Tasty Tuesday #2

 How to French Press and Two Vegan Latte Recipes

Wow, I can't believe that I'm officially starting week #2 of my blog!

I am so happy with keeping up so far and I'm super excited to continue on through the entire year.

I especially can't wait to get super efficient and be, like, two weeks ahead in blog time and not just one day ahead like I am right now...

Actually not even that considering I did this entire blog this morning!

But it's okay because I needed some ~coffee~ this morning...

So for today's Tasty Tuesday I will show you how to French Press coffee and how to make yourself some delicious vegan beverages~

First you must gather up your supplies:

A finely ground espresso and some sugar-free syrups

(Of course you can always use a less strong coffee and full-sugar syrups, heck, use whatever you want, I don't care! You can make tea in a French Press, man!)

A kettle to boil water in and a clean French Press~


Begin by measuring scoops of coffee into your French Press carafe.

I do a slightly heaping scoop for maximum flavor but a more level scoop would be better.
A scoop is good for ~1 cup of coffee or 6oz-8oz of water.


Once your water is boiled, let it cool for a moment, you don't want your water too hot.

I like to measure my water out 1 cup at time to allow time for water cooling and to keep track of how many cups I'm making.

Let the coffee steep for ~4 minutes.
Longer for stronger and eventually bitter, and shorter for weak and flavorless coffee.

I like to set the lid with the plunger up on top of the carafe to help keep the heat in.

When done steeping remove lid and stir the coffee gently.

I used a wooden spoon to avoid "harming" the granules and ~flavoroids~.


Next is the cool part~

Very slowly, while holding the lid in place, press the plunger down.
(Never ever rush or slam the plunger down because you risk splash back with some very hot water.)
You may feel resistance, this is normal. Like in my photo above, I got about halfway and could not go much further, so I took a photo, let it rest for a moment, and then pressed it the rest of the way down.

And tah dah!
Oh my glob you just made the most delicious coffee you've ever had!!!!! ~ヽ(⌒∇⌒✿)ﾉ



(PS make sure you pour all your coffee into mugs because it will become bitter sitting in the grinds.

And save your grinds in something airtight (preferably with less liquid than mine ^) because I have a DIY using them on Thursday~)



~ ~ ~ ~ ~

But wait! We're not done yet!
Here comes the best part~

I'm going to give you two drink recipes ~simultaneously~



A dark chocolate latte and a vanilla-caramel latte~

First thing you must do is put your sweetener in your empty mug.

(I know you're jealous of my Foothill Transit mug~)

For the dark chocolate latte I used two packets of Sugar in the Raw and for the vanilla-caramel latte I used ~1/2 tbsp of each of the syrups, maybe a liiiittle bit more of the caramel...

Then pour your still hot, freshly French pressed espresso into your mug. Stir to dissolve/mix.

I usually fill the mug ~1/2-3/4 of the way up.

Next is the tricky part, almond milk can be a little finicky so I like to pull my milk out of the fridge as I'm prepping to French Press so that it can warm slightly.

Then with one hand stir your coffee + sweetener mix and with the other slooowly pour in almond milk.

Keep pouring until desired shade of brown~

Left is the dark chocolate latte and the right is the vanilla-caramel latte~

And oh man they were sooo gooood that I drank both mugs to myself (◡‿◡✿)~



If you make yourself some coffee or lattes I'd love to hear about it in the comments!

April

It's the first of April and it's an absolutely beautiful spring day!

And it has me super inspired to start things off with a fresh start~

First off, a new blog!

I know, I've had a thousand and one blogs but this is it, if I don't keep up with this one, I'm done, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep up with this one~ (:

Along with starting a new blog I'm going to be changing some other things in my life as well:

• I am going to exercise daily
• I am going full vegetarian and not just lame pescetarian (because I really ultimately want to go vegan)
• I am going to take more pictures and do more for my photography (like get business cards and network)
• get my to-do list at least 50% done! (there’s seriously like 30 things on this list so I hope I can get shit done)
• save and make as much money as possible any way possible
• stop slacking and being lazy and anything negative like that. only positive productivity with maximum motivation~*

And to get things started off on the healthy, motivated foot, here is the smoothie I made this morning.

There is an orange pictured but I didn't end up using it... Haha.

Bu there's vanilla almond milk, spinach, a frozen banana, frozen strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries. It came out a really cool purple color and it didn't even taste bad! Haha, especially since I was just throwing stuff in the blender that sounded healthy. But whatever, now I have my servings of fruit, a serving of veggies, and my calcium for the day~

Well, it's already 1:15pm and I still have to clean my room, exercise, and then get ready for the Ariya show that I'm taking photos at tonight!

I hope you all enjoy your day and April!

See you soon~*

Jacqueline Zebraskiin