Latte Coffee 2

中文： 拿铁咖啡

Both my husband and I like to enjoy a cup of good coffee from time to time.  Sometimes we go to local coffee shops, and sometimes I make the coffee for us.  They may not be as good as the ones in store, but we have so much fun making and drinking them together. O(∩_∩)O~

Latte coffee is one portion of espresso, one portion of steamed milk plus another portion of frothed milk.  You can make them look good by pouring frothed milk into espresso or by creating artistic patterns with chocolate sauce or caramel sauce.  Both of them are available in store, but I like to make my own from scratch. 

For chocolate sauce:

1 single shot espresso
1 to 2 tablespoon sugar
coco powder

Make one single shot espresso (I use this machine from AMAZON); stir in sugar and coco powder when it is still hot.  Set aside to cool down.  I didn’t write down how much coco powder is needed here because espresso shots are different from machine to machine.  Just keep stirring in coco powder until the espresso thickens like syrup. 

My favorite coffee is latte with caramel sauce on top.

For caramel sauce：

1/2 cup of packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons butter

Directions：

Combine brown sugar and water in a pot; heat over medium heat.  Stir from time to time.  I add water to make sugar melt fast and evenly.  After all the water evaporates, the syrup will turn amber color.  Add butter.  When butter hits hot syrup, it may splatter.  Be careful not to burn yourself.

After the butter melts into syrup, keep cooking for another couple minutes until the syrup becomes dark amber color.  Add heavy cream while stirring.  It is going to splatter more vigorously, so please be extra careful.

Cook caramel sauce for another 30 seconds to 1 minute.  Remove from heat.  When it cools down, you can bottle the syrup.  It is good to go onto coffee, ice cream, cake, cookies or any dessert of your choice.

As for me, I like to top my latte coffee with caramel sauce.  It is indeed heavenly. 

Mixed Berry Smoothie

中文：草莓水果冰沙

I don’t usually make fruit smoothies because they are always too sweet for my taste.  But I like to stock up all kinds of berries to make mixed berry smoothies.  They are refreshing, nutritious, and packed with vitamins and great berry flavor.  O(∩_∩)O~ 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 to 2 pounds strawberries
1/2  cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup frozen raspberries
1/4 cup frozen blackberries
1/2  frozen banana
1/3 to 1/2  cup apple juice /water

Remove strawberry calyx, cut into quarters.  Add strawberries into the vitamix (AMAZON this one), along with blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and banana.

Add apple juice / water, and cover with the lid. 

Turn on Vitamix (Amazon linl).  Gradually increase speed from 1 to 8 or 9, and then switch to high. Blend for another 30 to 45 seconds. You might need to use the temper to push fruits down. 

Deep Green Smoothie

中文：绿色蔬菜水果沙冰

My husband always says March is the most depressing month in Michigan, because everywhere else is warm and flowers are starting to bloom but Michigan’s winter shows no sign of leaving.  I can’t agree more. O(∩_∩)O~

I can’t do anything about that, but I can eat more fresh vegetable and fruits! Deep green smoothies have been a breakfast stable.  They are healthy and nutritious, and more importantly, they are quick and fast too!

I always keep deep green mix in the refrigerator. 

Ingredients：

1 pack green mix (5 oz)
1 grapefruit
1 orange
1/2 banana
1/4 cup crushed ice

Directions:

Peel the grapefruit, orange and banana, and cut into bite sizes.  Add to VITAMIX (Amazon link) container.  

And then add crushed ice and vegetable mix. 

Turn on Vitamix.  Gradually increase speed from 1 to 8 or 9, and then switch to high. Blend for another 20 to 30 seconds. You might need to use the temper to push vegetable down. 

Here you go, healthy and delicious in a bottle! O(∩_∩)O~

Latte Coffee with a Pinch of Coco Powder

中文菜谱：拿铁咖啡

We now drink mostly black coffee.  Occasionally I make latte or cappuccino coffee.

Coffee: steamed milk: foamed milk is about 1:1:2.  I posted before how to make espresso here:

The coffee is creamy and smooth. I add a pinch of coco powder on the top. 

Americano Coffee

中文菜谱： 美式咖啡

Both my husband and I enjoy a couple cups of coffee together every day.  We drink decaf.  But good decaf coffee beans are really hard to find.  To my surprise, we found a good one during a visit trip to my sister and brother-in-law in Colorado.   They introduced us to a local organic store coffee.  It tastes good. So we left Colorado with six bags of these organic decaf coffee beans in my carry-on luggage. 

About two months later, they are almost all gone.  So my sister sent me more coffee beans, along with two pounds of black lentil beans we use to make lentil sprouts.  (It is posted before here: http://www.yankitchen.com/english-blog/lentilsproutssalad)

Coffee time!

I didn't realize I misplaced the bottom stainless steel board until we finished our coffee。。。。。This machine has excellent reviews in amazon, see here.

My husband is making coffee, so I have all the time to take pictures.

Love the crema.

We are not that into espresso.   So we add hot water to make our favorite Americano coffee. 

It does smell and taste really good.