Cold Brewed Coffee

I am sure I have said this before in one of my previous blogs but I am obsessed with coffee! Its pretty much the first thing I think of in the morning, some times I drink it throughout the day and I get excited when I'm in bed just knowing that when I wake up my coffee will be hot and ready for me....obsessed. But I must admit sometimes hot coffee on a hot day just isn't that appealing so on those days I like to have a nice cup of cold brewed coffee!

Ingredients needed...

1/3 cup Ground Coffee

1 1/2 cups Cold Water

Large Jar

Strainer

Coffee Filter

I pour the coffee into the jar...

...then I add the water into the jar over the coffee and stir the water and the coffee together really well.

I then tightly screw on the top of the jar and let it sit on my counter for about 8 hours.

(I let it sit over night so when I get up I can finish the process so its cold and ready when I'm in need an afternoon pick me up.)

 After the coffee has sat out for the 8 hours I put the strainer over a large glass bowl then place a coffee filter in the strainer.

I then pour the coffee, grounds and all, into the coffee filter...

 ...and let the coffee strain through into the bowl.

After all the coffee is strained I pour it back into the jar, which I cleaned out while I was waiting on the coffee to strain. I then place the jar in the fridge and that is where it stays until I feel like a nice cold cup of coffee.

This coffee is really delicious and is pretty strong which is exactly what I am needing when I hit the wall in the middle of the day.

Tip: I like to make coffee ice cubes through out the week using left over morning coffee so when I have a cup of cold coffee I can pour it over the coffee ice cubes. This way when the cubes melt it just adds more coffee to my cup unlike regular ice cubes which end up watering it down.

Vanilla Coffee Creamer Recipe

"Would you like some coffee with your cream?" Ive heard this many times! I am one of those people who has to have my coffee almost white in order to drink it, black coffee is just to much for me. I love flavored coffee creamers that you can buy from the grocery store but its pretty much never in my budget, I always have so many other must haves to get. So I decided to make my own fat free vanilla coffee creamer.

What I Used:
One 14 ounce can Fat Free Sweet Condensed Milk

1 cup Fat Free Milk

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

An Empty Container

(this was an old soy sauce container)

I poured all of my ingredients into my empty container then shook it to mix everything together really well...ta da Fat Free Vanilla Coffee Creamer.  

Easy Peasy!

Skinny Peppermint Mocha

I love when my coffee goes with the seasons! Pumpkin Spice Latte in October Cinnamon Dolce Latte in November and Peppermint Mocha in December. Here is my skinny version of Starbucks Peppermint Mocha.

What You Will Need:

 1/4 cup Stevia

1/4 cup Water

1/4 teaspoon Peppermint Extract

3 tablespoons Fat Free Hot Chocolate Powder

3 tablespoons Warm Water

1/2 cup Hot Coffee

1 1/2 cups Warm Fat Free Milk

In a pot pour in the 1/4 cup water and the Stevia stirring until Stevia is dissolved. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a low simmer then add the peppermint extract. Let simmer for about 20 minutes.

In the bottom of your mug mix the hot chocolate powder and warm water. Add in your coffee and 1 1/2 teaspoons of the peppermint Stevia mixture. Stir everything together well then add in the warm milk and stir again.

So delicious on a cold winters day!

Sipping On Sleepy Hollow

I am not a fan of scary movies, at all, but I am a fan of spooky ones....like Sleepy Hollow. I love the story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and I am a fan of Tim Burton's movie "Sleepy Hollow" so when I saw that FOX was making a Sleepy Hollow TV show I got very excited. I watched the premier with my family and now it is definitely one of our favorite shows, if you haven't seen it click here! Sleepy Hollow took a bit of a break but is back on tonight, Monday November 4th at 9/8c, and I am so ready! To kick off tonight's episode I came up with a delicious Sleepy Hollow drink for my husband and I!

The Sleepy Hollow

What You Need:

2 tablespoons Smirnoff Cinna-Sugar Twist

1 1/2 tablespoons Fulton's Harvest Pumpkin Pie

5ml bottle Bailey's Irish Cream

1/2 cup milk

Shake all of the ingredients in a shaker or a jar with a lid (that's what I used) with a few ice cubes then pour the mixture into your glass.

This drink is really good and the taste is perfect for fall...and for a little Sleepy Hollow!

Cheers!

Skinny Salted Caramel Mocha

I love Starbucks all year long but I love them a bit extra once they bust out their fall flavors! Nothing beats the Pumpkin Spice Latte, it will always be my favorite, but I have also started liking their Salted Caramel Mocha. Unfortunately due to my empty wallet I don't get to go to Starbucks all to often so I decided to try my hand at making their drinks at home. Last year I made a "pumpkin spice latte" and a "cinnamon dolce latte" so this year I thought I would try to make a skinny salted caramel mocha! Here we go!

 Ingredients:

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar free caramel sauce

1 packet fat free milk chocolate powder

A pinch of sea salt

1/2 cup warm fat free milk

Coffee (of course)

And fat free Reddi Wip for a nummy topping (totally optional)

First things first, make some coffee! 

 While your coffee is brewing put the caramel, chocolate powder, and the pinch of sea salt into a cup. Once your coffee is done pour it into the cup and mix everything together really well. Then pour in your warm milk and mix again. That's it!

I poured my yummy skinny salted caramel mocha into this awesomely cool skull cup and topped it with a bit of the fat free wip and a small drizzle of caramel. So Good!

Spicy Cinnamon Coffee

In October I am obsessed with everything pumpkin but once December hits its all about cinnamon and spice. Our house smells spicy all month long and everything I bake has to have cinnamon and other spicy ingredients in it. And of course my coffee flavoring changes from pumpkin spice to gingerbread and spicy cinnamon. I already posted the recipe for the gingerbread flavored coffee, you can go to that by clicking here, so today I thought I would post the recipe for the spicy cinnamon flavored coffee.

Ingredients

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 1/3 cup milk

A dash of cinnamon

A fresh brewed pot of coffee

Preparation

Mix milk, sugar, ginger and cinnamon in a pot. Just before this mixture starts to boil remove it from the heat. Pour yourself a mug of your fresh brewed coffee and stir in some of the milk mixture, the amount you add is totally up to you and your taste buds. Enjoy!

Gingerbread Coffee

Now that is it December I can admit that I am super excited for Christmas! I love everything about Christmas...the lights, the smells, the music...it all makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. So to start off my day the Christmas way I made a Gingerbread flavored coffee. It was so good and the smell totally gave me the warm and fuzzies.

 Ingredients

2 cups water

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 1/2 teaspoons ginger

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preperation

Stir all the ingredients into a medium pot and bring them to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, then take the pot off of the heat. After it all cools you can pour it into a seal able container and put it in the fridge.

I put about 2 tablespoons of the syrup I made into the bottom of my mug, then I poured in my HOT fresh brewed coffee. I then added some milk and stirred it all together.

Delicious Drink

This last week has been extremely long and busy! Between hosting Thanksgiving Dinner, my car totally dying and my husband having some health issues I haven't had a second to breath. Thankfully things are starting to slow down and I have decided that tonight I was going to relax and have some me time. So now that my two guys are in bed I am going to sit down and catch up on all my favorite shows, thank you DVR, and have a nice big glass of my favorite wine. I was never a wine lover until I discovered the Nehalem Bay Winery http://www.nehalembaywinery.com/. Most of their wines are so fruity and taste like juice....spiked juice. I introduced my husband to their wines a couple years ago and he was automatically hooked so every winter we order a case of all our favorite flavors. My all time favorite is Pacific Plum and my husband's is American Niagra but we also love the Apple Jack, Peach, Pear and Coastal Cranberry.

Tonight I poured myself a yummy glass of the Peach wine. To keep my wine cold I threw in some frozen red grapes, they work great and unlike ice cubes they don't melt and water down my tasty treat. 

I just wanted to share my Nehalem Bay wine obsession and my grape cube trick with you all. Now I'm off to watch Hart Of Dixie (Wade.....mMmMm!) Have a great night.

Pumpkin Spiced Coffee

I always know Fall is here when I see the sign outside of Starbucks saying "Our Pumpkin Spiced Latte is back!" I get all warm and fuzzy inside when I read that because the Pumpkin Spiced Latte is my all time favorite drink and I get very sad when they stop serving it. So when I found this recipe through Pinterest I got very excited because now when I am craving a Pumpkin Spiced Latte in Spring I can make one for myself at home. Here is the recipe for all you Pumpkin Spice Latte lovers like myself!

You will need:

1/3 cup canned pumpkin puree

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cups water

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

How you make the syrup:
Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Turn burner down to medium heat, stir occasionally to keep from burning. Cook mixture until it becomes syrup like and begins to coat the spoon which should be about 10-15 minutes. Pour into a container and refrigerate.

How I make my Pumpkin Spiced Coffee:
After my coffee pot is done brewing my morning coffee I pour about 1/2 cup fat free milk into a bowl and add about 3 spoon fulls of the syrup to the milk. I stir it up really well then put it in the microwave for about a minute. I stir the milk mixture again and pour it into my coffee mug. I then pour my coffee into the mug and mix everything together really well. The smell is amazing and the taste is even better!