Iced Cawfee

Yum - Yum - Yum. Just made my first batch of iced coffee.  True iced coffee is not the method of making a batch of hot coffee in your coffee maker and then pouring it in to a cup and adding ice. Trued iced coffee is done via cold brew method. Soaking coffee grounds in cold water for 8-11 hours. (Overnight on your counter top) It tastes SOOO good. Full detailed step-by-step instructions can be found on thepioneerwoman.com's website - titled perfect iced coffee.  I'm not at all going to try and re-create the wheel, but I will tell you what I've learned.

1) She makes 2 gallons worth of this dreamy concoction.  Yes 2 gallons - it lasts her 3 weeks. I was nervous to make that much so I scaled back the recipe to 1 gallon of water to approx. 2 1/2 cups of ground coffee (or 1/2 a pound - I weighed mine on a scale).

I drink decaf so I made an even small batch for myself based off an old article I found on-line.  1/3 cup of coffee to 1-1/2 cups of water. The first time I made it following that criteria it only made one cup, so the next night I made a triple batch - one cup of coffee to 4-1/2 cups of water. Much better and will at least last me longer than 1 morning.

2) Use the coffee she used - cafe bustelo - it's "espresso coffee" that is a rich, flavorful, dark roast, and ideal for cappuccino, espresso, or ICED COFFEE.  I found it at my local Wal-Mart.

3) Prepare for the mess.  Her photos are fabulous, but not realistic of my experience.  I made a huge freakin mess.  I bought a 'special' gallon bowl for this and made a rookie mistake. By the time you add the coffee to the gallon of water the darn thing was plumb full.  Plus the bowl I bought didn't have a lid or a pour spout. The pour spout is every important, otherwise you end up with this.

And that's my 'small' decaf batch. It was too frightening to take a photo of the mess the gallon made.

4) Unless you are super woman, have somebody help you with the pouring out the grounds step - so you can avoid the photo above when I tried to do it myself.

5) If you can, get good cheesecloth because it will make it much easier as you can then squeeze the cloth to get every last drop out. I tried a short cut this morning and use our coffee cone filter and a paper coffee filter. It wouldn't drain fast enough so I got frustrated and tried to squeeze the water out and then tore the paper and made the mess seen above.

6) Don't use regular ice cubes for your iced coffee or it will get watered down.  Freeze left over coffee (if you even know what that is, ha ha - that's for my die hard coffee drinkers who drink every last drop) and then use the frozen coffee cubes to add to make your iced coffee.

That's it. I hope you give it a try because it is totally worth it!  I'm too scared to try her version with the sweetened condensed milk. I figure my waistline has suffered enough lately after the knock you naked brownies.

My favorite kind of caviar - from a cowboy...

I made this recipe for a family gathering. To die for - and sooo easy!  Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:
1 (11oz) can white shoepeg corn, drained & rinsed
1 (15oz) can black beans, drained & rinsed
1 (10 oz) can Rotel tomatoes, with juice
2 ripe avocados, diced
2/3 c. red onion, chopped
1/4 c. olive oil
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cumin
2/3 c. cilantro, chopped
a few dashes of Tabasco (optional)

Combine all ingredients, adding avocados last, and toss gently. Serve with chips.
I normally don't use the Tabasco since the Rotel tomatoes add a little spice, but if you like extra spice...go for it!

Unfortunately after a long time searching the web, I couldn't find the original place I found the recipe so I am unable to give credit to whomever shared it first. Sorry!

This is going to be one of those recipes where you want to double it - trust me on this one!

When breakfast and dessert are done before dinner....

Confession time - I have a flaw. Ok, I probably have several flaws, but the one I am sharing today is my desire to multi task too much when it comes to cooking and baking. Instead of making one dessert, I am notorious for making three.  Tonight was one of those nights.  At exactly the same time I started the water to boil pasta for our spaghetti dinner, I also started making overnight blueberry french toast, knock you naked brownies, and a spinach salad.  The inevitable happened and I had to postpone dinner so I could finish the brownies (who were half baked waiting on melted carmel) and beg my husband to help me with the overnight french toast.  Finally the brownies were back in the oven, french toast in the fridge, and spaghetti back on again.  (Aka: breakfast and dessert were done before dinner.)

Lucky for me, dinner was amazing.  It was simple spaghetti (made with my husband's homemade sausage), garlic bread, and Jennifer Steven's spinach salad recipe.  This salad is to die for!  My husband hates spinach with a passion but he tried it and even got a little more for seconds.  The kids even had seconds.  The best part about the salad is that it is easy to make: spinach (get the plastic box full from Costco), hard boiled eggs, big chuncked bacon bits, and green onions. It's the dressing that really makes it though - one of those sweet oil and sugar kind of dressings.

Dressing:

1 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar
approx 1/2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce.  (can put extra)

Here is her comment about the sugar:   I have also made the dressing with truvia or splenda and it turns out great as the sugar content is pretty high in this dressing. If you omit one of these products for the sugar, just make sure you dissolve the vinegar and sugar substitute together before adding any other ingredients...I also throw in some green onion or dried onion for a little extra kick!

My additional advice is to go special on the bacon bits. Not the old all red small stuff we ate as kids.  Here is what I used: 

Now I am patiently waiting on the brownies.  Unfortunately they recommend cooling them, and then putting them in the fridge for several hours so the carmel can set. Soon I will be able to let you know how they turn out. (Tick tock tick tock.)  If you want the recipe and step by step directions then click here.  (Courtesy of thepioneerwoman.com site.)  One of the reviewers said they microwaved the carmels instead of using a double boiler. I tried that and it was a pain so next time I'm going to go with the double boiler method.  I love her idea of forming the square ahead of time for the second layer, instead of trying to make the layer on top of the hot carmel. Definitely a trick I will use more often. 

UPDATE: I just tried the brownies - and they worked. 

They straight up knocked me naked - mainly because I had to run and put on a larger pair of pants - ha ha.  These brownies are VERY sweet and LOADED with carmel - so definitely feed them to a crowd that likes the ooey gooey goodness of carmel!  Also make sure you use a big girl knife to cut them - they were thick and a wimpy knife would not cut it!

As for the overnight blueberry french toast - you will have to wait until tomorrow for my review because they are still in the fridge waiting to be cooked.  You can click here for the recipe and photos. Courtesy of chef-in-training blog.

UPDATE: Breakfast was amazing - and a real treat because I went and ran a 10K this morning and came home to them ready to eat. Very good!!!  I've made over night stuff before that never turned out so I was pleasantly surprised that this recipe worked. The sauce was especially tasty!!

Let me know if you try any of these. :)

Couscous recipe conundrum

I'm having quite the couscous conundrum and need your help. A co-worker passed along a fabulous recipe "Couscous Salad with Dried Cherries".  The hubby and I really like it, but the kids aren't a fan of the balsamic vinegar/dijon mustard combination.  Besides the fact that it tastes good, I love that it is easy to make and after feeding the family there is plenty left for lunch the next day so I am on the search for an alternative that will still be satisfying to me and also get the kids to enjoy (aka eat) it too.


Take a look at the recipe.  What would you recommend for a 'dressing' instead of the balsamic/dijon combo? I bought a few different types of salad dressings to try - but I wanted to seek out answers from my trusty friends too.


Here's the recipe (from allrecipes.com):

If this recipe inspires you, here are my suggestions:

1) DOUBLE IT!!! One box of couscous will double the recipe, so it's a no brainer to use 1 box and just add more veggies and liquids. The other bonus about doubling it is that then you can use the full can of chicken broth and add a little extra H20 to equal 2 cups of fluids to boil the couscous in.

2)  I don't like the dried cherry flavor, but my kids do so I leave it in for them. It may be the fact that I bought cherry flavored craisins and the altered sweet taste was to much for me.  Other reviewers suggested using regular craisins.

3) Omit the pine nuts - to expensive - nuf said.  I did sprinkle on some sunflower seeds the first time and they were tasty.

4) If you can, make this ahead of time. No biggie if you can't, it's still yummy right after it's been prepared, but it seemed to be a little bit more blended the next day for lunch.

5) Extra bonus - no oven!  You do bring the chicken broth/H20 to a boil but that's it so you don't end up with a hot kitchen which is super nice this time of year.

So, if you do make this and come up with an alternative dressing for it, please let me know!!! Thanks! Bon Appetit!

Yum....Nutella frosting!

When I lived in Ireland I was introduced to the wonderful creation of nutella.  The yummy, creamy, hazelnut and cocoa spread. A few months ago I found a nutella scone recipe and never got around to making it but luckily I did get around to buying nutella.  Last night while perusing other blogs I found a link to a nutella cupcake recipe.  That provided me enough motivation to finally open the container and dive in. 

They turned out terrific! Here's my comments though.  The recipe says the batter will be thin - yep - it is. No biggie, I just used a cookie scoop to make the cupcakes. I did use paper liners, and unfortunately the cake does stick to the liners.  I did a few with out the liners, and the cake stuck to the pan so I'm not sure what is the better option.  The frosting is mouthwatering! My only comment is that while mixing it, it did get 'dry' up until when you add the cream.  Just keep mixing and it will turn out fine.  I really enjoy the cupcake themselves, but not sure it's worth it if they stick that bad.  I think I will definitely make the frosting again (it made quite a bit) and just put it on regular chocolate cupcakes.  My one word of caution though - they're addictive...I couldn't stop at just one.

Here's a link to the recipe. Originally posted by Chef-n-training.

Update - stuck the cupcakes in the fridge and now they stick less to the paper. Still yummy too!