Welcome to the first day of the year or the second if you’re reading this from Australia ;)

I hope everyone had a great New Year’s Eve and that you woke up this morning with a clear head, if you catch my drift! Joe actually had to go into work yesterday to do some stuff so by the time he got home it was around 6pm and it was already so dark outside but we layered up and went for our walk anyway (I’m going to stick to my goal of walking everyday, we went this morning as well when it was -7C/19F outside!)

I took a photo of how I looked going for a walk to send to my family back home so they could see how cold it really is over here! Think balaclava, on top of that a beanie, a base layer long-sleeved top, a North Face fleece jacket, one of those big North Face jackets on top of that, a pair of thick gloves and a scarf! Yep it’s COLD!!!

After we got back from our walk which took longer than usual due to trying to navigate our way through dark streets (hello where are the street lights?!) and icy roads I decided to try my hand at making some eggnog. I’ve never made it myself and I wanted to have a go of it, I had asked Alisa over at PaleoinPdx if she knew of any good recipes as she had mentioned previously that she wanted to recreate some classic holiday drinks and so she pointed me to a recipe… thanks Alisa :)

Only problem was that the recipe used canned coconut milk which is fine with me but Joe doesn’t like that stuff at all, actually he just doesn’t like coconut in general so I searched for other eggnog recipes and most of the paleo recipes used either almond milk or coconut milk or a combination of both.

So after some research I decided to just try my hand at coming up with my own eggnog recipe and replaced the coconut/almond milk with grass-fed whole milk instead. I also decided to go with some alcoholic eggnog but I didn’t want to go out and buy some brandy or rum which looked like the most popular alcohols to put in eggnog according to my Google search, since Joe and I are not big drinkers AT ALL! I wasn’t prepared to just buy a bottle of something for a single use so instead I decided to just use some whiskey that we had sitting in the cupboard from when we first moved to Michigan and went across to Windsor to visit the Canadian Club over a year ago (I told you we’re not big drinkers!)

Anyway I don’t know if the whole whiskey eggnog thing is a no no but it turned out fine, plus I only used 2 Tbps of it so you couldn’t really even tell it was in there. Joe liked it as well and we had it with some sweet potato brownies that I had made the other day courtesy of PaleOMG. These brownies are seriously to die for… just make them once and you’ll be addicted just like me!

Can you say YUM!

Grass-fed Spiced Eggnog

Ingredients:

Serves 2-4

• 3 cups grass-fed whole milk.
• 4 egg yolks.
• 3 Tbsp raw honey.
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon.
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves.
• Ground/whole nutmeg to garnish.
• 2 Tbsp (or more) of alcohol of your choice (brandy, rum or whiskey) *optional.

Method:

In a mixing bowl add the egg yolks, honey, vanilla extract, cinnamon and cloves. Beat until smooth and set aside.

Add the milk to a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring frequently.

Remove the milk from the heat and add some of it to the egg yolk mixture and whisk quickly. Then pour the whole thing back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk, this process is known as tempering and it allows for the eggs not to turn into a scrambled mess in your eggnog!

Lower the heat and continue to stir the mixture until it starts to thicken. You want the mixture to coat the back of a wooden spoon (dip the spoon into the mixture, take it out and run your finger through the middle, if it stays clear then the mixture is ready… if it runs then continue to stir). Make sure not to let the mixture come to a boil.

Remove from the heat and if you’re using alcohol add it in now and mix through.

You can serve it as is with some nutmeg on top or you can refrigerate it for a few hours or over night. I refrigerated ours for 4 hours with some cling wrap on top and the mixture become nice and creamy so I think if you leave it over night it would turn out even creamier!

We had ours warm (I put them in the microwave for about a minute or so after we took them out of the fridge) but as I said you can serve them hot straight off the stove or cold from the fridge.

We ended our New Year’s Eve by watching the ball drop in Times Square while snuggling up on the couch keeping each other warm and of course we had to give each other a big kiss haha :)

Tomorrow is an even more important date though… t’s our 3 year wedding anniversary! Sadly Joe goes back to work tomorrow but I’m going to make us a special anniversary dinner… I haven’t decided exactly what yet and there will be some dessert involved. I’m not sure if I’ll make a cake or another type of dessert but you will read all about it soon!