Gingerbread Not-a-Latte: Nutrient Dense Yumminess!

Gingerbread Not-a-Latte

This recipe came to me during the chaos of holiday over-indulgence. Now, there was a time where I could handle having a few days or even a few weeks of indulgence without a problem, or rather, without noticing a problem. Once you’ve gone to clean eating however, your body starts to run like a well-oiled machine and when you start to neglect it, well, the effects are pretty obvious. I always considered myself a fairly healthy eater. I mean, I wasn’t much of a salad eater, but I followed the hottest trends: low carb, low fat, ditch the butter.. (gasp! I know! Don’t judge me!)

It wasn’t until I was pregnant with my first child that I started focusing more on nutrients rather than weight management. And it wasn’t until my 2nd child started having skin and gut issues that I really delved deeper into nutrient dense foods. We actually credit her for saving us all and improving the health of the entire family because I was determined to not make her feel so alone in her allergies and thus we all changed our habits. So, eating nutrient dense foods with minimal processed sugar had become our norm. My 5 year old heard us talking about Oreo Cookies the other day and actually asked us what we were talking about! That puts things in perspective. And no, my kids are not deprived, I’ve just become a sort of mad scientist in the kitchen, finding ways to create nutrient dense treats, without processed sugar and junk, that happen to taste decadent!

I have to tell you, I’m one of those strange people who likes to read cookbooks. Well, I used to stay up at night with a good cookbook before the internet became so full of wonderful recipes and food bloggers. Now I stay up and read recipes online. However, I rarely actually try them out, at least, not as they’re written. You see, when you have a kid that can’t have gluten, most grains, eggs, dairy, nuts other than almonds, soy, corn, carrots, cherries, sunflower seeds, stone fruits and more, well, there just aren’t a lot of food bloggers that can deliver with that many restrictions. So, nearly every recipe I ever try I have to tweak in a pretty major way. So, I’m a bit of a recipe idea hoarder. I save up all these ideas and then all of a sudden, one day, a need arises for a particular food item and I go, “Ooh! I read something about that!” By this time, of course the original post is far from my mind, but the little zingers that caught my eye in the first place are still there.

I also have this lovely habit of hearing of a new interesting ingredient and hopping right over to Amazon to order it, only for it to arrive a few days later and I have absolutely no recollection of what recipe I intended to use said ingredient in. That was the case here. I received a bag of lucuma powder. Hmmm… I still don’t know what my original intention was for it, but after reading up I decided it would go into my cozy warm drink aka cocoa replacement. See, with the holidays at hand, the kids were craving hot cocoa and I was craving flavored lattes, so I came up with the Gingerbread Not-a-Latte!

Lucuma powder is said to have a sweetness that is reminiscent of a cross between caramel and a sweet potato, while being low on the glycemic scale. It also happens to be an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory while being rich in vitamins and minerals. So, I decided to raid my pantry for any other nutrient dense goodies that I could add to the mix and came up with the following spread.

Cacao butter: a healthy fat that raises serotonin and dopamine and is a good source of magnesium

Raw Cacao Powder: 40x the antioxidants in blueberries and a good source of magnesium, iron, calcium and more

Cassava flour: Resistant starch – prebiotic – rich in minerals and fiber

Grassfed Butter: Higher in nutrients than regular butter, specifically fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins

Coconut oil: High in natural saturated fats (Yes, this is a good thing!)

Molasses: Good source of vitamins and minerals such iron, calcium, magnesium & B6

Grass fed Hydrolyzed Gelatin Powder: Beyond the benefits of collagen (skin and bone health) it has powerful gut-healing properties

Turmeric: Source of Curcumin which is anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant

So, with all these ingredients, I added some organic spices and a dash of celtic sea salt and made my Gingerbread Not-a-Latte base. Then I was able to add almond milk for 2 kids, grass fed raw A2 milk for the other two, Maca powder and milk for mine and Swiss water processed decaf for the hubby. This recipe is so substitute-friendly. If you’re missing an ingredient, change it up and go with what you have! This drink is a part of my morning 3-5 days a week. It is actually pretty filling so I find myself eating a bit less at breakfast and it’s just part of my own self-care, to take some time to sip on something soothing and nutrient dense that also happens to be yummy. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Gingerbread Not-a-Latte Base
Makes enough for 4 large mugs or 6-8 smaller mugs (Remember to fill mugs halfway and add your milk, coffee or water)
-2 cups Hot Water
1 oz Raw Cacao Butter
2 Tbsp Raw Cacao Powder
2 T Cassava Flour
1.5 oz Dates (6-8 dates)
2 Tbsp Grassfed Butter
2 Tbsp Organic Unsulphured Molasses
2 Tbsp Lucuma Powder
4 Tbsp Grass Fed Hydrolyzed Gelatin
1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract
¼ tsp Wild Vanilla Powder (optional but adds depth)
Pinch Celtic Sea Salt (We like our salt, so I probably add a couple pinches)
1 tsp Cinnamon
¼ tsp Ground Ginger
1/8 tsp Ground Clove
¼ tsp Ground Turmeric
2 cups milk of choice (We use almond for the base because it’s what we can all tolerate.)

Instructions:

1. Place all ingredients into a high-powered blender. If you have a Hot Soup setting, use that. Otherwise, just start on low and gradually turn it up to high for a minute or two or until it is to your liking in terms of frothiness and heat.*

2. Pour the base into the mugs about half way up and then let your tastebuds be your guide. Top off your mug with your milk of choice, or add coffee. This is sweet enough for me and my kids, but when my husband adds coffee, he likes a splash of maple syrup or bit of coconut sugar added.

• I love my Vita-mix because while I do heat the water, I usually don’t heat the milk as the high speed of the blender continues to heat the contents. (If you have a less powerful mixer you might want to heat your milk a bit.) The Vita-mix also produces a lovely foam. If that’s your thing. The kids and I love it, while hubby isn’t much of a fan, but once I get a good dose of coffee into his mug and stir in some syrup, the foam is barely noticeable.