Peppermint Hot Chocolate is easy to make, and far better than the instant hot chocolate that comes in a package, which is loaded with sugar and definitely not dairy free. Additionally, I find this soothing and healthy beverage to be a great substitute for all of the peppermint candy floating around this time of year.

I make this dairy free hot chocolate with coconut milk, and thankfully, it does not contain a coconut-ish flavor; it is a rich and chocolatey hot beverage. Use a high quality organic chocolate for a healthier and tastier result.

This Peppermint Hot Chocolate recipe is easy to make and full of nutritious ingredients --just don't tell your children!

Dark chocolate is a great treat during the holidays when we are inundated with sugary, unhealthy desserts.

Chocolate is a functional food that is both low on the glycemic index and full of powerful antioxidants.  The heart healthy flavonoids in dark chocolate lower blood pressure and decrease blood clotting.  It is also thought that dark chocolate fights cardiovascular disease, as well as premature aging and cancer.

Go ahead and get yourself some chocolate, and let us know what your favorite dark chocolate recipe is.

Tonight is the start of the season for sugar overload. What to do? Spicy apple cider soda! A perfectly healthy drink that will satisfy your sweet tooth with a variety of delicious and healthy super spices including cinnamon and ginger.

While I love homemade Hot Apple Cider, I find that this naturally sweet, cold cider drink is a festive alternative to the customary hot cider beverage. And since you'll still be mulling your cider on the stove to make this soda, your house will reap the wonderfully smelling aroma.

We all need a good nutritional boost during the holiday season when we are inundated with junk food and an abundance of sweets. I find that if I have something sweet to sip on it is easier for me to avoid the dietary pitfalls that leave me lagging.

Spices can be superfoods and cinnamon is no exception. Cinnamon is a sweet and warming spice that is good for controlling blood sugar; it is also thought to boost brain function and improve colon health. Further, it has antimicrobial properties.

Ginger is spicy and pungent. I like to cook with fresh ginger and also use it in the homemade teas that I brew on the stove top (when the boys are coming down with a cold I make then Ginger Licorice Tea). Ginger has warming properties that make it an effective aid in digestion. It is also anti-inflammatory and immune boosting.

Cinnamon and ginger are two of my favorite spices --they are both healing, flavorful and delicious.

Here's hoping that this sweet drink with warming herbal properties helps to satisfy our sweet cravings during this holiday season. What strategies will you use to stay in balance during the holidays?

This dairy free peanut butter protein shake is a great way to start the day.  I like to drink it before I go to the gym --the protein (about 50 grams) gives me energy during my entire workout, and then some.

I've been on a major peanut butter kick lately, in fact, this is my third gluten free peanut butter recipe in the last week or so.  Earlier, I posted my Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies, after that I posted my classic gluten free and vegan Peanut Butter Cookies, and now this here shake.  I'm in Texas, y'all, hence my new accent.

We're in Waco for my son's Little League baseball tournament.  The thermometer says it's 107°; in reality when we're driving around, it's closer to 112°.  The team could care less though.  They've been hoping to make it to regionals since they were 10 year olds (they're 12 now).

Our summer has been filled with baseball and not too much else --the team has practiced 2-4 hours every day.  We won the district tournament, then went on to capture the state tournament, so we are now the official Colorado State Champs.

This week we're here for the regional tournament.  If we win, we'll go to the Little League World Series (an international competition), though between you all and me, that's really a long shot!  We're just trying to make it through the heat at this point against all of the amazing teams from the South.  Here's a picture of our team.

Earlier this week I squeezed in a day at Jen Yu's amazing workshop Food and Light here in Boulder.  I learned so many incredible photography and food styling techniques from Jen, Matt Wright, Diane Cu and Todd Porter.  I also met many wonderful people and spent time chatting with Averie from Loves Veggies and Yoga and Manisha from Indian Food Rocks.

It's been busy, busy as you can gather from the above, so I've been relying on quick and easy gluten free breakfasts such as my:

• Protein Powder Pina Colada
• Gluten Free Granola
• Gluten Free Porridge

Enjoy the shake!

I love a good cool, yet spicy drink in the summer.  This Iced Ginger Chai recipe is based on one of my favorite products, Bhakti Chai.  It's heavy on the ginger, cardamom and black pepper which I love.

While I love Bhakti Chai, it does not like me; there is way too much caffeine in this drink for my body type (vata). Even the decaffeinated product contains small amounts of caffeine, so in my version, I use roiboos tea as the base, to get that black tea flavor without the caffeine.

There are many ways that you could adapt this recipe, more spices, less spices, different spices, ground spices --feel free to experiment with it, and if you do, please be sure to stop back by, join the conversation, let us know what changes you made and how well they worked.

In my extensive cache of gluten free recipes, I do have a recipe for a hot chai which you may enjoy.  I haven't yet tried to serve it over ice and am not sure how that would work.  I love serving either of my chai recipes with gluten free biscotti and have 4 recipes for healthy high protein biscotti below:

Here are some more cold chai recipes from other food bloggers:
-Sweet Hemp Milk Chai Latte from Kelly of The Spunky Coconut
-Masala Chai from Judith of Dance While You Cook
-Dairy Free Frozen Orange Ginger Tea Latte from Alea of My Real Food Life

I don't drink alcohol, however, I absolutely love fun, girly drinks in fancy glasses.  Hence, this deliciously refreshing, non-alcoholic beverage that I am calling a Ginger Lime Mocktail.  I think you could also call this sparkling zesty drink liquid superfood.  The ginger is full of anti-oxidants, good for digestion and is also anti-viral and anti-fungal.  The lime juice is packed with Vitamin C and bioflavanoids.

Today was our first beautiful summer day, and the boys are out of school for summer vacation already; so to celebrate I've been drinking this yummy mocktail all day.

Here are some of my favorite mocktail recipes on Elana's Pantry:

• Watermelon Aguas Frescas
• Orange Fizzie Cocktail
• DIY Sparkling Beverage
• Lemon Cooler

The winners of last weeks giveaway for the Cook It Allergy Free iPad/iPhone app are Donna C and Jessica Lopez!

Here are a few more refreshing cool drinks you might enjoy from some of my blogging friends:
-Sparkling Watermelonade from Silvana of Silvana's Kitchen
-Homemade Tonic Water from Georgia of Georgia Pellegrini
-Apricot Spritzer from Lexie of Lexie's Kitchen

With March approaching, I'm starting to think about the possibility of a spring detox and one of my favorite healing roots --dandelion. Dandelion is a fantastic liver cleanser and spring is the perfect season for liver support.

According to Ayurveda and Chinese medicine, dandelion root has bitter, sweet and cooling properties, making it optimal for the pitta dosha.

Although I use various parts of the dandelion for healing, here, I'm focusing on the root which is a good blood purifying herb. The root is also a useful remedy for stomachaches, and in herbal medicine is said to be beneficial for hypoglycemia and high blood pressure.

How can you get these benefits? According to The Way of Herbs, "roasted dandelion root makes a pleasant beverage that can be consumed daily.  It combines well with "kukicha" tea, or chicory root." I take my dandelion root with chicory which gives the beverage a deliciously bitter, coffee-like flavor. I also add cinnamon sticks to my Dandelion Root Coffee, because I love cinnamon and also consider it a "super" spice with extremely healing properties --though that's a post for another time. Here's a most delicious way to take healing dandelion root.

Dandelion Root CoffeeNote: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.
4 cups water
2 tablespoons roasted dandelion root
2 tablespoons roasted chicory root
1 cinnamon stick

1. Place water, dandelion root, chicory root and cinnamon stick in a pot
2. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer for 5 minutes
3. Pour coffee through a small mesh strainer into cups and serve

Serves 2-4

I was taught 20 years ago during my Ayurvedic training that it is important when making tea with roots to boil for 2-3 minutes to release their healing properties.

And I cannot forget to mention the synchronistic dandelion incident that took place with my friend Kelly from celiacchicks.com.  When I was in New York City in fall 2009 to promote The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook, I was feeling a little sloggy and craving my dandelion coffee.  At one of the signings (which Kelly so graciously arranged!) I grabbed myself a hot water; Kelly whipped out a bag of dandelion tea (from her purse, no less!) and proffered it upon me.  Hence began our discussion of our mutual love affair with the dandelion root.

My fascination with this amazing herb is also chronicled on my other website My Dandelion is a Flower.

We had a huge snowstorm here last night and I made my family a batch of this warming Mexican Hot Chocolate.  A hot drink is perfect for a cold day, and it's even better when warming spices such as cinnamon, chili and cayenne are added.

There is a ton of cinnamon in this recipe, so if you're not a cinnamon fan, you might want to reduce the amount from 1 tablespoon to 1 teaspoon.  Why do I use so much cinnamon?  Well, first, I just love the taste of the stuff.  Second, many studies have been done of late pointing to cinnamon as a spice that may help to control blood sugar levels.  Pretty neat stuff, huh?

Here are some other hot chocolate recipes you may enjoy:
-Delicious Hot Chocolate from Joy The Baker
-Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate by Savory Sweet Life
-Spanish-Style Hot Chocolate from Gluten-Free Gobsmacked

I want to thank Shirley of Gluten Free Easily and Kim from Cook It Allergy Free for their lovely reviews of my Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook.  I really appreciate the kind words in each of these reviews and the astute observations that Shirley and Kim provide about using almond flour and my recipes.

This dark green, luscious shake is my go to drink when I need a little protein pick me up.

To me, the flavor of the kale is not that pronounced, what comes through is the creamy richness of the protein powder with the tart sweetness of the orange, thereby forming a yummy gluten-free, dairy-free creamsicle experience in a glass.  Enjoy!

I will be speaking at (the sold out!) BlogHer Food '10 this Saturday, October 9th discussing the ins and outs of recipe writing. You can find more information about my appearance on the BlogHer event website.

Don't forget about my giveaway for a chance to win a copy of my new book, Gluten-Free Cupcakes: 50 Irresistible Recipes Made with Almond and Coconut Flour. To be entered, head on over to my Gluten-Free Cupcakes Cookbook post. This giveaway will end on October 11th, 2011. The book will be shipped to the winner on its publication date, April 26th, 2011.

Aguas frescas are a popular fruit beverage from Mexico.  Naturally gluten free and completely refreshing, my children fell hard for this cool drink, taking bottles of it to the ball field yesterday.

You could also serve these for Father's Day; they'd be a delicious, healthy and hydrating treat for Father's Day brunch.  Most aguas frescas drinks are packed with sugar, however, as you can see below, my recipe is completely au natural.  Enjoy!

This was my first time making aguas frescas.  Have you ever made them?  If so, leave a comment and let us know your favorite aguas frescas recipe or concoction!

If you are in Fort Collins, Colorado this coming Friday, June 25th I will be teaching a gluten free gourmet cooking class at Whole Foods (we'll be making 10 different recipes) on College Avenue at 6:30pm (MST). The cost is $40 and is limited to 12 students. It's filling up fast so hurry up if you're interested! To register call (970) 267-9200 or visit the Whole Foods guest service desk in Fort Collins.

After last weeks Almond Joy Chocolate Bark post, I received this message on my Facebook Page from Suzanne Hodgman Hodsden:

That's really nice, but what about some healthy recipes for us health nuts!

Quite a lot of interesting comments followed hers and a good debate was had by all --except me, I just post the recipes and try to stay out of the debates. And furthermore, while I don't spend a good deal of time on Facebook, I must confess, I have become a Twitter-a-holic.  So hop on over there and send me a tweet.

Today's recipe is for Green Lemonade.  Andrea (a friend of my good friend Chris) turned me on to this delightful drink, which was originally conceived by Natalia Rose.

I often enjoy serving this yummy, healthy green beverage in wine glasses.  Remember to drink it slowly, so that you can absorb and digest every ounce of green goodness.

Speaking of healthy goodness, Diane from The W.H.O.L.E. Gang is starting her 30 Day Food Revolution on April 26th. She has asked 30 different bloggers to join her in sharing how to shift from processed foods or unhealthy foods to the foods our bodies need and love. Check it out!