Last week I did my monthly shopping when ds10 noticed large cans of eggnog, reminded me of when I bought a few cans of it several years ago how delicious it was, and suggested I buy some. (This shows you how little processed food I’ve bought over the years, that a memory like this is so clear three or four years later!)  I told him we could make our own instead, that it would then be tasty and good for us.  This week is my ds16’s turn to make breakfast, and when I told him that eggnog was on the schedule, he said, “Eww – homemade?”  But since I brook no dissent 🙂 I told him to make it and then see what he thought of it.  Well, as soon as he tasted it he was singing a different tune!

Here’s the recipe we used:

Homemade Eggnog

• 4 c. milk (we were out of milk and used 3 c. water and 1 c. heavy cream instead)
• 1/4 t. cinnamon
• 1/2 t. vanilla

Mix and slowly bring to a boil in a saucepan.

• 12 egg yolks
• 1 1/2 c. sucanat

Whisk these until fluffy.  Remove about a cup of the hot milk mixture and mix the beaten eggs into it.  Then return the egg and milk mixture back to the pot and cook over medium heat for several minutes, stirring constantly until thick.

• 4 c. cream
• 1/2 t. nutmeg
• 2 t. vanilla

Mix these together, and when cool, stir into the above mixture.  Drink cool or warm. (We heated ours and then the kids mixed it with the freshly fallen snow for ‘snow ice cream’.)

If I had pastured eggs, I’d be comfortable blending the raw milk, cream, and eggs together without any cooking and this would be super fast and easy to make!  But my farmer has been having a hard time meeting the growing demand for his pastured eggs lately, so when I last was there I couldn’t get the amount I wanted and I’m using regular supermarket eggs to fill the gap.  You can only do what you can do! I won’t use these eggs raw; hence the more involved recipe.

I got a great deal on organic heavy cream last week; it was significantly marked down since it was close to the expiration date so I paid .79 for a pint! Since that’s a third of the price of regular non-organic cream, I was very pleased!

Eggnog isn’t exactly a traditional breakfast, but if you look at the ingredients, you’ll see lots of protein and high quality fats – perfect to feed your brain, give you energy, and keep you feeling satiated for hours!  (A cup of this easily will hold you over until lunch.)  And do you think the kids mind non-traditional when it tastes like this?!

Avivah