If you ever have wondered where some of the Weelicious recipes come from, very often they’re from you. For instance, last week I received a passionate email from a mom that I want to share with you as it inspired today’s recipe.

Lisa P_ I’m a huge fan of your site. My toddler is super picky and it’s been a lifesaver. My new one year old is a great eater, but she’s been refusing to drink whole milk (cow’s milk.) She prefers her brothers vanilla soy milk or the 2% vanilla milk from Horizon. The only way I can get her to drink whole milk is in her bottle with formula and I’m trying desperately to ditch the bottle.

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My son is no longer lactose intolerant so I am trying to move him to 2% cow’s milk but he is also attached to the vanilla flavoring of his soy. I can’t find vanilla milk in the stores if it’s not soy or almond. Do you have any thoughts on what I could add that’s not too sugary but still has that vanilla flavor? I’m weary about what’s I’ve seen online so far and I can’t afford to buy the travel size horizon milk as our only milk supply!

After reading Lisa’s email I went ahead and bought some Horizon vanilla milk to try for myself and man oh man, I get why her daughter loves it so much. Creamy and sweet with a lovely hint of vanilla flavor, it’s pretty addictive stuff. Still, I thought I could come with a version less sugary, without losing a bit of the flavor.

“One family, one milk” doesn’t necessarily apply in many families. In my house, Chloe is a big milk drinker and has no real preference for skim versus whole cow’s milk, whereas Kenya generally prefers vanilla rice milk or almond milk like his dad. In spite of those differences, when I perfected this recipe everyone under my roof went crazy. Believe it or not I served it after dinner as I thought it was just as satisfying as dessert!

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Homemade Vanilla Milk

5 from 1 vote
Servings: 2 cups
Author: Catherine McCord
Prep Time 5 minutes

Ingredients  

  • 2 cups reduced fat organic milk
  • 1 tablespoon agave nectar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions 

  • Place all ingredients in a pitcher and stir well to combine.
  • Tip: To make the milk really creamy and frothy toss all the ingredients in the blender with a few ice cubes. It's a frosty treat!
Did you make this recipe?Mention @Weelicious or tag #weelicious!

About the Author

Catherine is a mama of three. A Kentucky girl living in California. Here’s what I know: all kids can be great eaters and mealtime must be easy. I create simple, healthy recipes the whole family will love.

Comments

  1. I just made this for me and my little one. We both love it 🙂 We used honey and real vanilla. She doesn’t mind the black stuff floating in the milk 😉 She also loves to drink milk itself but this is a new flavor and love love love it! I got both of your books and made so many recipes already. Right now I am making the crock pot lentil soup!

  2. I have been giving almond milk to my one year old buti have so Manny questions I would love to give my son to try cows milk but I don’t know what to do. Almond milk is so expensive and he drink it very fast. Please any suctioned thank you

  3. I cannot thank you enough for this recipe!! My son was BF for over 2 years, and he didn’t want anything at night except for Horizon vanilla milk before bed. We were spending $15.00 ever week and a half for it! It was getting so expensive, I am thrilled we have a cheaper, healthy alternative. Thank you!!

  4. […] milk from Starbucks and she sucks it down.  That was getting expensive at $1.95 a pop, so I found this recipe to make my own (I had to use real sugar instead of agave since I didn’t have any in the […]

  5. Thank you thank you thank you! My LO is not super fond of plain milk but will chug the vanilla milk from Starbucks (at $1.95 a pop) like it is going out of style. Now I can make it at home!

  6. yet again you have changed my life with one of your posts! first it was the crock pot chicken and now its the vanilla milk. the simplest yet most powerful solutions. thank you!

  7. Can’t wait to try this warm come winter. I love vanilla steamers from coffee houses, but they contain that nasty vanilla syrup that is just loaded with sugar. I’ll also try it with my kiddos as an alternative to homemade hot cocoa. Much less work for Mom!

  8. But thank you for using organic milk in this recipe. If you’re going to force your kids to drink milk at least it’s organic, right?

  9. Definitely should not be forcing anybody to drink cow milk. There’s nothing wrong with this poor girl just wanting soy. Fortunately, soy milk is healthier than cow milk anyway. Cow milk is for baby cows not baby humans.

  10. Really good!!! I’ve been trying to make this myself but I always put too much vanilla, or too much sweetener… this recipe is perfect!

  11. Just made a cup of this for a late night session with my computer. I’m swooning. This tastes just as good as Starbucks and is a nice change from warm milk and honey. Delish! Thanks!

  12. We sample our healthy version of vanilla milk every weekend at the Winter Park Farmer’s Market here in Florida. We sometimes use unflavored almond milk as the base. Our grandbabies love our vanilla milk made with Mannix double-strength organic vanilla extract and our organic dry vanilla beans. I’m a huge fan of yours Catherine–my daughter introduced me and many others to your cooking…delicious and healthy. We’d love to send you a sample and get your feedback. Check us out on our website.

    Nancy Jo Mannix

  13. You can always sub honey for agave at a 1:1 ratio! The flavor will be different since agave has a more neutral flavor!

  14. I haven’t introduced flavored milk yet thankfully… but my five year old loves flavored yogurt -especially vanilla though i haven’t figured out the right additions. I make my own plain. I think I’ll try to add your extras to a quart and see if it passes her taste test. Though I prefer honey to agave. Do you think the ratio would be the same? Or would the flavor be off? Thank you Catherine!

  15. – Haha! That’s a great site, Hillary! Some of these trends get etxiushang. Too bad a lot of them are good ideas. The world is moving so fast though, hard to get genuinely fresh ideas.

  16. I have been doing agave, organic whole milk, and frozen organic strawberries (4-5 for a cup) for strawberry milk. My 14 months old got tired with the plain flavor of milk and loves the choc soy flavor (off course its really sweet). So this is my compromise 🙂 i def will try to make this as variety

  17. Thank you! I’ve had the same issue with my 3 year old and didn’t want to give her choc milk. Can’t wait to try this!

  18. hi! Catherine I guess you surely how fun it is to eat jelly and I came up with an idea to make jelly in orange peel .First,I take out or even juiced the fruit inside then I fill it with jelly mixture and freeze then eat them this is so good you know I will wait
    for the video that you make in your style im sure everyone will enjoy it especially kids bye……… thank
    from,
    Anna Maria

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