Hi guys it is Pia, I am so excited to get my blog back up and running. I know it has been a loooong time, but I’m back! I hope you guys notice the new design and content. I know I wasn’t posting that frequently before but now I am as ready as I’ll ever be! I am so excited to bake and craft and do fashion and show you guys my journey along the way.
If you follow me or my mom on Instagram you will know I have been up in Canada for the weekend. My little sister Coco is filming a disney show up here called Gabby Duran and the unsittables, so my mom and sister will be up here for about half of the year. As you can imagine, it has been a really big adjustment (and a tad bit stressful!) but things are getting better now that we are getting in a routine. I helped my mom put together a really cute little house so that we all feel at home up here. We also went on a terrible IKEA haul to make that happen (remember that set of insta-stories that I posted!? We had to rush through the store which I really disliked since I could stay there for forever. Then we were absolutely starving but there was nothing to eat so we went to CHIPOTLE because it was the only thing we knew we could eat (hello allergies) But, we made it out alive! And now our house is so cute…
We were super lucky we didn’t have any school this last Friday, so we came up Thursday night. It was crazy- I had a smoothie for dinner and once we were on the road we realized that my dad had forgotten his phone! We had to drive back up to our house and get it. Then Wilbur started acting like a lunatic and was standing on my chest. If you saw my stories on Instagram you would know the struggles I had. Eventually, we got to the house. It was a good two hours and thirty minutes. Am I just weird or do any of you like to go on long car rides in the country at night? Well I sure do. I mean you get to see everything in the dark and you can hide under your blanket and watch a show or binge watch Netflix on your phone.
But anyways, it is already kind of like winter here in Canada. It is freezing in the morning and there is frost on the roof! Since it is something like 39 degrees at 7:00am. I just like to snuggle in my warm bed or couch and watch TV or do art. In fact, yesterday my mom did some extraordinary art for our little house and I got to help. She let me name all of the paintings too!
So since everyone else was pretty busy and I was just busy snuggling on the couch and binge watching this crazy show on NetFlix (Have you seen Skin Wars?!) I decided to make something warm and cozy for my mom and sister for when they come home from the set, it’s a Pumpkin Spice Chai Latte. It is something for adults and kids (if you make it decaf) to drink and snuggle up and watch a movie or to wake yourself up on a cold morning before school or work. Either way this drink is BOMB!!! Just being me, (as a kid with allergies) I have always wanted to try the pumpkin spice lattes that I see EVERYWHERE in the fall, but now I can make my own and it’s even better with the addition of chai! YAY! I can’t wait for you guys to taste this scrumdiddlyumptious drink and enjoy it as much as I have!
Vegan Pumpkin Spice Chai Latte:
-2 tea bags of chai (or decaf chai tea)
– 2 cups plain, unsweetened coconut milk (the kind that comes in a carton in the refrigerator section)
-¼ cup canned pumpkin purée
-3-4 tablespoons real maple syrup or honey (to taste)
-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
-1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
Vegan Coconut Whipped Cream:
-1 can (14 ounces) coconut cream chilled in the refrigerator
-1 tablespoon powdered sugar (we use beet sugar)
-½ teaspoon vanilla extract
-⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
To make the latte:
In a small sauce pan, bring the coconut milk and the tea bags to a simmer and let steep for about 5 minutes. Wring out the tea bags and throw it away. Add the hot chai milk, pumpkin puree, syrup or honey, vanilla and spices to a blender and puree (low at first, and then high) until frothy and well blended.
Pour back into the sauce pan and bring to a simmer until it’s really hot and then pour into two mugs.
Top with whipped Coconut cream if you want and enjoy!
To make Coconut cream:
You combine the cold coconut cream, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon in a chilled bowl and beat on high with electric beaters until you have thickened it up like whipped cream. You can serve right away or put it back in the fridge to get even more thick.
