Thirsty Thursday - Starbucks Peppermint Mocha Healthy Alternative

I LOVE Shakeology.  It is one of the tools in my tool kit and the best meal replacement I have tried (and I have tried many!)  It keeps me full for several hours and helps with my sugar cravings immensely.  it is packed full of super-foods as well.

I also have been a Starbucks lover for many years but the calories and sugar content do not work into my plan.  This is a great alternative I use for for a Peppermint Mocha.  When I have the craving for one, this does the trick!

Ingredients:

4 oz. unsweetened almond milk
2 drops peppermint extract
6 coffee ice cubes
1 scoop chocolate Shakeology

(coffee ice cubes is just coffee frozen in an ice cube tray.)

Place all ingredients in blender and serve.  Yummy!

My Love Affair With Coffee

Coffee and I never really were a thing until my early 20s.  I never quite acquired the taste for it.  (Now i realize I never really had great coffee!)  Coffee was always a social thing and I always refused, never realizing the implications of that to the hostess until my sweet hubby pointed it out one day.  So, my journey began!

I could drink it on social occasions as long as it was drenched in cream and sugar!  Had to drown out that taste!  Then over time and lifestyle changes,  I became familiar with a home delivery service called Gevalia!  What a deal!  They sent you a free coffee pot and everything!  This habit continued for several years until I had an entire freezer full of Gevalia and realized it was time to shut that down as they sent more than we could ever possibly drink.

It was through that process that I realized I really did like to have a cup of coffee.  (A cup.  I was never a several cup or pot kind of girl.)  I started having a cup after dinner (No it doesn't keep me up.  I can drink coffee at midnight and fall fast asleep.)  I loved it with desert after an amazing meal.

Then came along the Keurig!  What a deal that was for someone like me that only wanted one cup!  It was perfection.  And then the variety was off the charts!  I could drink a different kind of coffee every day!  Until the machine suddenly quit.   I repeated this process 3 times with 3 different machines over a couple of years, always ending up with the same result.

Enter Starbucks Verismo!  The first machine I bought I had to promptly return as it would not work but my second machine was just fine.  Although the machine is still working, it will only use Starbucks coffee and unfortunately even the blonde is WAY too strong for me!

While shopping in Williams-Sonoma recently, the sweet ladies entertained my hubby with crepes and a fresh cup of coffee.  He loved it and of course called me over the check it out!  I was instantly in love when I saw the milk frother!  What an amazing idea that was!  I had a cup as well and knew this was exactly what I had been searching for all these years.

Below is a picture of my newest treasure! I HIGHLY recommend it!  The coffee is phenomenal.