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Hey friends! How are you feeling about the lighter holiday recipes lately? I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling pretty good – not stuffed to the gills with an overabundance of rich Christmas candy and desserts. There’s definitely a place for holiday goodies, but I personally have found that I enjoy them more if I keep them to special occasions and smaller doses! The rest of the time, I fill up on lighter meals and snacks like this Cranberry Nog. Fruity, vanilla-y, merry, and bright, this filling drink is easy to make and makes the PERFECT light snack this time of year. Need a little something before bedtime? This is it. You’ll go to bed with your tummy full, your blood sugar balanced (because of the protein and gluccie), and your taste buds dancing.
Yep, this Cranberry Nog is yet another recipe in my scheme to get more glucomannan down the hatch! Gluccie balances the blood sugar, slows down the absorption of fat, and helps you feel full while eating less calories. I use Konjac Foods brand glucomannan, which can be purchased from Netrition (here) or Amazon (here), and in the amount I have listed this drink is very thick but not slimy. If you’re using a stronger brand of glucomannan, like THM Glucomannan, feel free to decrease the amount if you notice a funky texture. (Or just chug it in the name of health.)
Cranberry has become my favorite flavor this Christmas season! It’s bright and bold, and anything that red has to have some pretty amazing nutrients! I know cranberries are real good for ya but I haven’t actually done any research about their specific properties, so please, Google if you don’t wanna take my word for it. 😛 A lot of stores have cranberries on sale (like, $1/bag!) around Thanksgiving and Christmas, so we always stock up and freeze them to use throughout the year.
Another cool use for this drink: chug it after an E meal to help fill you up. It works.
You may also enjoy:
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STARTING THM
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my recipe index
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recipe index by fuel type/allergy/theme
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all my Fuel Pull recipes
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Cranberry Wassail
As always, check out the Notes section of the recipe for extra info. Check out the links in and below the recipe to see the products I use and recommend. Some of the links included in the recipe and blog post are affiliate links, which means that if you make purchases through these links, I make a small commission to help defray the costs of running this blog (at no extra charge to you). Thanks for your help!
Need a meaningful gift for someone? Check out my new recipe calendar! It comes with 12 exclusive recipe cards!
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- 1 c. unsweetened almond milk
- 1 c. water
- ⅔ c. cranberries
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- 2 T. whey protein powder
- ⅛ tsp. THM Pure Stevia Extract Powder
- Hearty dash salt
- Hearty dash orange, vanilla extracts
- ½ tsp. glucomannan*
- Heat the almond milk, water, and cranberries together until they are your desired temperature. (I do this in a huge mug in the microwave for 3 minutes.)
- Add the rest of the ingredients and blend with an immersion blender until smooth. Taste, increase the sweetener and/or extracts if desired, and enjoy!
-You could add some coconut oil for a THM S drink if desired. If you use a teaspoon or less, you're still in Fuel Pull (Low Carb/Low Fat) territory.
-Want a THM E drink? Add a few wedges of peeled orange in with the cranberries!
-I like to make this in a huge mug with an immersion blender for minimal cleanup and no risk of pressure buildup. If you don't have an immersion blender, use your regular blender but be careful and vent the blender as needed to avoid a pressure buildup and possible explosion.
-This drink will thicken as it cools, so I don't recommend making it ahead and refrigerating it unless you want a gluccie pudding.
You can pin this recipe here:
I made this recipe a couple of times during the cold months and really liked it. Just now getting around to letting you know how much I enjoyed this special warm drink.
Hi Brianna, I’m enjoying all your amazing recipe’s! Just wondering if you realise that your Swanson link for Whey Protein powder is for the concentrate and isolate blend, not pure isolate as recommended by THM? Kind regards, Jenny.
Hi Jenny! While Swanson brand protein powder is no longer recommended for THM due to its switch from protein isolate to protein concentrate, I still use it because the nutritional info barely changed and it tastes better than any protein powder I’ve tried. Also, it’s very affordable because I can usually catch a sale from Swanson and get free shipping on my order as well. 🙂 Good question; thank you for asking! I’ve explained my reasoning over on my “Starting THM” page, but perhaps I should clarify it in blog posts more often.
Here’s the official stance from one of the THM admins on the main THM Facebook group: “When it comes to supplementing with whey powder protein, THM recommends that we use a certified CFM (cross flow microfiltration) whey isolate, with only one carb per serving and no off plan sweeteners or fillers. Using an alternate type of whey or one with harsher processing would be a personal decision and another way to do THM according to your own budget or personal research.”
Very tasty and filling! I’m going to try this cooled as a pudding next since I’m such a big fan of cranberries and orange. Thanks Briana!
I love the flavour of this drink, but the texture leaves something to be desired… is there a way to eliminate the graininess left by the cranberries? My drink turned completely pink and yours looks white- I’m now wondering if I wasn’t supposed to Blend the cranberries.
That is strange! You heated the cranberries with the water and almond milk, right? I blended mine up too (with an immersion blender) and they completely disintegrated. I’m sorry – I have no idea why they wouldn’t have blended up all the way, unless you have a cheap immersion blender. Do you have another blender you could try blending it in? (Please be careful when blending hot liquids.)
I had the same problem. I’ve tried it twice and both times just too much pulp in a drink for my liking. Maybe my cranberries have tougher skins. I have a Ninja blender so it’s blending very well. I strained it and with the help of a spoon to help push all the froth through it worked great.
I used a vita mix actually! So not a problem with the blender.
How does your drink stay white? Mine was completely pink.
I’m really not sure about that, Trish! Other people have said that too! Mine had a pink tint, but definitely not a vibrant color. I wish it would’ve – it would’ve been more photogenic. 😛 I used frozen cranberries and heated them along with the liquid for about 3 minutes in the microwave. I then used an immersion blender and didn’t notice any cranberry skins at all. I can’t think of why anything would change!
This looks SO good. I can’t wait to try it! Thank you!!
And now I’m dying to know what news you announced… so I will just say congratulations anyway, because it must be wonderful!!! 🙂
Sitting here drinking this as I type. Delicious! I was looking for a hot drink that was not chocolate and caffeine free but substantial. You hit all three! Thank you! Oh and CONGRATULATIONS! I’m so happy for you!
Woohoo! So glad you’re enjoying the recipe, Donna! And thank you. 😉
Delicious hot drink for these winter Nebraska evenings. I made mine in a quartz Pyrex measuring cup and am drinking it from the same ?. I have always wanted a ‘hot’ smoothie-type drink and this is PERFECT! Two years ago, I purchased 24 bags of cranberries for $.50/bag after Christmas. Looks like I will replenish my supply this year for this amazing drink! Thsnks Briana.
That’s great to hear, Cheryl! I love the way you’re improvising. 😛
Drinking it as I type–DELICIOUS!!
can you use any other berries instead of cranberries?
I haven’t, but you’re welcome to try! Just remember that blueberries should be kept to 1/2 cup in a Fuel Pull setting since they’re higher in natural sugars than other berries. 🙂
Looking forward to trying this….and WAHOO!!!
Ooooooo i wondered! Something you said a few days back made this idea pop into my head. Soooooo excited for you!
And i have frozen bag of cranberries just waiting for a recipe like this. Yum. Thanks!
Many blessings.
L
Could you post the nutritional content of your recipes.? I see you do at times. I and others look to your recipes not only for THM but for Low Carb/Keto lifestyles. I love your recipes. You are one talented food crafter.
Hi Donna! Thanks so much for stopping by! Up to this point I’ve only provided nutritional information for the recipes with videos, since they tend to be more heavily trafficked by people outside by normal audience. Since I am primarily a THM blogger and THM does not require numbers, I’ve personally decided to embrace that and promote it here on my website and in my cookbook. I’ve toyed with the idea of consistently providing nutritional info but don’t feel good about it at this point because it would detract from the point of the type of lifestyle I’m trying to portray. After I get some stuff in my personal life balanced out, I’ll probably be switching the plugin that I use for my printable recipes, and if I find one that comes with an automatic nutrition calculator, I may reconsider next year. 🙂 THM just focuses more on ingredients than numbers, and since it never counts the carbs in non-starchy veggies, and doesn’t count the fat in a lean protein source in an E meal, straight nutritional calculations would confuse a lot of my readers. I hate it because I know that I do have readers who aren’t just THM! I’ll keep thinking about it and hopefully someday I can find a good solution. Thank you for your input!
What a wonderful and comprehensive answer. I’ve had the same question. Thanks!
This looks like it would be good cold. Have you tried that yet? Does it work to add ice in place of the water & not heat?
No, I haven’t tried it cold because I’m freezing over here and am looking for WARM drinks!! 😛 Bahaha… You’re welcome to try, but with the high quantity of gluccie I’m not sure how the texture is going to be cold. It would probably be even thicker, maybe more of a pudding.
So happy to see and read your wonderful news.
Thank you, Glenda! More details coming soon!
(In case anyone is wondering, I made a special announcement to all my email subscribers this morning when I sent out the update about this new blog post.)
I am not a huge fan of almond milk, and therefore usually have cashew around instead. Would this still work with cashew, or should I go buy some almond??
Cashew should be just fine. 🙂 As long as it has similar nutritional info to the carton almond milk (about 30 calories per cup), you’ll still have a Fuel Pull.