Starbucks Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino

Here is quick and yummy copycat Starbucks Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino. This will surely quench your thirst and cool you down. I hope you will enjoy it as much as we did.
Ingredient:
 2 Tbsp Hot Water
1 to 2 Tbsp Instant Coffee
 1 to 2 Tbsp Sugar
(Mix all of the above ingredients together in a bowl and let dissolve)
 1 Cup Milk (any variety)
 2 Cups Ice (more or less depending on how frothy you like it)
 1/4 Cup Chocolate Syrup
 1/2 Cup Chocolate Chips
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
Method:
Put everything in a blender and blend away .Serve with whipped Cream ,chocolate sprinkles/ chocolate syrup.

Italian Cream Soda with Homemade Syrup

I typically go for Italian soda when we dine Italian. I had been thinking of recreating it for some time now.
With the thermometer showing the north of 90s on many days, now was a good time to try this out. The best thing about this is that since we are using home made syrup, it tastes way better than the restaurant ones. You also can control your calorie intake by reducing the sugar content in the syrup or by substituting cream with whole milk and still have an awesome drink.
Recipe adapted from: Curly girl Kitchen
Homemade Berry Syrup
Ingredients:
1 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups berries ( Any berry would do)
Method:
Combine the water and sugar in a medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil over high heat and stir to dissolve the sugar.  Add the berries, return to a boil, then reduce to medium heat.  Boil for 10 minutes.  Reduce to low and simmer for 10 more minutes.
Remove from the heat; pour through a mesh strainer, pressing the fruit with the back of a spoon to extract all the liquid.  Store in the refrigerator in a glass jar until chilled and ready to use. Yields 1 and 1/2 cups syrup

Italian Cream Sodas
Ingredients:
Ice
1-2 tablespoons syrup
Club soda
Splash of cream, half 'n' half or whole milk
Method:
Fill a tall glass halfway full of  ice.  Pour the syrup over the ice,add more if you like it sweet.  Add the club soda, filling an inch from  the top of the glass.  Add the cream . Enjoy

Strawberry Lassi

Is a popular and traditional yogurt-based drink which originates in the Punjab region of India. It is a cool, refreshing and healthy  "pick me up" drink perfect for any time of day. Lassi is flavored with sugar, mango, strawberry or other fruit juices
Ingredients:
 10 ripe strawberries, rinsed
 2 tbs sugar
 1/4 cup whole milk
 1 cup  yogurt
 3 ice cubes(optional if using frozen strawberries)
Method:
Blend everything together in a blender. Serve in a tall glass topped with additional strawberry slices if desired.

Homemade Shamrock Shake

Today being Sunday and it being the St.Patrick's day, I thought of making all things green. We had green eggs for breakfast, spinach rice for lunch and I made this Shamrock Shake as a dessert/drink. Shamrock Shake is a seasonal drink that McDonald's introduced to celebrate St.Patrick's Day. I have never tasted the real one but Aishwarya had and she thinks this is very close to the real one,though mintier and yummier by her standards.
Happy St.Patrick's Day!
Recipe source:Cupcakes & Cashmere
Ingredients:
Shake 
3 cups vanilla ice cream
1½ cups whole milk
½ teaspoon mint extract
Green food coloring
Salt a pinch

Whipped Cream
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method
 In a large bowl, beat cream until medium peaks form. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth.Set this aside.Or you can skip this and use a store bought whipped cream.
 In a blender, combine all shake ingredients and process until thick and fully incorporated. Pour into glasses .Top with whipped cream, and garnish with mint sprigs.

Holiday Ginger Drink

Holiday Ginger Drink is a non-alcoholic, spicy-sweet and sour drink perfect for the cold climate. This is an ideal substitute for alcoholic beverages that can be served at parties for kids and teetotalers. As prepared, this is of syrupy consistency. Some may like to have it as it is, but I prefer adding an equal amount of water or soda.
(This is Jay posting Vidhya's Ginger Drink recipe on her behalf - she is still out sick. Any queries, wait for her to be back in action)
Ingredients:
Ginger chopped fine- 250 gms
Sugar- 750 gms
Water- 2 1/4 litres
Dry Red chillies- 3-4
6 limes (extract the juice)
Method:
Peel and wash the ginger and cut into thin slices. Make lime juice and keep aside. Put all the above ingredients together with the water and bring to boil. Boil for at least 15 minutes  first on high then on low heat till it is  slightly thick. Let cool. Strain the mixture and add the lime juice. Now bottle it and use as required. I love adding equal amount of soda and having it to wash down a rich meal.

Watermelon Agua Fresca

The last few days had been scorching hot in the bay area. For a hot summer what better thirst quencher than some freshly made watermelon juice. Add some lime juice and fresh mint to it and you will get a heavenly drink. Agua Fresca are non-coholic, Mexican blended beverages made with a variety of fruits and other  ingredients. I first came across this in the menu of the Mexican place that we frequent and was curious to know what it was. Once I tried it, I knew this is something I can make at home.

Ingredients
4cups of  seedless watermelon  cubed
1/2 cup  water
Sugar/honey to taste
2-3 tbsp of fresh lime juice
15 mint leaves
Method:
Puree the watermelon and water in a blender until smooth. Add sugar to taste. Add mint leaves and lemon juice and pulse the blender once more.Seive this to remove the pulp.Pour this into seving glass and fill each glass with ice and stir before serving.

Spiced Herbal Tea

For this Blog Hop Wednesday by Radhika I was paired with Anisha of Flavours the vegan way.I had planned a few recipes to try from her space but when I showed Jai the recipes this is what he wanted me to try. I think his decision was influenced by the cold he had.He loved it and said he felt better and Aishwarya and I, though fine enjoyed it as well.This was so much like the traditional Chukku kappi which is a dried ginger and herbal tea but with a twist.Thank you Anisha for introducing me to this tea.
Recipe Source:Flavours the vegan way
Ingredients :
500ml Water
1tsp Pepper corns
1tsp Cumin seeds
1 inch piece of Cinnamon
10-12 Mint leaves
10-12 Holy basil
1 leaf of Lemon Grass(I didn't add this as I didn't have this)
1/2 inch Ginger
Lemon juice to taste
Honey to taste

Method:
Crush the cinnamon, pepper corns and cumin seeds using a mortar and pestle. Crush or bruise the herbs and ginger.Add the herbs and spices to water in the tea pot and microwave it for 4 minutes. You can use stove top to boil the herbs in water, it's just faster in the microwave. Strain it. Add lemon juice and honey to your taste.

Root Beer Float

This is an ice cream soda made with root beer and vanilla ice-cream. Don't mistake it for an alcoholic drink, though. The first time I heard about this was when Aishwarya was in kinder-garten. She came home one day saying that we had a Beer float today at the class party and that it was "yum". I was taken aback initially, but with a little bit of help from Google, realized that it had nothing to do with "Beer".Root beer is a carbonated, sweetened beverage, originally made using the root of a sassafras plant (or the bark of a sassafras tree) as the primary flavor.
It is basically an ice cream soda -you can substitute Root Beer with any of the other sodas - if you use coke, it would be a coke-float. Chocolate ice cream is a delicious alternative to vanilla. Then this would be called a "Brown Cow Float". Sprinkle chocolate or add a bit of whipped cream for extra flavor! It is a great drink for the summer days, that kids would love to have.
Celebrating 4th of July with an All American Drink!
Happy Independence Day!

Ingredients:

Vanilla ice cream
Root beer
Method:
Add a  scoop or two of vanilla ice cream into a tall glass. Slowly pour root beer into the glass, allowing the foam to rise and then recede before adding more root beer.
Serve with straws and spoons.

Snow Cone

With days getting warmer and warmer, all of us were craving for something cold. I thought of making some homemade snow cones to give ice creams and smoothies a break (less calories you know). Adding condensed milk adds a different twist to the conventional way of making it.
Ingredients:
 Crushed/shaved ice
 Condensed milk
 Rose syrup/Fruit syrup
 Method:
 Put the crushed ice in a cup or glass and drizzle syrup and condensed milk over ice to your liking. Serve.

Milk Soda

This is a simple recipe for the summer months. I first heard of this from a friend of mine. This offers immense possibilities of experimentation with whatever flavor of soda or milk as you like. You could either go with plain soda and flavored milk or vice versa - or go crazy with flavored varieties of both.

Ingredients:
Chilled Soda - 1/2 glass (I used ginger ale)
Chilled Milk - 1/2 glass (I used plain, whole milk)

Method:
Pour soda slowly into the milk (never pour milk to soda as it will curdle the milk). Mix it well. Voila!
Your milk-soda is ready.

Mango Lassi

The last couple of days had turned out to be so very hot in the SF Bay area where I live. Although the summer is yet to be in officially, it almost felt like mid-summer. We all switched in to summer clothing and yet the body was yearning to be cooled. What else can cool the body better than a classical mango lassi !
Lassi is a yogurt based drink popular in India and can be made in different flavors. If you haven't tried this yet, this is a must try - you sure would come back for more.

Ingredients
2 cups ripe mangoes, peeled and sliced or 2 cups sweetened kesar mango pulp (you can get tinned ones at the Indian grocery stores)
1and 1/2 cups plain yogurt
1/2 cup milk
4 tablespoons sugar or to taste(adding sugar is not neccessary if you are using mango pulp)
Method:
Blend all the ingredients together in a blender to a smooth puree. Serve with a dollop of vanilla icecream if its extremely hot or have it as it is.
It is best if all the ingredients are pre-cooled, rather than adding ice cubes while blending it. Adding ice cubes would dilute the lassi and though many use this method, I prefer the thicker consistency. If I need it colder, I would just add some ice-cream on top.

Sweet Cinnamon Flavored Oatmeal Drink

This recipe is a great alternative to the original rice horchata which take hours to make. Though it may not be authentic … it tastes great.
Recipe Source: Food Network
Ingredients
1 cup rolled oats
1 (4-inch) cinnamon stick, broken into tiny pieces
4 cups water
Sugar or agave nectar, as needed
Method:
In a large pitcher, soak the oats, cinnamon and water for a minimum of 30 minutes. Blend the mixture (including the cinnamon) in a blender. Strain and sweeten with sugar or agave, to taste. Serve well-chilled or over ice.

Hot Cranberry Drink

We had a mild winter until last week. But now the temperatures have dropped down and it has become windy and rainy.  What this means is that, no one at home, including me, doesn't like to have our daily fruits. Even the fluid intake has gone down drastically  from a minimum of 8 cups to barely 5 cups or so. I  was searching for a drink that is warm and has fruit in it and here it was.. An ideal drink for those cold and wet days. Also, it being loaded with the goodness of vitamin C and warm spices, would be a good cold remedy too.
Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com
Ingredients
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
6 cups water, divided
1 cup sugar
3 (3 inch) cinnamon sticks
7 whole cloves
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Method:
In a large saucepan, bring cranberries and 2 cups water to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer for 5-7 minutes or until berries pop. Stir in  sugar, cinnamon and cloves, return to a boil.Simmer till the sugar is dissoloved for about 5 minutes. Strain; discard pulp ,cloves and cinnamon sticks.Add orange,lemon juices and rest of the water  heat though. Serve hot.

Carrot Cream

My daughter loves carrots and this is something that I make often to cheer my bunny up. This recipe is courtesy to my Mom who believes carrots are the King of vegetables. My daughter Aishwarya made this painting and since I used it as a prop in the photograph, she wants credit for that :-)
Ingredients:
Carrot diced-2 cups
Whole Milk-3cups
Sugar-3/4 cup or as required
Cardamom- 1tsp
Cashew-2 tbs
Method:
Pressure cook carrots with one cup milk and sugar till well done. Now Puree the carrots in a blender and add the remaining milk and bring it to a boil. Remove when the consistency of the drink is that of a smoothie Add cardamom powder and refrigerate till cold. Before serving garnish this with ghee roasted or dry roasted cashew.

Pineapple Frappe

This is a refreshing cold drink ideal for the summer. As all the ingredients are readily available during the summer months, making this is a breeze. I typically would have vanilla ice cream in my refrigerator most of the time and whenever I want to give my daughter a special "treat" in place of her regular milk, this is something I whip up.

Ingredients:
Pineapple cubed - 1 cup
Vanilla ice cream - 1 cup
Cold Milk - 1/2 cup

Method:
Blend all the above ingredients together to a fine, smooth consistency. If you prefer it thinner, add more milk. If you need it a little more sweet, add sugar to taste.

Falooda

This is my version of Falooda that my Mom used to make, which I have altered to my taste and convenience.This is one of Aishwarya's favorite dessert as it has all her favorite things and is also pink which makes it more a girly drink I guess.So here is a pink drink/dessert for all the girls out there and for those gents who doesn't mind a dessert that is pink as long as its tasty.
Ingredients:
Condensed milk-1/4 cup
Milk-1/2 cup
Low fat milk/water-1 cup
Rose syrup-1tbs
Falooda sev -1 - 2oz
Falooda seeds( tukmaria seeds) -1/2 tsp
Icecream-1/2 cup
Jelly(jello)-1 tbs
Note:All the ingredients should be cold.
Method:
Soak the Tukmaria Seeds in water for at least 1 hour.Cook  the noodles/sev in water for as per the instruction.Mix all the milks together and to it add the rose syrup.Take the serving glass and add the jelly and drained cooked sev and soaked seeds to it ,top it with icecream and top it with the milk mix and enjoy.

Papaya Smoothie

This is one smoothie that will be loved by both papaya lovers as well as non lovers. Its also easy and tasty what more reason do a person need to try this out.
Ingredients:
Ripe Papaya-1 cups
Cold Milk -2 cup(or substitute it with vanilla icecream)
Brown sugar -3 tbs or to taste
Vanilla essence- 1tsp
Method:
Blend all together in a blender till smooth and silky.Your Papaya smoothie is ready.

MAITRI! Strawberry Banana Friendship Smoothie

When Priya and Rashmi, the brains behind the MAITRI movement asked if I would be interested in joining this friendship chain of food bloggers, I didn't think twice before answering yes.

 So when I got my mystery friend, Divya's parcel with the mystery ingredient I was all excited to find out what it was. Along with the secret ingredient, Divya had also sent me a cute Wilton Bunny cookie cutter along with a sweet little card! Thank you, Divya for the lovely gifts and the wonderful card!

I could make out that the mystery ingredient was flaxseed meal, though I never used it in my cooking before. Thanks to MAITRI for expanding my cooking horizon!

Ingredients:
1  banana
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 teaspoons flax seed meal
1 1/2 teaspoons honey
1 cup Strawberries, sliced
Method:
Cut banana into small pieces and place into the blender. Add the  milk, flax seed meal, and honey. Blend on lowest speed until smooth, for about 5 seconds. Gradually add the strawberries while continuing to blend on low. Once the strawberries have been incorporated, increase speed, and blend to desired consistency.Serve with a scoop of frozen vanilla yogurt or whipped cream.
Sending this over to  Saffronstreaks seasonal indulgence – series summer coolers event and Ticklingpalates  Fun N Sun event

Mexican Rice & Almond drink

This as the name suggests is a Mexican  drink made of rice, almonds, cinnamon, cloves and sugar.Even though the drink has a milky appearance it is completely dairy-free.I had tried instant Mexican drinks that you just have to mix in water but the real one tasted so much more better and refreshing.
Ingredients
6 tablespoons rice
6 ounces (about 1 1/4 cups) blanched almonds
1 inch cinnamon stick
5 cloves
1 cup white granulated sugar

Method:
Combine the rice with the almonds, cinnamon and cloves. Stir in 2 1/4 cups hot water then cover and let the mixture stand overnight (minimally 6 hours).

Place the mixture in the blender jar and blend for at least 3 - 5 minutes until the mixture is smooth . Add 2 cups of water and blend again for just a few seconds.  Place a large sieve over a mixing bowl.  Line the sieve with 3 layers of damp cheesecloth.  Pour in the rice mixture, a little at a time and keep stirring to help the mixture go through the sieve.  Once all the liquid has passed gather the cloth together at the top, give it a twist and squeeze out any additional liquid.

Now add 2 more cups of water and stir in as much sugar as you'd like, to taste. If the mixture is too thick, add some additional water

Bubble Tea

My daughter wanted bubble tea when we went to our local Asian store.But as it was almost closing time, they were out of their bubble tea stock.I had a very disappointed girl who was almost in tears; so I promised her that I would make her the bubble tea myself.I recreated it based on what I remembered it to taste.As per my tasters my bubble tea tasted better than the store bought one.My secret ingredient was love ;) 

Ingredients:

Evaporated milk-1 can

Sugar-6 tbs

Tapioca pearls-1/4th cup 

Tea bags-4

Method:

Caramelize 3 tablespoons of sugar. Add 1 1/2 cups of water to the caramel, add the tapioca pearls to it and cook for 3 minutes.Turn the fire off and keep it covered for 45 minutes.Meanwhile, heat the evaporated milk with 1 cup of water and when it starts to boil turn off the fire and add the sugar and tea bags. Remove tea bags after a few minutes and refrigerate the tea. After 45 minutes check on the tapioca pearls; they would be almost translucent. Add to it 1 more cup of hot water and boil this for 2 more minutes, take it off the fire and close it with a lid.The pearls would be ready in 10 minutes. Now refrigerate this till it is cool enough.When you are in a mood to have bubble tea take 4 tbs of tapioca pearls in a tall glass and fill it with the cold tea made earlier. Add a cube or more of ice and stir.Your bubble tea is ready to sip.