Keurig Coffee - Adventures on a Budget

For years I was addicted to Starbuck's Coffee. I called it my "crack" and it truly was.

If I'm going to be completely honest I should tell you that probably is not the exaggeration that you might think it is, and at the expense of being looked at as a complete idiot, I will give you a couple of examples of how bad it really was.

Mine has my name on it.

1.  Everyone at my local Starbuck's knew my name. Hell, they knew my kids names!
2.  The staff at said Starbuck's would often have my drink ready by the time I got to the window. See, I have a bright orange Jeep Wrangler and they could see me in the line. You don't want to keep one of your best customers waiting. . .
3.  I have a gold card. I didn't know they existed for years but once I found out, I made it my goal to get one. It's pretty easy to do when you just start purchasing with a registered card rather than cash, especially when you get an average of a drink per day.
4. My kids often got special treats as they had to sit in the back of the car on these daily excursions. A few years back Starbuck's had big plans to reveal a new flavor for Christmas called Chestnut Praline. My kids tried it in a Frappacino early - before the official premiere - and declared it tasted like Lucky Charms.
5. I used to go through a sort of withdrawal, complete with a pounding headache and single minded mission to find a Starbuck's if I needed one. This was evident on trips cross country and in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I have been known to reroute a drive. When were in Munising for a few days to see Pictured Rock we drove to Marquette which was 45 minutes away, location of the nearest Starbuck's

I could probably go on but I won't. We also do not want to figure out what a Venti Starbuck's Iced Latte with Two Raw Sugars costs per day, per week, per year, and for 10 years. I'm not going to say it but I do happen to know how much that is and I'm trying to put it out of my mind. Because honestly, you can't cry over spilled milk and at this point I'm not doing it anymore anyways. I can justify it in my mind if I want . . . I can tell you that I don't smoke and I don't have many other vices unless you want to count my obsession with food in general. I can tell you it's not unhealthy and it could be worse. I could come up with a million excuses but at the end of the day I stopped and haven't really looked back. I occasionally get one in social situations or if I'm away from home but daily it isn't done anymore. Starbuck's must be seriously trying to figure out where I went.

Why you may ask? Well it's really due to the Keurig. While I write this I have a mug full of 8 O'Clock Colombian with some 1/2 and 1/2 and Trader Joe's Sweetened Condensed Milk (yes I put both in and it's delicious) by my side and I was thinking that there may be a few naysayers or purists that can't understand how you can forgo the coffee from a place that makes it for you. Yes, I miss the social aspect of speaking to the Barista every morning and the banter but I also save time and money and I can stay home on a Sunday morning and not even leave to get my caffeine fix.

The change? A Keurig machine. Yes, those little plastic cups filled with goodness. Once I got one in November of 2013 I was able to forgo my daily trip to Starbuck's. At first I only would drink Pike's Place but in the past year I have tried all kinds of new things. Flavored coffees are not my thing - i Like real honest to goodness coffee without any frills. with the exception of Gloria Jean's German Chocolate Cake I haven't found any I really like that are flavored, most of them taste artificial to me. But I now love other things such as Holiday Blend from Starbuck's and San Francisco Bay French Roast (thank you to my dear friends that got this for me Christmas last year).

I'm now on a new quest, and it's because of an article we recently read. 23 K-Cups, ranked by a world class barista  takes the work out of experimenting a little bit. I'm still looking to locate the #1 flavor (Green Mountain Kenyan AA) but have tried and purchased #2 and #3. So far #3 is my favorite (8 O'Clock Colombian)

Some people would say that I pay entirely too much for K-Cups. Sure there are cheaper ones than what I purchase but at 79 cents vs. $4.19 ( Venti Iced Latte with Two Raw Sugars) I'm okay with it. I'm really a frugal coffee drinker now. Oh yes, I did have to make a couple of investments. I like a huge mug and have a thing for Fiestaware but those were bought with Kohl's Cash after a Black Friday and cost about 20 cents each. I also routinely use Bed Bath and Beyond 20% off coupons for my coffee purchases. So there!

Update 1/19/2015: So 100% Columbian is no longer available from 8 O'Clock Coffee. It's been repackaged at Colombian Peaks which I tried last night. Depending on what you read, some say it's the exact same item but with new packaging due to a change in ownership but others agree with me that it's not the same thing. I'm no expert on coffee but I will say it's a lot weaker. I also found out that Green Mountain now owns 8 O'Clock. . . It could also be to a change in the climate conditions when they coffee beans were grown or harvested but I will keep on the quest. Still looking for the Green Mountain Kenyan. I found it online but I don't want to invest 40 dollars before I try one K-Cup.

Sunday Cocktail: Should I call it a Cucumber Slurpee?

It's Definitely an Ode to a Single Cucumber

I tried my hand at container gardening on the deck this year. All I wanted was cucumbers. See, cucumbers were essential for cocktails with Hendrick's Gin. But alas, the crop of cucumbers were not bountiful. It was rather, ahem, pathetic. The first cucumber had promise. It was beautiful and actually made the vine that had attached to our chiminea sag under its weight. However, a small varmint (squirrel, chipmunk, or?) took a huge bite out of it and I'm not sharing with rodents. The second cucumber also suffered a similar fate. But yesterday, we found one that was untouched and it was beautiful. Yes, tiny, but perfect!

A last hurrah to summer, right? It actually was a beautiful day for very late September, with a high reaching almost 80 degrees and bright sunny skies. . . I really couldn't resist. My Sunday Cocktail Buddy is out of town today and I had to carry on without her but I persevered. 

I muddled some slices of cucumber right into a Ninja cup. No need to mess up extra glasses (come to think of it I could have just drank the drink in the Ninja cup too but that was where I drew the line. I like a cocktail in a pretty glass at the end. To the muddled cucumbers I added about 1.5 oz of Hendrick's Gin and the filled the glass up to the maximum level with ice, adding Canada Dry Ginger Ale and a squeeze of lime juice. I placed it on top of the blender and it came out as a frothy Slurpee. A refreshing cucumber version of a Slurpee.

I think the glass does make it look festive. . . garnished with a fresh slice of cucumber.

Paloma Cocktail with Kah Blanco Tequila

We will call this a "preview edition" as it is not a regular installment of "Sunday Cocktails". . . 

 

Let's call it "End of Summer Extra Cocktail Edition"!

I was really checking for updates on newsworthy stories when a thumbnail on the Yahoo Homepage boasted about a Mexican cocktail more popular than the margarita. I guess I can be easily distracted, especially by a cocktail recipe.

Well I love a margarita so I was very interested. It took me to this link for a video on how to make a Paloma which they dubbed the "anti-margarita".

While I'm not about to give up margaritas anytime soon because of a new drink, I was interested in the grapefruit soda that they included with this. You see, it's rare that I actually have ingredients in the house but I have a huge case of Izze soda from Costco that has just been sitting behind the door (who has storage for bulk purchases?) and I knew for a fact that there were grapefruit soda bottles in that case. 

Maybe more important was that the recipe specified blanco tequila. While I have some run of the mill tequila I have been using for some time, I do have some reserve tequila as I have all of the Kah varieties (because I really just wanted the sugar skull bottles and really didn't care what was in them). So this was a perfect excuse to finally open the white skull. The video did give a brief overview of all three flavors of tequila and apparently the white is the one that has not been aged and is, well, white.

The video narrator mentioned that he does not rim the glass with salt, preferring just a pinch but I am all about the salty rim. I love getting a little bit with each sip and I wasn't about to give it up. Based on the rest of his video this is what I did.

Paloma Cocktail

Ingredients:

2 oz Blanco Tequila
Ice
Lime Juice
4 oz Izze Grapefruit Soda
Lime Wedges

 

Directions:

Pour 2 oz of tequila over ice in a salt rimmed glass. Add a good squeeze of lime. Add 4 oz of grapefruit soda and lime wedges.

Enjoy!

I found this drink light as promised and I might be using this blanco tequila more often. I don't think I appreciated how smooth and light this stuff was going to be and I may be converted to good tequila from now one. I might just open another one of these bottles I have been using as decoration in my house! Maybe Reposado next?

Sunday Cocktails: Florodora Cocktail by Maggiano's

A.K.A. A Homage to Hendrick's Gin

This particular cocktail has been planned for a while after Maggiano's featured it in July as a special seasonal drink. I was happy to see Hendrick's Gin featured in something besides a cucumber drink (which is equally delicious with Hendrick's). The Florodora recipe can be found on Maggiano's Blog.

I decided that this was the week because this was our first official Sunday Cocktail Hour in a few weeks (as official as an impromptu get together can be without any real planning except vague comments about inclinations to get together). This was also our first weekend after our recent trip to Chicago which may be important because Chicago actually inspired me to use more Hendrick's as a key component in cocktails.

Hendrick's Gin Billboard - A Hotel Room View

Why you ask? Well apparently Chicago has a love for Hendrick's based on billboards in Downtown Chicago.  I kid you not, there were TWO of them within walking distance from our hotel room. This first one here is actually shot from our hotel room window. Seeing that every day (well countless times every day) made me remember that we had this drink on the short list. I actually had one at Maggiano's to "test" it before making it at home but it's really not too much of an experiment when you have Hendrick's in the house and you know you already love it.

Hendrick's Gin is not your regular gin and I've featured it before in this blog. We made a Cucumber Lime Spritzers as one of our first Sunday Cocktails. Hendrick's Gin is infused with rose petals and cucumbers and distilled in Scotland. It's a little on the high end in terms of price but it's also a super cool bottle (think vintage apothecary) and I actually keep it in my vintage style apothecary metal and glass cabinet (go figure). I think that says a lot since other liquor (with the exception of some collector grade K'ah Sugar Skull Tequila bottles) is locked up in an artillery case to keep it secure. But this bottle is just so pretty. The flavor is a little quirky but I am not a huge fan of gin in general so that's fine by me. Use a little tonic water, or some 7 Up. Throw in some cucumbers, or limes, or whatever. Just pour it over ice and you really are all set.

Second Billboard for Hendrick's Gin - So Pretty!

Speaking of ingredients as there were no formal plans our Florodoras did get some variations on the original recipe. 1. I  had strawberries in the house but they were frozen in a Pyrex in the fridge, along with the limes. I defrosted them with a little 15 second zap in the microwave so they were softer but not cooked. I shouldn't admit it but it's what we had on hand. 2. We did not have simple syrup made and we didn't want to prolong the time to get to our drinks so we just used some sugar and muddled the strawberries. Sure, I should make some simple syrup and I'm going to but I had not yet. If Sunday Cocktail Hour becomes stressful I think we would lose the spirit of Sunday Cocktail Hour. . . and 3. We did not purchase Ginger Beer. It was discussed but we did not end up buying any for a couple of reasons. First, I don't think either myself or my friend Jill really LIKE Ginger Beer as it seems much stronger. I also saw it at a specialty store and it was quite pricey for 4 bottles (which we would waste in needing only 4 ounces for two drinks). Canada Dry seemed like a good choice with a milder flavor and a much milder price ($4 for 12 cans at Target this week). I guess I did a little planning by picking up the Canada Dry yesterday before Cocktail Hour. . .

So here is the version of the drink that we ended up making rather than exactly like Maggiano's. Call it artistic liscense as I think Hendrick's is all about making things your own. . .

Florodora Adaption 

Makes 1 Cocktail

Ingredients:

1.5 oz Hendrick's Gin
1/2 oz Lime Juice (we used the little plastic lime from the grocery store)
1.5 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
1 Strawberry, destemmed and cut into quarters (defrosted from my frozen stash)
2 oz Canada Dry Ginger Ale
Lime Quarters (defrosted from my frozen stash)

Directions

In a cocktail shaker, muddle the strawberries with the sugar. Add gin and lime juice. Fill the shaker about halfway with ice and shake for about 30 seconds. Add the Ginger Ale and gently roll. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass with ice. Dump ice from the shaker to retrieve some of the muddle strawberries that settled in the bottom of the shaker. Add some lime wedges for more flavor.

Sunday Cocktails: Hummer Ice Cream Drinks

Garnished with Cookie Wafer Straws and Crumbled Oreos courtesy of Jill!

This episode is brought to you from inside the house. . . 

It's raining here. Really torrential with hail and the whole nine yards. I should mention that at 4PM it was fine but by 5 (cocktail hour this week) it had already started pouring and the sky turned green.

Our plan for today were Hummers and we decided it didn't matter. After all, Jill went out and braved the storm to get us ice cream. How could we change our minds? An investment was made! She also bought these really delicious cookie wafers and some Oreos to make them works of art.

I will caution anyone that follows a recipe that our original version was WAY TOO STRONG (3 oz of O'Mara's Irish Cream and 3 oz of Barcardi Rum per drink) so for the recipe I'm sharing here I have cut back the alcohol to a more manageable level. Feel free to add more but I like to taste the ice cream too.

Hummer Milkshakes

Per Cocktail:
1 oz O'Mara's Irish Cream
1 oz Barcardi Rum
3 cups of Vanilla Ice Cream (we were health conscious and used Slow Churned which is supposedly 1/2 the fat and calories?)

Mix all ingredients in the blender. Put in glass. Garnish with cookie wafer straw and/or Oreo cookies.

Next week we are planning on making these Florodora Cocktails that I tried at Maggiano's last night. I love anything with Hendrick's and since we have a bottle. . . Stay tuned!

Sunday Cocktails: Jamaican Screwdriver

Brought to you by the Ninja Inspiration Guide!

I have wanted to buy a blender to make breakfast smoothies for quite a while. The reality is that often when rushing to work in the morning the kids don't get a nutritious breakfast and there is one particular one that may not even want to eat breakfast. We have been looking for a while for something a little more powerful than a conventional blender because those just haven't done the job for us. I was holding out for a Blendtech or a Vitamix but saw a package at Costco last weekend for the Ninja system that came with the full size blender pitcher, three single serve cups, a food processor and a dough hook. Can't beat that for $149!

We made a really great smoothie with banilla yogurt (Trader Joe's) with frozen strawberries, banana, vanilla whey powder and honey. Last night we had orange juice, milk, frozen strawberry slushies for dessert and today we have banana date peanut butter milkshakes for breakfast.

Now of course having a blender like this has some other benefits not necessarily related to nutrituous endeavors. This can be a giant slurpee machine! This can make frozen cocktails!

So for the first experiment in the Ninja we decided to follow a recipe to the letter before we move forward with our own recipes. We started with the Jamaican Screwdriver on page 13 and it was delicious! FYI their idea of 2 servings for any recipe really equates for about 3-4 normal cocktail servings (or smoothies as I have come to find out). Vodka and light rum, with orange and pineapple juices with ice.

I'm thinking we will do a frozen sunshine margarita next!

Sunday Cocktails: Pina Colada

It's hot out and tropical sounded good.

90 degrees and humidity does sound tropical. I'm really not complaining. I am learning to love it after our cold long winter.

There was no real theme or preparations for today's cocktails. I got home about 10 minutes before the scheduled event, and had nothing planned.

My friend (and weekly cocktail partner in crime) came by with some fresh strawberries dusted with sugar and we thought pineapple juice based drinks sounded like a good compliment. We also enjoyed some triple cream brie and rosemary flat crackers.

We didn't really research anything to figure out exactly what went into a traditional pina colada but we think we have a good start. You will see one is pink and that is because I added maraschino cherries and the syrup to mine. Nothing tastes better than the cherry as a treasure!

Pina Colada (1 cocktail):

1 1/2 oz Malibu Black Coconut Rum
3 1/2 oz Pineapple Juice
1 oz Lite Coconut Milk

Place all ingredients in a shaker along with ice. Give it a couple of good shakes. Place into glass. For an added touch add cherries and maraschino syrup.

This was a good start. Next week's aspirations may include a blender to try a frozen version but I'm also thinking about a cocktail with muddled pineapple. Stay tuned!

Sunshine Margaritas Part II

Sometimes just the glass makes it better!

Yes, it's the same recipe for Sunshine Margaritas but it's in a brand new glass. These whimsical glasses featuring bicycles were from my friend Jill to celebrate every week and remember the fun we had at Mackinac Island last week. Good times, good memories. Lovely glasses for cocktails.

Sunshine Margarita

Refreshing and Light

This week was our second week of afternoon cocktails and featured another experiment. I really like the Southern Margarita at Sweet Lorraine's and thought we would try to make our own homemade version. I don't know much about making margaritas from scratch (it's usually something I order out) but I knew we didn't want any of those mixes in the ingredients.

I must confess that I tried to make this last night as well, using the vintage mixing glass I have as reference for a recipe. I have learned from that experience that cocktails in the 1960's must have been pretty strong as there was much alcohol than the lemon juice (Why lemon is beyond me - maybe they didn't have limes in those days?).

So today I really cut back on the alcohol and upped the orange juice. This is what we came up with:

The Sunshine Margarita

2 oz Orange Juice
3/4 oz Lime Juice
3/4 oz Silver Tequila
1/3 oz Grand Marnier
Ice Cube
Salt for Rim

Place cubes in a shaker, pour in the liquid ingredients. Shake gently for about 10 seconds. Strain into a glass with more ice cubes that has been rimmed with a coarse layer of salt.

Delicious with chips. I would not change a thing on this one. 

Cucumber Lime Spritzer

I am going to have to come up with a cooler name for this refreshing cocktail

. . . but for now it works. We are celebrating the warmer weather and sunshine that really means that deck season is really here. Today, a dear friend came over to start our new tradition of "afternoon cocktails". This first version was very special as it was reminiscent of a drink we both sampled last year at Local Kitchen and Bar. I even did a review Too Many Cukes which really inspired our whole foray into cucumber cocktails. You know it's serious when I planted cucumbers in a pot on the deck for the sole purpose of making these cocktails (at a later date, as it's just a little sprout right now).

We stayed true to some of the basic elements of the original drink, including (of course) muddled cucumbers and Hendrick's Gin (which in writing this blog today I discovered their quirky site and highly recommend a visit) which is infused with cucumbers and rose petals and distilled in Scotland. This was the first purchase in anticipation of stocking our home for the deck parties, not only because of the liquid contents involved, but for the glass container that reminds me of an old vintage apothecary bottle, complete with a little cork stopper. I am not a huge gin fan but this version is quite different, even down to the smell when you uncork the bottle. There isn't the traditional Christmas tree fragrance but something a lot more refreshing and light.

To our version we added some lime to make it a little more refreshing and because I didn't have any tonic water on hand, nor simple syrup, we used some Sprite which we have in abundance due to a recent Costco run this weekend.  I guess to summarize we made it an easy recipe so we can make it often.

Cucumber Lime Spritzer

Per drink:
3 oz Hendrick's Gin
6 oz Sprite
Cucumber
Lime

Muddle about 3 cucumber slices in the bottom of a tall glas.

In a shaker add crushed ice, and pour in gin and sprite, along with the juice of half a lime, and give a quick shake.  Pour over muddle cucumber.

Garnish with more sliced cucumber and a wedge of lime.