If you know me well, you know that I model many of my lifestyle choices after two women: Ina Garten and Giada De Laurentiis. I love Giada’s relaxed-but-sexy Italifornia style (I just made that word up) but I really resonate with the practical uniform Ina wears. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

And their cooking styles follow suit: Ina taught me how to perfect my classic Boeuf Bourguignon game, where Giada taught me how to reimagine dishes, like putting butternut squash in my lasagna.

If you come over to my house for dinner, there’s a good chance you’ll get some reiteration of a dish one of these women introduced to me.

This morning is no exception ~ and it ROCKS ~ and I’m on my second.

It’s a Shakerato, introduced to me by the lovely Giada, and it might be my new favorite way to drink coffee.

Is that a white hair in my eyebrow? GULP…

Anyway, moving on! Nothing to see here!

Here’s how easy this coffee is to make!

1. Make a really good cup of coffee. I genuinely worry that people don’t know what that tastes like, but I’ll refrain from getting all preachy about good coffee.
2. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and tip the coffee in.
3. Add a teaspoon of maple syrup. Not too much! It’s all about balance, friends. If you need lots of sweet for your coffee, you probably just don’t like coffee. And that’s okay.
4. Add a dash of cinnamon.
5. Shake until you can’t hear those ice cubes anymore ~ probably 30 seconds to a minute. I actually added another few cubes and shook it some more.
6. Strain into a mug or even a martini glass if you need a fancy Saturday morning treat!

It is so refreshing and divine! It might be 11 degrees out, but this is really hitting the spot this morning!

You can obviously spruce this up with lots of other things ~ a touch of cream, cocoa powder, shaved dark chocolate, a sprinkle of cardamom, even some Baileys! But it’s so, so good just like this, and really healthy!

Grazie mille, Giada!!!!