Christmas on the cheap Vanilla Coffee Mix

Well it took me a bit longer to get back into the swing of things. I really do not handle stress well and looks as if I don't handle grief very well either.  I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and was able to spend it with friends/family. I spent the holiday at my moms with the rest of the family. It was a very hard day for me because it was my dad's favorite holiday. We would both hover in the kitchen waiting for the turkey to be done. He would carve and we would both eat the dark meat before it was even off the turkey. This year it was my duty to carve the turkey. Alone. It was a bittersweet day and I'm just lucky to have an amazing family that surrounds me. I love you all.

Each Christmas I like to make a plan of what I will be doing for all the family members. We have a rather large family so whatever I do it has to be budget friendly.  Each year I worked at Michael's Craft Store I would buy a Gooseberry Patch book. They would come out with one each year with new and exciting Christmas idea's. From crafts to recipes it was all easy and budget friendly. I now have 8 Christmas books and too many cookbooks and booklets to count. And every year I pull them out to get inspiration.

I will try my best to bring you one easy recipe each day. Along with the best place to buy these items or how you can get them cheaper or for free. Here we go!

VANILLA COFFEE MIX

1 1/2 cups powdered milk or non-dairy powdered milk creamer
1 cup baking cocoa
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup instant coffee granules
2 tsp vanilla powder

Combine all ingredients; store in an airtight container.  Attach instructions.

Instructions: Use 3 tbsp of mix for every one cup of boiling water.

Now days you can find most of these ingredients in the bulk section. You will save a ton of money by buying in the bulk.  I could not find the vanilla powder so I ended up using vanilla powdered milk creamer instead.  One year I made this for all my co workers. I bought paper bags and in each bag I had put a coffee mug, the mix, and some chocolates. My girls loved to decorate the bags with stamps or just doodled all over them with crayons. When you work for retail, anything involving coffee is a winner.

Next recipe...........Bavarian Mint Coffee Mix