used one of my beater attachments, and basically whip/blend until frothy! Can't be easier.

Grab a cup of joe, and sweeten to your liking.

Add your frothy milk to the coffee. You will need to get a spoon to get the froth into the cup, because the froth tends to sit at the back of the cup when you're pouring. Once again, add as much or as little froth and milk as you like.

And guess what, now you get to enjoy!


Make this on your next lazy morning, or as you're headed out the door to your busy day!
Mary

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Lunch from Leftovers

Craving a summer pasta salad? Try this out!

I made a big batch of roasted chicken that I used when making enchiladas. The next day I wanted to find a creative way to use up the leftover chicken. Looking through my fridge, I saw that I had some leftover spaghetti from a previous dinner and half a lemon. Checked the pantry and found a can of cannelini beans and knew I had an awesome lunch idea!

I cut the chicken into small pieces and warmed in a pan with 1 teaspoon of olive oil. I added the drained and rinsed cannelini beans (about 1/2 a can - I was only cooking for one!) until they were warmed through.

Have you ever wilted spinach? It's incredible to see how such an abundance of spinach can wilt down to so little! Anyways, add a bunch of spinach to the pan until it is wilted.

In the meantime, I whisked up a lemon vinaigrette - olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper, a teaspoon of sugar, and some red pepper flakes. I heated the spaghetti leftovers in the microwave and topped it with the combination from the pan, then tossed with the dressing!


Oh my gosh! It was so delicious. The warm cannelini beans added a wonderful creamy quality to the dish, and the wilted spinach was so fresh and yummy! This is a great summer pasta salad to try out.

Enjoy!
Mary