Faux-Latte! I like it a-latte!

I absolutely LOVE the Dairy Queen Caramel MooLatte.  What I DO NOT love, is the 590 calories it drags along with it.  I've been on a smidge of a health kick as of late, and try to find alternate yummies when I can.  I saw the Chocolate Silk at the grocery store and figured I could whip up something delicious with espresso as a nice little alternative frozen coffee drink.  I was right! 

This Faux-Latte is a nice little copy cat of the DQ MooLatte that uses NO ice-cream - no dairy at all!  So it's also lactose free for those with sensitive tummies!

Gather the following ingredients:

1 Cup Strong Coffee (I chose Starbucks brand espresso roast) - cooled (use 1/2 Cup now, save 1/2 Cup for next batch)

1/2 Cup Lite Chocolate Silk

2 Cups Ice

2 Tbsp Sugar (Optional)

1 Packet Truvia (Optional)

1 Tbsp each Hershey's Chocolate Syrup and/or Hershey's Caramel Syrup (Optional)

Many of these are optional ingredients, as you will want to use per your taste.

STEP 1:  Prepare the Espresso

I brewed 3 cups of espresso, and separated it into three 1-cup servings.  I added 1 Tbsp of Hershey's Chocolate syrup to each 1-cup while the espresso was still hot.  (50 Calories)  I also added 1 packet of Truvia to each 1-cup.  I wanted to make sure this was going to be sweet enough for me.  I then set aside all of the chocolatey espresso except for 1/2 cup.  I added 5 small ice cubes to the 1/2 cup of espresso to speed up the cooling process.

STEP 2:  Mix!

 

Add the cooled chocolately sweet espresso (which is now only 25 calories, since we are halfing the 50-calorie 1-cup mix), 2 cups of ice, and 1/2 cup of Lite Chocolate Silk (45 calories).  Add 2 Tbsp of sugar if you like (96 calories).  I also added 1 Tbsp of Hershey's Caramel syrup at this point because it's the Caramel MooLatte that holds my heart.  (If you're keeping track, that's 216 calories total)

STEP 3:  Blend and Enjoy!

Here's the fun part!  Frappe the heck outta this mess!  Add any other fun flavors, flavored coffee, coffee creamer, syrups, etc to give it your own flair!  My version of this recipe makes 2.75 cups of heaven - or 20 oz.  Divide it out, into 16 oz, and you have a drink that's under 175 calories - as compared to the 16 oz DQ version, which is 590 calories!  YIKES!!  If you're not concerned with calories, add some whipped cream!  Drizzle more syrup on top!  Live it up!  

Because I made 3 cups of espresso/chocolate mix at one setting, I have enough ammo for 6 Faux-Lattes in total!  That's a week's worth of yums for around 1,000 calories - 3,540 if I went the DQ route!  Not to mention saving around $3.00 each day!  

I hope you enjoy this recipe! 

Squishy Baff - Make Me Laff!!

My boys have wanted Squishy Baff since we saw it on tv several months ago.  Thankfully, Santa brought them some "Baff" to try out!  Thankfully?  Hmmm..... To be determined...

Squishy Baff promises to "turn ordinary water into colorful goo, and then back again."  Sounds simple, right?  

 

Well, it WAS simple to get the bath all gooey!  The kids LOVED it!  One package makes two baths.  But the amount of water needed to make one bath was so little, I said, "What the hay - we'll do both at once!"  

 Look at this goo! 

 It is the consistency of that gel-substance that sucks up all of the liquid in diapers.  The kids had a ball dipping the goo with ladles, cups, and bowls.  Pretty neat stuff!  

I have to say, I was a little worried about even trying this goo stuff, because I've had some pipe issues lately.  Let's just say, I didn't realize that the toilet and the bath tub were so closely related.  They were sharing quite a bit for awhile (ick, right?).  Since the boys were chomping at the bit to try this stuff, and it was their last night of Christmas break, I put those worries about the pipes in the back of my mind and carried on with the fun experiment.  

About 30-45 minutes into playtime, I hear the drain GLUB GLUB a few times!  ACK!  The drain cover got knocked off of the drain!  I figured play time was about over - so it was time to "deactivate" the goo - turning it back to water.  Right?

I sprinkled both packets of the goo dissolver into the tub and swished it around.  It didn't de-goo very much :(  Oh no!  What to do!?  I grabbed a stainer from the kitchen and began dipping the thick remaining goo out of the blue water!  


 
When the goo chunks became smaller, I slipped a piece of netting inside the strainer to grab more of the smaller chunks.  Took a little time, but I was not comfortable letting that go down the drain with the recent pipe problems.  












I gathered the equivalent of about 2 gallons of thick gunk from the water.










It really is neat stuff - but what am I to do with this left-over goo? 

 AND - there was still soupy goo in the tub!  I did a little googling, and found "Gelli Baff" - which is apparently the product name in Great Britain.  On this website, they list the goo-dissolver as regular table-salt.  So I decided to do a little experiment of my own.  I put a glob of goo in two bowls.  In one, I added about a tablespoon of salt - the other I added about 2 tablespoons of baking soda (then about a quarter cup of vinegar to see if it would bubble the goo out of the water).

t The bowl on the left got the salt, the bowl on the right got the baking soda/vinegar treatment.  The salt did a great job of dissolving the contents.  The baking soda also did well, but not AS well.  But because I had more baking soda than salt, I dumped about half of the box into the remaining goo in the tub!  FINALLY - I felt comfortable draining the tub!  

 In all, it was a fun experience for the kids.  Will I rush out to buy more Squishy Baff any time soon?  Eh, probably not.  

Gallon of goo, anyone?