Category: Deliciousness (Recipes I’ve Appreciated)

Starbucks Copycat Peach Green Tea W/Coconut Milk

Copycat Starbucks Peach Green Tea W/Coconut Milk

Years ago now (how sad is it that I have to say YEARS) Starbucks had a lime refresher and it was the epitome of a perfect refreshing summer beverage, especially when you got it made with coconut milk 🤤🥥☀️

Now traumatically enough… Starbucks got rid of that, one of my most loved drinks of all time.

This last year, I decided to try the peach green tea with coconut milk as a way to fill that void and ya know what?? It wasn’t half bad!
Was it that same utter washing over of summer breezes and glorious cool subtleties as the lime refresher had boasted? I don’t honestly totally remember that drink anymore so I don’t know 😂
BUT I CAN say, I truly love the peach green tea made with coconut, a LOT.
So much so, that we (my sister and I) decided we must attempt to replicate it at our homes because come summer, we aren’t going to be running into Starbucks to quench our drink desires nor, do we appreciate what they do to our wallets innards 🤪

The hardest part of this ‘recipe’ aside from trying not to make multiples of it everyday, is probably brewing the tea and that isn’t very difficult at all 🤪

So, with a special thanks to the ‘more than half the recipe’ creator, my sister, here you have it 🤓

The ultra intricate, in depth and specially formulated recipe –

Ingredients:

1 Cup Peach Juice

1/2 Cup Tazo Zen Green Tea

1/4 Cup Silk Unsweetened Coconut Milk

Mix and Enjoy!

Recipe notes:

Peach juice was a little tricky to find and as it’s a no name brand, I realize it may not be found everywhere. Check the refrigerated juice area, as we couldn’t find any in the regular unrefrigerated drink section.

The brand of tea is non negotiable, it’s got that hint of mint which literally MAKES the drink. Boil water and add 1 tea bag per each cup of water.
Steep for 8 minutes, cool and use for the drink making.

We’ve found that aggressively shaking the coconut milk before adding it to the drink, helps reduce the curdled look. The curdling doesn’t actually affect the taste or texture but purely for enjoyments sake, it’s nicer to not see what look like chunks 🤓

Ice, straw & a pretty glass to up the enjoyment factor are also advised 🤓👌🏻

Sip and dream of the forthcoming summer, if you live where there is currently snow.
If you don’t and it’s warm and sunny where you are, please just drink your drink and be quiet 🤪

Summery Salsa & Shrimp Couscous

When it comes to meals for myself, I like fairly easy recipes and something that can be eaten again as leftovers… and as for not wanting to add to the baby bod poundage, healthy is a ‘bonus’-bonus right now 😂

I also really like shrimp.

That’s why this recipe hits THE spot 👌🏻

It’s fairly simple to throw together, especially after the first time and it has a very summery freshness to it that I love. It would also be super easy to change up and tweak to your personal desires… which is also a plus for me, because I can follow a recipe once but after that, it typically strays 🤓

 

Serves 4 portion aware woman who aren’t overly starving.

(What I’m trying to say by that, is it can feed four pretty easily but it’s for sure a lighter style meal🤪)

Scroll past pictures fro recipe.

 

Preheat oven to 450

For the salsa –

Make first and refrigerate, so that it has some time to blend 😉

1/2 cup mango, chopped
1 avocado, chopped
1/2 cup chopped pineapple
1/2 cup chopped cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup salsa
2 Tbsp lime
Salt and pepper

Shrimp –
2 cups worth of thawed Shrimp
2 Tbsp lime
Salt and pepper
2 decent sized cloves of minced garlic
(I always go heavier but we are pretty generous garlic seasoners in my family 🤪)

Base –
1 cup Couscous
1 cup chicken broth
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp garlic seasoning…I have used the ‘rosemary garlic blend’ from epicure and also ‘Johnny’s garlic spread’
Salt and pepper

Topping –
Shredded lettuce if desired

Directions –
After mixing the chopped salsa ingredients, place in the refrigerator.

Prepare the shrimp and base mixtures in their own bowls.

Line a 9 x 13 pan with foil and oil it.

Spread the base mixture in the dish and layer the shrimp on top, pouring the extra liquid from the shrimp on top as well.
Cover with another piece of foil and pinch closed.

Cook for 12 minutes.

(This can also be made on the BBQ using all the same steps minus the baking dish and just using a foil packet)

Remove and top with the chilled salsa and some shredded lettuce to not only add to the veggie intake but it also gives a little texture affect 😉

Then, devour at as polite a speed that one can devour at! 😉

*Side note*

The salsa can be kept for at least a day, it just gets discoloured so it doesn’t LOOK nearly as appealing 😉

Italian (or not) Bread

Italian (or not) Bread

This recipe comes together easily and pretty quickly, as far as bread recipes go… two things I appreciate when it comes to bread making!
It can also be tweaked and personalized very easily to go with whatever flavour you’re looking for 👌🏻

Enjoy and not only good luck making it but also in doing your best to not eat a whole loaf or two yourself, once they are out of the oven 😉

 

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups warm water
2 tbsp yeast
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
5 1/2 cups flour
1 egg white / oil (I used rosemary infused olive oil)
2 tbsp Italian seasoning*
1 tbsp everything bagel seasoning (optional…but nice 😉)

*the seasonings can easily be adjusted to suit personal preferences and make other flavours of bread, so go ahead and play around with combinations!

 

 

Instructions:

Pour the water, sugar and yeast into a bowl and let it sit for 10-15 minutes until the yeast has activated.

Add the remaining ingredients and mix it all together until well blended.

Move to a warm area, cover and let rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450°

Punch down the dough and then divide and form into three loaves.

Using a sharp knife, score the tops of the loaves and then brush with either egg white or oil.

Let the loaves rise another 5 minutes.

Bake for 12-15 minutes.

 

 

I brushed a little butter over the loaves and ground some corse salt on top, once I removed them from the oven.

I’d love to know if you make this/enjoyed it!
Tag me on Instagram @Jemstory or drop a comment here ☺️💕🥖

 

Doable And Delectable Overnight Bread

I give all the credit to my mom (Diamond and Willow) for finding and introducing this recipe to me.

Bread making doesn’t get any easier and the outcome doesn’t get much better! In my opinion 😉

It’s also super customizable… If you try it, I’d love to see or hear about it, either with a comment here or a tag on instagram @Jemstory 🙂

 

 

 

Ingredients :

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsp salt

1 tsp active dry yeast

2 1/4 cup warm water

1/3 cup sunflower seeds*

1/3 cup dried cranberries*

 

* The seeds and cranberries are up to you as far as personal preference goes. The original recipe calls for 1/3 cup flax seeds but I didn’t have any so I threw in the cranberries instead. You can change up the seeds and berries depending on your taste buds or pantry innards 😉

 

Directions :

 

In a large bowl (preferably with a lid), mix the flour, salt and yeast and seeds together.

Pour the warm water into the bowl and using a spatula, mix until it is all incorporated.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a lid and let it sit on the counter overnight or for around 12 hours.

(If you use a lid, just check it after a couple of hours to make sure it didn’t pop open from the yeast expanding 😉

 

 

Pre-heat your oven to 450 f degrees.

Place your cast iron, dutch oven or clay pot and lid (I use my moms Pampered Chef Clay dish), into the oven so it heats up as well.

Once the pot has heated, remove it from the oven and take the lid off, as that is too tricky to do after this next bit 😉

Flour your work surface and hands VERY well and with said flour covered hands, gently remove the dough from the bowl onto the counter and roughly shape it into a ball.

Take the ball of dough and drop it into the pot.

Cover with the lid and place it back into the oven.

Bake for 30 minutes with the lid on, after which remove the lid and bake for another 15-20 minutes until the top is nice and golden and crusty looking.

Remove from the oven and after a few moments remove from the pot and let it cool.

 

That is if you can control your desire to taste test a slice with a big slab of butter 😉

 

Grapefruit Rosemary Mocktail

‘Grapefruit Rosemary Mocktail’, an easily made, refreshing drink with a hinting of rosemary ☺👌🏻💕🍊🌿

I figured with warmer days finally seeming to be upon us, that it was now timely to share this recipe, which I found via Pura Vida Bracelets Blog.

 

Serves 4 in small to medium size glasses.

What you’ll need :

2 grapefruits
3 stems of fresh rosemary
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
2 Club sodas

What you’ll do :

Chill the club soda ahead of time.

On low heat, combine the sugar, water and rosemary until the sugar is dissolved.

Juice your grapefruit.

To serve :

Pour 1/2 cup of grapefruit juice into your glasses.
Add in 2 tbsp of the sugar water mixture and top of the rest of your drink with club soda, I used one with a hinting of lemon flavour.
Garnish with a few sprigs of the rosemary!

 

‘Clink, Clink’, enjoy!

A Pancake Of Uncertain Origin

This recipe is for either a Dutch baby pancake or lazy German pancake…

I don’t know what name to call this, as it kind of controversial considering who I am married to and have as sibling-in-laws 🤪

I’ve seen it called both but I don’t believe the name, affects the taste, so dub it as you will and continue on to the part of enjoying it  😉

I really like this dish, obviously or I wouldn’t be sharing the recipe.
I’m not usually a huge breakfast person and neither Michiel or I are big pancake lovers but we’ve found this ‘heavy, curd like’ pancake to be a wonderful addition to our life’s menu 😉

It comes together pretty quickly but I will say that typically, Mike and I consume the entire thing, so if you’re making for more than two you’d best have a fair bit of milk and eggs on hand 😉

 

 

 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter Continue reading “A Pancake Of Uncertain Origin”