After a crock pot fail earlier this week, last night’s successful slow cooker dinner redeemed my love for crock pot cooking.
I made beef stew by following a recipe I found on AllRecipes.com. Though the recipe called for a few veggies, I added a bunch more and chopped up sweet potatoes, green peppers, mushrooms, carrots and an onion to include.
It was veggie-packed and delicious!
Breakfast
Breakfast this morning included a bowl of steel cuts oats prepared on the stovetop with egg whites, half of a banana and pumpkin pie spice. I was a little heavy handed with the carton of egg whites, so the oats were a little fluffier than I meant for them to be, but still quite tasty!
I also made a hot cup of coffee to sip on the side.
Last weekend I bought a small bottle of NuNaturals pure liquid vanilla stevia from Earth Origins in Ocala. One of my girlfriends is in love with this stuff and encouraged me to try it out in my morning coffee. She promised me it was on par with Starbucks vanilla syrup!
While I wouldn’t compare it to Starbucks vanilla syrup, I really liked it a lot! I added a few drops to the bottom of my coffee mug before pouring in Godiva peppermint crème coffee and topping it off with frothy almond milk. It added a touch of sweetness without a weird aftertaste. It’s pretty darn expensive, so I’ll be rationing my use of the stuff, but I liked it!
Question of the Morning
- If you’re a coffee or tea drinker, do you add anything to your coffee or tea?
I like to add vanilla almond milk to my coffee but I prefer my tea without anything in it. Sweet tea gives me the heebie jeebies. Clearly I wasn’t born and raised in Florida because sweet tea is a staple around here!
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I like drinking my coffee with either non-dairy creamer or some almond milk too. I am the same way with tea! I HATE sweet tea. It must have no sweetener it in at all for me to drink it. 🙂
I’m not about adding sweet to my coffee, I keep it pretty simple with warmed soy or almond milk but I really like the NuNaturals for sweetening things like pancakes. YUM!
oh i didn’t even think about adding it to pancakes! do you use the drops, too?
Yep! I don’t have the vanilla ones but I have orange and lemon and made some really tasty lemon blueberry protein pancakes with them awhile back.
Glad your Crock Pot meal was a success!
I enjoy a little Vanilla NuNaturals in my coffee from time to time, but like you said, it’s a little pricey, so I try not to use it all the time. My new favorite thing is some spiced/flavored coffee with a dash of heavy whipping cream in my coffee. It makes it so creamy and wonderful!
I use the Coffemate Natural Bliss.. fewer ingredients than other creamers and no artificial sweeteners. I keep it to a minimum though. I’d love to try a flavored stevia. The pure stevia extract has such a strong aftertaste that I can’t get past.
I usually add milk (3%) or a homemade creamer recipe and somtimes some Starbucks syrup. I try to stay away from it but it makes the coffee so much tastier! There are some really yummy homemade coffee syrup and creamer recipes out there! We just tried a gingerbread syrup… so good.
where do you find 3% milk!? i’ve never heard of it!
Maybe is it called homo milk? I am in Canada, so we might call it something different? It makes coffee so much creamier.
it’s whole milk in the states 🙂
ooooh, I usually drink my coffee black. I’m not a fan of its taste at all, whenever I drink it , it’s for the purpose to keep me (more) awake. grr I like the idea of throwing in vanilla flavour!
I LOVE NuNaturals stevia. I think it’s my favorite stevia brand. They make a cocoa stevia too – but I’ve found the regular plain stuff works great in coffee and then I can add my organic flavored creamer. Also, SweetLeaf makes amazing flavored stevia – like orange, grape, and rootbeer for adding into water or club soda and then chocolate, chocolate raspberry, and english toffee (my fav) that I have at work for putting into my coffee. It’s $12-14 a bottle but it’s strong stuff and you only need a few drops so I find a bottle lasts several months.
Sometimes I add stevia to my herbal tea if I’m in need of something sweet! But plain and simple is the way to go most of the time. Like the sound of the vanilla stevia though!
Hi Julie. This recipe looks very warming and delicious. I love using my slow cooker so I will try this one over the weekend. Just what we need in the UK right now with all the snow we are getting. I actually just returned from my vacation in Orlando about 4 weeks ago. Missing the sunshine so much 🙁 Very jealous of you!! 🙂
i hope you had a blast in orlando!! did you visit the parks?
We did Julie, absolutely love it there. Was our 6th vacation in Orlando and still not got around to seeing alot of the places there. Just read your post about where to go in Orlando other than theme parks and will bear that in mind for our next visit. Love the weather and all you locals are just so pleasant and polite. A breath of fresh air compared to our everyday lives in Manchester UK let me tell you. 🙂
I like coffee-mate but am glad to read in the comments about the natural bliss version, I’m gonna try that and an equal and sometimes if its a bigger cup one Splenda as well. I love coffee and have a keurig one-cup brewer that makes the best coffee ever! As for tea, clearly I wasn’t born in the south either cause to me ‘tea’ is hot and I like mine with cream (if its chai or anything similar) and honey. Thanks for your blog, I’ve really been enjoying it since the beginning of this year!!
I’m lactose intolerant and always on the lookout for yummy non-dairy products, so when I found SO Delicious non-dairy coconut milk creamer I gave it a try. It is AMAZING! I used to use vanilla almond milk, but the french vanilla flavor of this stuff is to die for, and a little goes a long way! I would deffinately reccomend it!
I’m lactose intolerant too, where did you find that?
I’m not lactose intolerant, however I use the So Delicious unsweetenef coconut creamer. It’s so yummy! I’ve only been able to find it at Whole Fooda, but I’m sure if you go to So Delicious’ website, you could find locations near you. I like it because it is low in calories. I used to use fat free half & half, but stopped since it’s most chemicals. I actually have the creamer on my shopping list!
I also like Almond Breeze unsweetened almond coconut milk in my coffee. It adds a nice, light flavor. I’m all about unsweetened coffee, but like my hot tea a little sweet…. Iced is just lemon!
I first saw it at Whole Foods too, but recently found it at one of our local grocery stores called Harris Teeter. I think a lot of grocery stores are starting to carry the So Delicious products now!
I’m taking a break from coffee, but when I do drink it, I use Stevia drops and skim milk, or a flavored creamer as a treat.
I love making beef stew in the crockpot. I can’t believe I haven’t done it yet this winter! Yours looks delish!
As for coffee, I typically just drink it black. I’m boring like that. 🙂
I drink my coffee black! … But I also loooove peppermint mochas so sometimes I’ll mix coffee with hot chocolate and little peppermint extract.
I love both coffee and tea, but coffee is what really starts my morning. I’ll add sweetener (i know, terrible) and some milk – I’m not picky about what type.
I have coffee every morning with a 1/2 cup of almond milk. I use to use splenda but trying to get away from using artificial sweetners.
I’m OBSESSED with coffee and hot tea! I have to add sweetener though.
I drink my coffee black – if it is the unflavored stuff that I usually get. If it is flavored, I add a little sugar to bring out the flavor. I like sweet iced tea, but with hot tea, I can either drink it unsweetened or with milk and honey.
I actually have this random sweetener that I use called Sweet Thing. My mom got me hooked on it and I’ve only been able to find it in ONE place in Wilmington. (The only place in my hometown is a small grocery called Food King.) It makes me feel sassy with my morning cup-a-joe! Schweeeet Thangggg! 😉
I definitely go through stages. Sometimes I add sweetener and sometimes I like them plain. Right now I’m in my plain stage!
If you want to go cheap for a vanilla coffee flavor I will use unsweetened vanilla almond milk, Truvia / Splenda / whatever your poison is for sweet, and plain of vanilla extract! A drop goes a long way! You can also add a little cinnamon to the bottom! When it comes to coffee I have to put a slew of things in it to drink. When it comes to tea I do it plain though! I used to be a total Splenda whore but I have basically cut it out of my life by avoiding coffee and sticking to plain tea!
I don’t like sweet tea either, I usually have that plain, and coffee with milk most days, and milk and sugar on the weekends. I don’t know why, but I like my weekend coffee to taste more special than weekday coffee…to go along with a more special breakfast usually 🙂
The latest issue (February 2013) of Fitness magazine has a whole section of creative crock pot recipes! It’s called “Easy Does It” and it’s way in the back of the issue… you should check it out!
I drink my coffee with almond milk, vanilla or original. Sometimes I crave sweetness so I’ll add some sugar in the raw. The trick I use is to add some cinnamon (sometimes nutmeg) to the coffee grounds for a healthier, and cheaper, way of making flavored coffee. It smells amazing and tastes so good! I’ve only started drinking tea in the past few years; I’ve always been a coffee loyalist. But, I strain green tea with mint and sometimes ginger – drinking that iced is so refreshing too!
I love Stevia! I use the powdered form from Swansons. It lasts forever! I put it in my tea, greek yogurt, baking…so much!
I drink my coffee my black. I started off drinking coffee with sugar and cream, then that faded once I started to cut back on dairy and sugar. Black coffee is the bomb! I <3 it.
I used to add two creams and two splendas, but I’m trying to get away from artificial sweeteners (and sadly, found out the Stevia I used wasn’t pure stevia. Blarg). Lately, I’ve been doing coffee and flavored creamers, but making sure to measure as much as possible. Hopefully, I can wean myself off the stuff and be satisfied with just almond milk or straight cream in my coffee.
And sweet tea is NASTY! Unless it’s sweetened by fruit. Then it’s okay. 🙂
I like to drink black tea with almond or soy milk and coffee with milk and sugar free hazelnut syrup. I think I started drinking milk in tea when my stepdad started to make it for me. He is from england and they have there tea with milk and sugar, I skip the sugar though.
I used to be really big about adding flavored creamer (peppermint!!) to my coffee. Then one day I decided I didn’t want to spend the money on the creamer and now I absolutely love my coffee black. I get turned off by coffee with creamer or sugar in it. Once every few months I will be crazy and get a 7-11 coffee loaded with cream and sugar 🙂
I’m a big coffee drinker but I always use a flavored creamer. I’m trying to back off a bit, but it just makes everything so much better!
Jenn
With Luck
Soy milk is all I add to my coffee and I drink my herbal tea plain.
I love sweet tea, but I gave it up with sugar long ago! Now I use a little Splenda.
i hate coffee and rarely drink tea (but when i do i drink it plain) but i LOVE hot chocolate…does that count?? i put in vanilla creamer and it’s so good. this winter there was a peppermint creamer out that just made it fab!!!
I like my tea black and STRONG. I spent some time in Scotland two years ago where it’s completely normal–expected, even–that you’ll put milk and sugar in your tea. I tried it once and it was so strange haha. I’m perfectly happy with my tea 100% black, thank you 😛
I usually add just a splash of milk to my coffee, and sometimes cinnamon if I get it at somewhere like Starbucks. I’ve just started adding a splash of milk to certain teas, which I’m liking!
I drink my coffee black! Becoming lactose intolerant trains you to have no milk, and then sugar eventually just followed suit (unless it’s Starbucks- their coffee is far too bitter for me without a little sugar).
I add a bit of hot chocolate mix and truvia to my coffee!
eggwhites in oats sounds interesting!
I don’t drink coffee but I do drink green tea, and I drink it plain. I don’t like honey or agave in it – too sweet for me!
I am a black coffee drinker but lately I enjoy a splash of unsweetened almond milk and a squeeze of vanilla nunaturals. My newest obsession is a decaf chai tea with a spalsh of unsweetened almond milk and a drop of honey
I’m from the south, so sweet tea ran through my veins as a child! Have you ever heard of sun tea? It is a giant glass container of water & tea bags that you put in the sun (our front porch) to let steep. Then we added TONS of sugar and fresh mint leaves that grew like crazy in our yard. Awww, memories…
Now my metabolism forces me to use Splenda instead of sugar. 🙁 I use it in my tea (hot or cold) and in my morning coffee, along with sugar free vanilla creamer. I switch up the coffee flavors, but never what I put in it.
My all time favorite is a caramel macchiato but that’s a big splurge for me. Usually in the morning I’ll have black coffee with a touch of low fat milk, no sugar. Once I have sugar in the morning I crave it all day!
vanilla nunaturals is my favorite flavor of theirs!! i do have to add a little sweetener of some sort and a little cream/milk/something! i’m not a black fan!
I loveeeee green tea, and I drink it plain. I used to add sweetner to it but I’ve weened myself off it. I would love to try stevia one day to add to smoothies or something else but yeah, the price deters me right now!
I just add milk to my coffee in the morning!
How do you get the milk so frothy?? Do you use a special tool?
My mother’s family is from Holland, so I grew up drinking black tea with sugar and milk. I don’t like other teas as much, like herbal or fruity. Just black, with milk and sugar.
I like to add the vanilla creamer to my tea with a tiny bit of sweetener. It tastes just like silver tea (which I’m not sure they sell that everywhere) and it’s so tasty!
I love sweet tea. It’s the best!
I never thought of putting sweet potatoes in beef stew — will definitely try it!
My family loves sweet potatoes!
I’m with you, Julie–I love coffee with almond milk and prefer my tea “straight up.” 🙂