DIY Diet-Friendly Hot Winter/Holiday Drinks

sashab4

I don't know about you guys but the hardest thing I had to give up for my diet was my favorite Starbucks drink: Chai Tea Latte.

It's loaded with sugar and even if you get it with skim milk it's still 200 for 16 ounces. I'm a sucker for all those kinds of holiday/winter drinks that many stores are now carrying so I came up with a few of my own recipes that save me money and calories. These recipes range between 60-100 calories!!

Pumpkin Spice Latte
Ingredients:
1 shot espresso (1/4 cup water)
½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice mix (make sure there is no sugar in this)
1 tablespoon canned unsweetened pumpkin (this is optional)
1.5 tablespoon vanilla syrup
8 ounces steamed milk

Directions:
Brew espresso and mix in vanilla syrup, pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice mix. Heat and froth milk and pour into mug. Enjoy hot or cold over ice. (If you make this iced I would recommend leaving out the pumpkin as it won’t dissolve as well into the drink if it’s cold.)
Calories: 100 (90 if you exclude the canned pumpkin)

Chai Tea Latte
Ingredients:
1 black tea bag
½ teaspoon pumpkin pie mix plus a dash of ground cloves
6 ounces water
6 ounces skim milk
1 tablespoon sugar-free vanilla syrup

Directions:
Boil 8 ounces water. Open black tea bag and in a small bowl combine the tea leaves and the spices. Take a coffee filter and place the combined ingredients inside the filter as if you were going to brew coffee. Pour the boiling water into the filter. Take the water that you poured through the filter and pour it through the same filter again. Add the syrup. Heat and froth the milk and pour over the tea. Enjoy hot or cold over ice. You can also add a shot of espresso to make a dirty chai latte or use decaf tea for a pre-bed treat.
Calories: 60

Gingerbread Latte
For this recipe you will need to prepare sugar-free ginger syrup
Ingredients:
2 cups water
30 Splenda packets (or 1 ½ cup sugar)
2 ½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 shot espresso (1/4 cup water)
8 ounces skim milk

Directions:
Combine water, Splenda, ground ginger, ground cinnamon and vanilla extract in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and allow ingredients to simmer for 15 minutes uncovered. Remove from fire and once it cools down pour syrup into glass bottle.

Brew ¼ cup of espresso and add ¼ cup gingerbread syrup. Heat and froth the milk and pour into mug. You can also enjoy this cold over ice.
Calories: 90

Caramel Brulée Latte
Ingredients:
1 shot espresso (1/4 cup water)
1 tablespoon sugar-free vanilla syrup
2 tablespoons sugar-free caramel ice cream topping (or any sugar-free caramel sauce)
8 ounces skim milk

Directions:
Pour 1 tablespoon caramel topping at bottom of mug. Brew espresso and add vanilla syrup to the mug. Heat and froth the milk and add to mug. Pour the remaining caramel topping over drink and serve hot or cold over ice.
Calories: 90

Mocha Latte
(You can make this Peppermint Mocha if you add a few drops of peppermint extract)
Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon Cocoa Powder
1 Splenda packet
1 shot of espresso (1/4 cup water)
8 ounces skim milk
Calories: 100 (depending on how many calories in the cocoa powder you use)

Directions:
Brew the espresso and add the cocoa powder and splenda. Heat and froth the milk (if you don't have a frother, take a whisk, place into milk and quickly turn it between your palms - this should create a small amount of foam.)

Let me know if anyone would like some more diet-friendly drink recipes.

Enjoy!