Playing in the Kitchen - Raspberry Lime Tea

So I finished making the syrup for the Italian Soda last night, and had all of the pulp left over from the berries and limes. On a whim, I decided to see if I could get a second use out of them. As a rule I don't like anything in my tea. I prefer my tea Irish style. Put the sugar in the cake and the milk in the baby's bottle and leave the tea plain! However, my son enjoys different flavors of tea, so I thought I'd give it a shot. It looked and smelled good, but looks can be deceiving! So I poured it over some ice and discovered something amazing...I actually liked it!

I get so tired of water, but the amount of sugar in juice and soda gets really overwhelming when you're just trying to stay hydrated.

So here's what I did.

~Place all of the pulp into a wide-mouthed 1 quart canning jar.
~Add 1 family sized decaf tea bag (or 4 regular sized tea bags.)
~Fill to the top with almost boiling water.
~Give the pulp a gentle stir so the hot water gets through it all.
~Let steep up to 30 minutes, depending on how strong you like it.
~Remove bags and let cool completely, then strain through a fine mesh strainer.
~Serve over ice.

This tastes plenty sweet to me, but I don't like sweetened tea, so adjust to your taste.

If you decide to give it a try, let me know how it goes.

Playing in the Kitchen - Raspberry Lime Italian Soda

After running around in disgustingly hot weather today, I wasn't up for much cooking. I decided today was the day to try a Pinterest find I've been looking forward to.

You can find the recipe at Will Cook For Smiles. There are a ton of gorgeous pictures on the site. In fact, you won't find the recipe until about 1/3 of the way down the page. ;o)

It cooked up quick and easy and tastes wonderful!

My adjustments to the recipe:
~Raw sugar in place of white
~One regular lime instead of two key limes
~Realized too late that I only had 12 oz of raspberries instead of a full pound. I just went forward and made it, and didn't adjust the recipe for my lesser amount of raspberries.

My husband and son really liked it, also. I like things less sweet, so I drank it as is. You might want more syrup if you like a sweeter soda.

Mocha Latte Syrup

One day of warm weather, and I'm already thinking of cold drinks!  Iced Mochas, Cherry Berry Chillers, Frozen Lemonade...mmmmm.... I have a goal to not blow all my free money on fast food icy drinks this summer, so I dug out an old recipe we whipped up years ago when we wanted to have a treat without all the nasties in it. Back in those days, getting ahold of food dye or artificial flavors would mean days of chaos in our home, so I wasn't taking any chances! These days, I'm glad I can make it decaf as caffeine makes my heart go pitter pat in a most unnerving way. ;o)

Since I had the handy dandy squeeze bottle left over from the wedding coffee bar, I whipped up a double batch and filled it up. You can see how much is missing since I made it a week ago. I did NOT use all that myself! I still have teens in the house, you know.

 Here is our Mocha Latte all dressed up with whipped cream. 

Leni's Notes:

~Super easy. Just don't let it boil over.

~Might be interesting with some different extracts. Coconut? Hazelnut for a Nutella flavor?

Ingredients:

3/4 C Raw Sugar

1/3 C cocoa powder

1/4 C instant decaf coffee crystals

1/2 C water

1 T vanilla

Whipped Cream, optional

Instructions:

~Combine sugar, cocoa and coffee in a pan.

~Whisk together until completely mixed.

~Add water, whisk until combined.

~Bring to a boil, lower temp and let simmer for 1-2 minutes. 

Be careful not to let it boil over, it can happen very quickly.

~Remove from heat, add vanilla and stir.

~When cool, pour into a container.

~Does not require refrigeration unless it's not going to get used up in a month or so.

~To serve, mix 2 Tablespoons of syrup into a glass of milk, adjust to suit your tastes.

~If you want to dress it up, pipe some whipped cream on top. (But it's kind of overkill. ;o)

Blessings from my eager-for-summer kitchen to yours,

Leni

Cocoa Cones for a Crowd (Wedding Favors)

What's this? A recipe post on a Wednesday? What can I say, I thought I'd throw caution to the wind. Plus with holidays, and soccer games, most of the time I have no idea what day of the week it is. Speaking of soccer, last night I about froze to death at my daughter's soccer game. Which made me think of how badly I wished we'd brought hot cocoa. And then I remembered the left over cocoa cones I had at home. 

For our daughter's autumn wedding, we decided to make Cocoa Cones. These were fun to make, and I love how they came out. 

The finished product on the table. A lovely family from our church added the final touches to our cones.

First we had a bunch of Moriah's childhood friends over to make the cones. Great fun!

Cocoa cones can be made for any event, as they are so easy to personalize. They can also be made in a variety of flavors and would be great for kids to make for gift giving at Christmas. We made ours into a fall theme by adding fall leaf sprinkles. My daughter then gathered a bunch of her favorite quotes on love and marriage to add to them. One side has the quote, the other has the cocoa directions and the couple's names and wedding date.

 I scaled the recipe back a little bit, as we made these for 200 people. Also, even if you're making them for 200 people, good luck with finding a container big enough to mix it all in at one time. And I have really large containers!! I saw a suggestion with one of the 1,000's of recipes I read, to mix it all in a garbage bag. I really didn't want the plastic taste added to it, but I suppose it's worth a shot if you wanted to do it all at once.

Leni's Notes:
~If you're making these in bulk, like we did, it will save you a lot of money to order the container supplies online. We bought our supplies for this and the cheesecakes at the WEBstaurant Store. Shop around, you might find better prices yet!
~Each of these cones makes 2 servings, or one really big serving!
~The cocoa portions stores really well, but if you're making them way ahead of time, hold off on the marshmallows until closer to the date. They can get a little stale.
~For flavor variety, try different flavored coffee creamers or add some instant coffee to the mix.
~ Also, to the powder mix, you can add cinnamon or ground red pepper, depending on your tastes. ;o)
~I highly recommend trying a cup of the cocoa before packaging to be sure you like the flavor. You might decide to adjust the cocoa or sugar content.
~If you are looking for decorating ideas, do a Google Image Search for Cocoa Cones.

Supply list:
Plastic cake decorator bags (2 bags for each cocoa cone.)
Closures for the bags (2 for each cone) - we used small zip ties. You could use twist ties, rubber bands, etc.
Sprinkles (optional, but really cute!)
Decorations (we did printed tags with colored ribbon. Whatever fits your theme.)

Ingredient List for 45 Servings:

3 Cups cocoa powder
6 Cups granulated sugar
10 Cups instant dry milk
2 Cups dry coffee creamer (plain or flavored)
Mini Marshmallows (1/3 Cup per cone)
Optional: flavored chips to add to the marshmallows. (Chocolate, peanut butter, butterscotch, etc.) or crushed hard candy, like candy canes.

In a large bowl, mix the cocoa powder, sugar, milk and creamer together.
Take half of your decorator bags and fill each with 2/3 C of dry mix.
Twist the top to push down the mix and close it off.
Seal very tightly with a zip tie. (We cut the extra off.)
Trim the plastic to about a half inch.
Place each filled decorator bag inside another bag.
Top with marshmallows, sprinkles (1-2 tsps) and chocolate chips.
Twist closed without smashing the marshmallows, seal with another zip tie.

Add your decorations and instructions (1/3 Cup mix with 3/4 Cup boiling water.)

Blessings from my kitchen to yours,
Leni

Pioneer Woman's Iced Coffee

Ahhh, it's that time of year again. That's what I keep telling myself. Despite the high of 65 degrees today, and the black storm clouds that look suspiciously like snow clouds. But the calendar says it's June 4th, and so I am moving forward with my favorite summer treat. Pioneer Woman's Iced Coffee concentrate. 

This stuff is soooo good. Moriah and I are big fans of coffee in general, but especially iced coffee in the summer. With this recipe, all of the guess work is taken out of the coffee/ice ratio, and finally, I can have what I can't seem to get in any restaurant. Decaf iced coffee! Is that too much to ask? I love the coffee, but my heart does not love the caffeine. So I can have my decaf, Mo can have her flavored coffee, our wallets can keep their cash, everyone is happy.

You'll notice over there on the right that I have Pioneer Woman's site linked. I first came across Ree when someone told me about her blogging her story of meeting her husband and making the transition from city girl to ranch girl. I'm a sucker for a good love story, so I checked back every week to get the next installment, and while I was waiting, started exploring other parts of her blog. 

I have to say, as much as I love food and cooking, what really draws me is the personality of the writer. I can get a recipe anywhere, but I love to come across a writer that is just real, you know? I try to be myself in my writing, and hope that it's enough for whoever is reading. I've had my fill of trying to be all things to all people. It doesn't work and stresses you out. When I read Ree's writing, she just seemed genuine. All that to say, I came to her food as a secondary thing. 

Boy, am I glad I found her food! I have been incredibly pleased with all of her recipes that I've tried. One of them even made the cut for my daughter's wedding. ;o)  

Also, for someone who is trying to learn how to cook, Ree's format of photography is terrific! I love that after each step, she shows what it should look like at that point. Great idea for Kids in the Kitchen.

You'll be seeing more here from her in the future, but I'm trying to pace myself, lest I look like a stalker. 

I'm going to link Ree's recipe for Iced Coffee, because it's perfect. The only thing I changed a bit was the gear I used, which is pictured below.

Leni's Notes:
~ I went and bought a brand new dish pan that we only use for coffee.
~ When I first made this, there wasn't a single piece of cheesecloth to be found in four counties. So I bought some new kitchen wash cloths, and we use those for straining the grounds. They get packed up with the dish pan, so they are never used on anything else.
~ We found a nice container that fits in our fridge, Walmart had a ton to choose from.
~ Something you don't hear me say often...don't change anything! Follow her directions exactly!

Click here for Pioneer Woman's Perfect Iced Coffee ingredients and instructions. I'm listing the ingredients here just in case disaster strikes and the recipe disappears!  But if you don't go to her site, you'll miss out on her beautiful presentation.

Ingredients
1 pound Ground Coffee (good, Rich Roast)
8 quarts Cold Water

For Serving:
Half-and-half (healthy Splash Per Serving)
Sweetened Condensed Milk (2-3 Tablespoons Per Serving)
Note: Can Use Skim Milk, 2% Milk, Whole Milk, Sugar, Artificial Sweeteners, Syrups...adapt To Your Liking!

(Adapted from Imbibe Magazine)

In a large container, mix ground coffee with water. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature eight hours or overnight.

Line a fine mesh strainer with cheesecloth and set over a pitcher or other container. Pour coffee/water mixture through the strainer, allowing all liquid to run through. Discard grounds.

Place coffee liquid in the fridge and allow to cool. Use as needed.

To make iced coffee, pack a glass full of ice cubes. Fill glass 2/3 full with coffee liquid. Add healthy splash of half-and-half. Add 2-3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk (can use plain sugar instead) and stir to combine. Taste and adjust half-and-half and/or sweetened condensed milk as needed.