Sugar Free Iced Carmel Frappe (S)

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Before my Trim Healthy Mama days, I used to love to make these iced coffee drinks at home, of course, they were anything but sugar-free back then.  I had a lot of help because, well,  real milk is just GOOD!  Not to mention Ghirardelli carmel and whatever else I could dream up...(sigh)!   Am I telling you that I enjoy my new sugar free substitution every bit as much as I did the sugar laden version?  Yes!  It is every bit as ENJOYABLE for me to sit down to this sweet, creamy coffee drink on a hot afternoon.  The flavors are more subtle, but just as satisfying and refreshing with a nice coffee flavor and just a hint of carmel and no guilt or sugar to drag me down like the old days!

I searched high and low for just the recipe I wanted and was unable to find all the things that I was looking for, so I came up with this.  I wanted to use fresh coffee left over from my breakfast brewing and I wanted to be able to mix it up in the morning and enjoy it cold in the afternoon.  This fits for me because I think it is better when it has a chance to sit up although it is good to drink anytime as long as it's ICY COLD.

1/2 - 1 cup fresh brewed organic coffee
2 tablespoons on plan protein powder mixed in well with a frother or blender
(I use Kroger's Simple Truth Organic coffee)

1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
3 tablespoons cream
2 tablespoons truvia  or favorite sweetener (you might want to play with this)
1/4 tsp vanilla ext
1/8 tsp Carmel flavoring (brands vary I used Watkins)

I like to mix this with my little frother to incorporate the cream fully before adding the ice,  but good either way.  Pour over ice if you are drinking it right away, otherwise store it away in a pint jar in the fridge for later.

Blend It!  Pour mixture into a container with 1/2 cup cottage cheese and 1tablespoon extra truvia The addition of the cottage cheese lets you cut back to 2 tablespoons on the cream cheese.  

As I said, I make this drink up when I make my coffee in the morning and refrigerate it till afternoon, but I don't pour it over the ice till I serve it.  In fact, I think that it is a little better when made up ahead of time and I never taste it till it's cold.

** If your tastes have not yet quite adjusted to almond milk, just be patient and the next chance you get, substitute the unsweetened vanilla almond milk for the plain...that helped me a lot.  Also, if you have a particular flavor combination that almond milk just will not work with in a recipe then check out the unsweetened coconut milk that comes in the same sort of package as the almond milk and can be found either next to the almond milk or nearby.
**I NEVER acquired the taste for the Silk brand almond milk, but I can deal with the Blue Diamond just fine now. 
** Also, the sweeteners can be a bit of a challenge for some.  At first, I liked them okay but they were definitely NOT the same as sugar to me.  I think a lot of that was just a matter of perspective, and once I started thinking about them differently than "artificial sweeteners", which I have never enjoyed, but rather as a milder form of sugar, then I was able to adjust better.  Now, I really just think of them as one of my best weight loss buddies on my Trim Healthy journey to a permanently sugar free life!