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Gretchen Rubin in her blog had mentioned a drink she makes that is a “nursery treat”.  From what I remember she fills a cup about 1/3 of the way with milk and the rest with hot water, then she adds a little sweetener and about a teaspoon of vanilla.  It’s wonderful and smells heavenly.

I love this drink and, since I’m lactose intolerant, I’ve been experimenting with using other types of “milk”.  For instance, lactose intolerant people may react less violently to Goat’s Milk, so I tried that.  Wonderful!

But I’m still happiest milk free.  I don’t drink or eat soy anything because soy is POISON and I’m not wild about rice or almond milk.  Rice milk lacks body.  Almond milk has body but the almond flavor is too strong.

But so far, my very favorite way to have this is as follows:

• Fill coffee cup 1/3 of the way with light coconut milk (I use Trader Joe’s)
• Then fill the cup with hot water and stir.
• Add Blue Agave Sweetener to taste (also Trader Joe’s), a capful of Pure Tahitian Vanilla Extract (again, Trader Joe’s) and 1 tbsp of coconut oil.

This is a richer tasting drink with more body and it contains no “milk” at all.  It doesn’t taste super coconutty - it just tastes GOOD.  It doesn’t smell as strongly of vanilla as the drink made with actual milk, but it still smells good - just milder.  I think all that’s happening is the coconut milk has enough of it’s own smell that it competes with the vanilla.

There are health benefits to drinking coconut milk just as there are to taking coconut oil.  Nearly 50% of the fatty acid in natural coconut oil is lauric acid, which converts to the fatty acid monolaurin in the body. Lauric acid has adverse effects on a variety of microorganisms including bacteria, yeast, fungi, and enveloped viruses. It destroys the lipid membrane of such enveloped viruses as HIV, measles, Herpes simplex virus (HSV-1), influenza and cytomegalovirus (CMV). Its usefulness in treating AIDS is currently under investigation. It is a main component of human breast milk and helps protect children from illness during infancy.  Capric acid, which comprises another 7% of coconut oil fat content, also stimulates anti-microbial activity.

This drink tastes so good and it’s such a comfort to me that I make it at least a couple of times a day AND I drink it all gone.  I almost never drink all of it when I make it with animal milk.  I’ll even drink it after it’s gone cold!

If it sounds good to you, give it a try and let me know how you like it.  I feel utterly good drinking it and I can’t explain why.  I’d be interested to know if you experience the same blissful feeling.