Tag: frugal

Cold Brew Iced Coffee Plus Iced Hazelnut Mocha

20160518_071810Summer’s just around the corner, despite unseasonably cold weather in the Northeast. (It was warmer on Christmas than it was on Easter this year in the Philadelphia area.) I find myself perfectly ready for the transition from hot morning coffee to iced morning coffee, and as my 35th birthday is tomorrow, I figured I’d treat myself a day early.

Cold brew iced coffee is super easy to make. A good friend of mine gave me a cold brewed coffee recipe and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. I finally got to give it a shot this week!

Start with a high quality coffee you’d drink: you can grind your own or you can use pre-ground, as long as it’s a good coffee. A medium roast works just fine. I used Melitta Hazelnut Creme, because it’s one of my favorite coffees. You need:

Cold Brew Coffee

  • 1/2 cup ground coffee
  • 1 quart of water
  • coffee filter

I have good tap water so I used that, you can used filtered or spring water if you prefer. Combine the coffee and water in a bottle (I used a paper towel to form a funnel to get the coffee inside this old orange juice bottle) and let sit at room temperature for 24 hours.

Then filter the coffee through a standard coffee filter. Keep in the refrigerator in an air tight container for up to a week. To use for iced coffee, simply pour over ice and add your favorite accoutrements, such as sugar and cream. To use for hot coffee, dilute slightly with water and warm in the microwave.

Here’s how I used it this morning:

Iced Hazelnut Mocha

  • 1 cup cold brew coffee
  • Ice
  • 2 tbsp Hershey’s Lite Chocolate Syrup
  • 2 oz. milk of your choice (I used Silk Unsweetened Vanilla Cashew Milk)

20160518_071635In a large glass, add ice.

Layer chocolate syrup, cold brew coffee, and milk and watch the beauty of the swirl.

Stir together (or don’t) and enjoy!

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Do you like iced coffee? What’s your favorite way to enjoy it? Let me know in the comments!

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5 Ways Coffee is Good for More than Just Drinking

coffee-5Coffee is my vice of choice.

I don’t drink much, don’t smoke or do drugs, and generally try to be an upstanding citizen. But coffee (okay, coffee and diet soda) is my “bad” thing. Every morning when I get out of bed I wander myself into the kitchen and make myself a full pot of delicious, hot, fresh, dark coffee. I’m not here to take sides, as this post isn’t actually about drinking coffee, but if I had to choose I’d drink only Melitta at home. Love that stuff!

But anyway, when you drink a full pot of coffee by yourself every day, you throw away a lot of used coffee grounds, and if you’re like me, you get to thinking if you can DO anything with those coffee grounds (especially if you like better than cheap coffee). Turns out, the answer is YES.

1. Scrub dishes

Why had I never thought of this before?! I always use baking soda to scrub my stainless steel sink, but coffee grounds can safely be used on non-stick pans. I didn’t have any dirty non-stick pans last night, but my sink WAS dirty, so I went ahead and scrubbed that. I’m not sure how well you can tell from the photos but I think it came out pretty good!

2. Exfoliation

Homemade-coconut-coffee-body-scrub-4
Source

I love brown sugar scrubs, but they’re just too harsh for the skin on my face. I’m a huge fan of St. Ives Apricot Scrub, so why not a coffee scrub? Coconut oil is always a good medium for scrubs. Why not try this Coconut Coffee Body Scrub from BLDG 25?

3. Add nitrogen to planting soil

CarrotsSupermarket2I live in a garden apartment, on the second story, and I’m lucky enough to have a pretty large terrace/balcony (6’ x 12’) where we sometimes grow our own veggies. Last year we skipped our garden, but this year I’m already thinking about what to plant! I have a packet of carrot seeds and used coffee grounds are apparently a great additive for carrots! I will definitely be giving this a shot this year.

4. Deodorize

You’ve always been told that baking soda can help deodorize your fridge, and Arm & Hammer even makes special “fridge” boxes of baking soda (that they probably charge you extra for). But there’s something that feels wasteful about opening a brand new box of baking soda and letting it sit unused in the fridge. Used coffee grounds can be a great alternative. You can use an old coffee can and set it in the back corner, or you can tie dried grounds in two layers of stockings (use up those hose with holes) and tuck it under your car seat to freshen the air. Want more info? Try this Instructable.

5. Rejuvenate dark hair

I have no idea if this will work, but dang it, I’m going to try it. Take old coffee grounds and re-steep in hot water for 15 minutes. Use as a rinse for dark hair to revitalize the color. As you know, I have dark hair, I’m already graying a bit, and I don’t dye the top of my head (I dye the underside of my hair red sometimes), so I’m going to see if this will darken my grays naturally or if it’s a giant crock. I will report back to you with the results!

 

There are way more uses than listed here, but these are the ones I’m definitely going to try myself, if I haven’t tried them already.

Do you reuse old coffee grounds? Let me know in the comments!

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Art of Frugal Giving, Part III – The Gift of Experience

This is the third and final installment of a short series of blogs showcasing different ways you can give inexpensive but meaningful gifts to the ones you love. You can read my two previous installments about the Gift of Thought and the Gift of Craft. Today’s entry is about the Gift of Experience.

In a world where we put a lot of focus on things, we often lose sight of what’s truly important. What’s more important than spending time with those you love the most? It’s a gift that gives back, brings as much joy as it provides.

The Gift of Nature

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PHOTO COURTESY of Longwood Gardens

Does your loved one love the outdoors? Hiking? Trail-running? Why not take them on a back woods adventure, if you can drive to one. Or camping. If they’re not quite as outdoorsy, what about a drive through the mountains with a picnic? Even a trip to a secluded beach if you live near the ocean or a lake could be lovely. Even if being outdoorsy isn’t YOUR thing, your loved one will appreciate you choosing to spend time with them in an environment they love.

The Gift of Culture

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CREDIT: B. KRIST FOR VISIT PHILADELPHIA

This amazing country of ours has an extensive museum system. Many of them are free (especially if you’re lucky enough to live close to Washington, DC and access the Smithsonian museum system). I know here in the Philadelphia area we have an exquisite Museum of Art, as well as the more offbeat Mutter Museum. Add to that all the historical significance of the area and you have a plethora of selections. Surely your loved one will love one of them! Are you a good cook? What about helping your loved one explore new foods? Cook them a nice dinner and enjoy it together.

The Gift of Learning

There are few things in life that help people bond more than learning something together. Is there a local class you could take together? Perhaps pottery, cooking or birdwatching. Or maybe something more active, like an exercise class, interpretive dance, or learning a musical instrument? These don’t have to be expensive. If money is really tight, invite your loved one over, fire up YouTube.com and learn something via video! (I’ll tell you a deep dark secret, don’t tell anyone okay? If I don’t know how to do something, I Google it! I have learned so much this way, included how to do hoop knitting. You can do it, too!) My favorite learning gift is cooking together. Does your loved one have a favorite recipe of yours? Show them how you make it, or work on perfecting a new recipe together.

This concludes my three part series on frugal gift giving! I really hope you found some value in these types of gifts and that you use some for your loved ones! I know I will be! Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Merry Kwanzaa, etc, etc!