Drinks and Smoothies

Horchata is THE drink to make this summer! It combines rice, almonds, cinnamon, and a little natural stevia for a refreshing, family-friendly summer drink.

This post is brought to you by Wholesome Organic® Stevia.

Hands up if you’re ready for summer vacation?! We SO are.

More than anything, I can’t wait for lazy summer afternoons that don’t involve waking up my napping toddler to rush out the door and drive 25 minutes to get to carpool. It may not sound very glamorous, but it’s what I’m looking forward to the most. Hands down.

Speaking of lazy summer afternoons.. I can’t think of a better way to spend one than poolside with an ice cold glass of homemade horchata in hand.

And by poolside, I obviously mean the little round, plastic, blue monstrosity in my backyard that currently holds as many popsicle wrappers and dirt piles as it does actual “pool water.” But whatever.

Back to ice cold homemade horchata.

Have you ever had horchata? And have you ever made horchata? I was shocked at how easy the entire process is. Really, the most important part is just remembering that you’ll need to start about 12 hours ahead of when you actually want to serve it.

Which isn’t as crazy as it sounds. Just start soaking the rice and almonds before you go to bed. By the time you wake up, here’s what you’ll have left to do:

Blend everything up.

And strain out the pulp. All you really need is a sieve and a cheesecloth. I actually didn’t even use a cheesecloth– I used a flour sack towel that I always have on hand. It does the job just as well.

This is what my setup looked like:

As you can see, I simply placed the cloth over the my pitcher and placed the sieve over it.

As I went through the straining process, things moved around a little bit, but nothing major changed. I eventually liked holding the sieve in my hand better than fitting into the top of the pitcher. And I actually switched to a slightly bigger sieve as well.

Overall, it was SUPER easy. Much more doable than I ever knew horchata could be!

One of the best things about making your own horchata is that you can control the sweetener. Instead of using regular sugar (you’d need about 1/2 a cup in this recipe!), I used 3/4 tsp of Wholesome Organic® Stevia.

Stevia has always been kind of a hit or miss thing for me. I really can’t tolerate most brands, quite honestly. But Wholesome Organic® Stevia doesn’t have that bitter aftertaste that a lot of other stevia sweeteners do. It has no calories and no glycemic impact, which makes it great for people who are watching their calorie intake or controlling blood sugars.

It’s important to remember that stevia does not equal sugar cup for cup. You can use a LOT less stevia when subbing for sugar. I like about a teaspoon of Wholesome Organic® Stevia for every half cup of sugar. I think you have to play around with it a little, just to find out what YOU like best.

Enjoy this recipe (be poolside or otherwise ;)!

And be sure to visit Wholesome Organic® Stevia to say hi and grab a coupon.