If you want to know why we drink lots of coffee with French Vanilla Creamer, keep reading. If you are looking for my Homemade French Vanilla Coffee Creamer recipe, scroll to the bottom of this post.
Instead of telling you about Mother’s Day, I thought I would tell you about the day before Mother’s Day.
When raising our first batch of children my husband was very involved and often gave me a break so I could have “sanity time”. My children quickly established the connection between my need for sanity time and their behavior. One day after my two oldest children made a three story spider web with yarn from my knitting basket, they greeted my husband at the door and said, “Mom really needs sanity time tonight”.
Fast forward to our last child who was born 14 years later. My husband has a demanding job and often has to work on the weekends. When he is not working at either of his jobs, he is playing with the kids, helping with homework, maintaining our vehicles, or our property. The only “me time” he takes is to go to the gym and he usually does that at 5:30 in the morning when the rest of us are asleep. So I only leave him with my youngest child when I absolutely have to. Which is why my husband had never spent an entire day caring for our youngest child on his own until last Saturday.
I often refer to my youngest son as my husband’s clone. He is intelligent, creative, and very energetic – wonderful qualities in a husband, exhausting qualities in a 4 year old. I occasionally call my husband and share stories from my day which he, from the comfort of his office, finds amusing. When I called and told him about my son writing math equations in permanent marker on the closet door, he laughed and asked if they were correct. I told him they were and my husband’s laughter brought me the relief I needed to get through the rest of the day.
On Saturday, I set out to visit one of our horses who has been sent to a training farm for instruction. I only intended to be away for a few hours, but one thing led to another and I ended up being out for 7 hours. Here are the highlights from the day:
11:30 I called my husband and he told me Andrew was bouncing off the walls so he took him to the park.
12:30 I called my husband and heard Andrew screaming in the background. My husband said he was “never taking Andrew in public again”. I suggested Andrew’s mood would improve with food.
1:30 I called to let my husband know I was going to be delayed further. He said, “food is overrated all it did was give Andrew more energy and he is back to bouncing off the walls”.
2:30 I called my husband to check on him and he said, “I completely understand how a mother could get addicted to crystal meth. This is exhausting”.
3:30 My husband called me and said, “Don’t come home with out caffeine, lots of it”.
4:30 I walked in the door with a bag of coffee to a very grateful husband.
I didn’t realize until that moment how long it had been since my husband spent an entire day caring for a young child on his own. I feel really bad about taking pleasure from his pain, but his renewed appreciation for what I do every day was the best Mother’s Day present.
French Vanilla Coffee Creamer Recipe
My husband asks for his coffee “with maximum pollutants” which after I read the label on some of the store-bought creamers seemed like an appropriate description. In an effort to reduce the “pollutants” I created my own creamer recipe for my husband’s coffee.
Since I started making my own creamer, my husband stopped buying coffee at coffee houses which saves us quite a bit. My daughter adds this creamer to her Chai tea and both of my teenagers add some to their cocoa.
- 14 oz. can of condensed milk
- 28 oz. milk
- 1 T - 1½ T vanilla
- Pour the can of condensed milk into a pitcher.
- Fill the empty can two times with milk, adding the milk to the pitcher.
- Add vanilla to taste. Stir well.
More Homemade Coffee Creamer Recipes
Easy Hazelnut Coffee Creamer Recipe
Vanilla Caramel Coffee Creamer Recipe
Peppermint Mocha Coffee Creamer Recipe
Here is another one of my coffee house recipes that I love: Homemade Chai Latte Recipe!
Annie Jones says
2:30 cracked me up!
Thanks for the recipe. I won't buy the store-bought stuff, but occasionally, it would be nice to have a little something extra in my coffee.
Swathi says
I leave my little one with hubby going to the doctor's appointment.i can imagine the scenario there with dad and son. home made creamer looks delicious.
Mama Eva says
Regarding the permanent ink on the closet… 😉 I have used those Magic Erasers with much success on many surfaces taking off permanent ink, crayon, pencil, etc. I buy the store brand – same stuff, at cheaper price 😉
Alea Milham says
Thank you I will give the Magic Erasers a try!
Swathi says
Alea, thanks for hosting and linking this delicious creamer to hearth and soul blog hop.
April @ The 21st Century Housewife says
I really like the sound of your lovely French vanilla creamer. What a great thing to have on hand to make hot drinks extra special. By the way, thank you for linking up with Feed Me Tweet Me Follow Me Home last Friday – Alex and I really appreciate your support 🙂 Oh, and thank you for sharing this with the Hearth and Soul Blog Hop as well 🙂
Rebecca in Colorado says
HOW did I miss this post in May?! So glad you mentioned it on FB…it was a great laugh, and I like the homemade creamer idea.
Kristi says
Love this post/story 🙂 (and can’t wait to try the recipe)!
Michelle @ Simplify, Live, Love says
Haha! Great story. Love the recipe. Pinning this one to try. Do you know what sweetened condensed milk is? I have always wondered. And yes, Magic Erasers work wonders!
Alea says
Sweetened condensed milk is usually made from full milk and sugar. It is cooked over a low temperature for many hours to cook off the water in the milk which is why it is so thick.
Rajani says
I can totally imagine your husband’s state on that day :-))! My 5 year old is easy to manage, but whenever I babysit him and my neighbor’s kid, I end up drinking 4 cups of coffee at least. Two to keep my sanity and the other two cups to soothe my throat after trying to make myself heard over the non stop noise :-)). Exhausting, but still nice experience.
Debi says
Thank you!! Oh and I love your Longaberger dishes. We go through so much that this has to be a cheaper and healthier alternative.
Terry Boivin says
Is there any way the milk used in the creamer can be powdered milk or does it have to be whole mile??
Alea says
I have never tried using powdered milk. Please let me know if you try it, I would love to know how it tastes. If you aren’t happy with the taste at first, you could add more vanilla.
Christine says
You are my answer from up above….. My husband lives on French vanilla. If he dosn’t have his creamer he will not have coffee and a man that drinks coffee everyday all day having no coffee is torcher… I would by him the Large coffee mat creamer that is $6 something a bottle and it’s gone in a day so im finding my self buying him another one. with in a month i must pend over 100 just on creamer alone. I tricked him and made your creamer and he couldn’t even tell the diffrents. So Thank you for this saves me money
shannon says
when it is made does it have a expiry date?
Alea Milham says
I look at the expiration date on the jug of milk and use that as my guide.
shannon says
okay then mine has expired then. good know that i should use it within a week.
Rebecca says
Thank you for posting this. I love french vanilla coffee creamer but hate spending $6 every two weeks when I have this in my cabinet. Also, I LOVE your Longaberger dishes.
Marlee says
Recipe sounds great! I’m wondering if evaporated milk could be used to cut out the sugar?
Alea Milham says
I don’t think you could substitute evaporated milk for condensed milk.
Amy says
Any lactose free suggestion? Maybe rice milk?
Alea Milham says
I prefer almond milk or cashew milk when making dairy-free creamer.
Carmie says
Lifesaver Recipe for me!
I buy an organic French vanilla creamer that is currently out of stock everywhere!
No creamer = no coffee for me.
I haven’t mixed this up yet but I’m pretty sure it’s going to do the job and maybe even become my regular daily creamer!
Thanks!
Nancy says
French Vanilla is my favorite cream. Made this this morning and. am now enjoying it. No more paying big bucks at the store.