Iced Coffee - [cold brew coffee]

So, I'm very into trying new things. And I'm also a Starbucks addict. I love it and I go there way to often... I may have some "friends" at Starbucks who know my name... That being said, I spend way too much money there, and should probably just buy stock in the company (is that how that works? I know nothing about this), and I just need to find a more economical solution.

So, last year, when I was saving for a trip abroad, I had to cut WAY back, but wanted a good solution. This has become a part of my day, my routine, so I needed a replacement of sorts. So, I had a friend with an espresso machine who gave/sold it to me for free or some very reasonable price. I bought some coffee and got it ground finely, bought a bottle of my favorite syrup - cinnamon dulce - and decided to try making my own espressos. I even have a Starbucks barista friend who walked me through how to use the machine and everything. This solution was ok, but was not the real thing, and the machine would get clogged, so I need to rethink that and see if I can figure out how to give that another go...

But for now, it's SPRING! and it feels like spring, so we're in the season for iced coffee. I have been seeing things about this for a while. I've been looking up how to make your own coffee concentrate, and whatnot, and I have finally tried it. I used the Pioneer Woman's instructions to make my own. This is what resulted:

This lovely-looking drink is the start of something that could be very good. I need to perfect it, and I have some ideas on how to do that... but I think it's definitely a good start. And, I have 2 GALLONS of cold brew coffee now to experiment with. Yikes! My refrigerator is not huge. I think I'm going to just use half of a bag of coffee and one gallon of water next time... The first time I made it, I used:

*a medium roast coffee
*coconut milk (it's what I have at he moment - I get my drinks at Starbucks with soy milk now, thank you lactose intolerance, so I'm thinking about getting a vanilla soy or almond milk to try...)
*SF cinnamon dulce syrup

Again, I say it was pretty good. My friend liked it. I'm just trying to decide what to try next to see if I can really make this something that I can replace at least some of my Starbucks runs with... Because they are taking all of my money. No, I give it to them. But I shouldn't. As I work through this 2 GALLONS of coffee, and try some different things, I'll let you know if I come up with any better solutions too...

Happy drinking!

Blueberry Banana Cream Slushy

This recipe came from the same place as the strawberry banana slushy from the other day, but I'll give you the link to the blog anyway. I found this after I found the strawberry banana one, which I liked so much I wanted to try another. I will say that I didn't LOVE this one quite as much as the strawberry banana, but it was still quite tasty.

In a blender, blend:
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 frozen banana
1 can of diet cream soda

She also gives the option of adding sweetener, which I feel is unnecessary. BUT if you make it and it's just not doing it for you, try adding a little sweetener.

I look forward to making this more in the summer and to trying more of her slushies... she has a pretty good flavor-mixing thing going on! (and the best part is that they're super low-cal, tasty without the cost!)

Strawberry Banana Slushy

Ingredients:
1c ice
1c strawberries
2 bananas
1/2 can diet 7up

Instructions: 
Put all ingredients in a blender and blend away!


This simple and tasty recipe comes from the StilettosandLegos.com

'Tis very tasty and refreshing... and it makes about 2-3 times this much. I put the leftovers in the freezer and am going to try thawing and re-blending it later.

Naturally Flavored Water {citrus-flavored water}

I must first tell you that I found this idea on Pinterest, and that it comes from this website. This is not my idea or recipe, but I'm excited about it! Today, I made the citrus version... Here's what I did:

Cut up an orange, a lemon, and a lime or two.

Put the slices into your container.

This was supposed to be done with a wooden spoon or muddler... I had neither (sad, I know!). Lightly muddle, press, and twist the fruit.

Add ice (to the top of the container).

Fill with cold water and refrigerate. They say that letting it sit overnight improves the flavor (which makes sense).

The website above has several options for this fruit-infused water. I plan to try some more, but if you're curious before I get to it, just click on the link above!

***

I have to say that I did not love this water... I left if overnight before I tried it (I didn't even try a sip of it the day I made it - I probably would have liked it better fresh). It was quite citrus-y... but bitter and tart. The kind of stuff that makes your mouth dry and makes you pucker. I didn't even drink the whole glass of water I poured. I'm still going to try some of the other versions, but if I do this again, I will make it just for the day that I'm going to drink it, and probably not put quite as much fruit in it. I think it could be very refreshing, I just wasn't a fan of the flavor when left overnight.