News, clues, and experiences from the beverage sippin’ KozeeLady: sharing tasty recipes using your favorite drinks, information from the beverage beat, and travel tales about coffee and tea.
Place a Kup Kap on your glass to keep insects from swimming in your wine while enjoying appetizers!
Forty years ago, I volunteered to bring deviled eggs to a cookout. The day of the event I discovered I had no pickle relish to make the eggs. I didn’t have transportation to a food store to buy a jar.
Controlling my panic, I began looking through my refrigerator and cupboards to find substitutes. I found cheese slices and bacon so made the following recipe. Over the years, I’ve served thousands of these deviled eggs. They disappear quickly!
6 hardboiled eggs
6 pieces of crispy bacon
3 slices of American cheese
1/2 teaspoon mustard
Peel, rinse, and cut the hardboiled eggs in half lengthwise. Scoop out the yokes and put into a small bowl. Lay the white halves on an egg tray.
Smash the yokes into tiny crumbs with a fork or pastry cutter. Chop bacon and cheese slices very fine in a food processor on highest speed. Add to yokes. Stir in mustard. Add mayonnaise to moisten the mixture. Opt: Add black pepper to taste.
Scoop egg mixture into egg-white halves. Sprinkle paprika on the eggs for color. Chill.
After I told Perry we needed to buy more brown mustard for his cheese snacks, he recalled his German grandma used to make spicy German mustard when he was a little boy. I searched online for recipes so I could surprise him.
I found a great spicy German mustard recipe. After following the easy directions, I poured the mixture and vinegar into my Cuisinart SmartPower Duet blender, where it needed to sit for 24 hours before blending. I put the lid on the blender, but it didn’t stop the pungent odor of vinegar from filling the kitchen. I set my little gray cells to work trying to solve the problem. I thought of my coffee cozy for our French press, put it over the blender, and stopped the vinegar smell!
Perry loved the mustard! He uses it with cheese and crackers, breakfast egg sandwiches, and salad dressings. I’ve added the recipe to my book of favorites!
Photo: Coffee sacks cup sleeve on iced coffee glass.
Because Smith Farms Kona coffee has a chocolaty taste, I made the iced-coffee recipe from Arbuckle Coffee without the chocolate syrup to save calories. The coffee drink tasted like it had chocolate in it! I also used skim milk instead of ice-cream. It was less creamy but still very delicious.
The next day, I substituted Horizon Organic Fat-Free Vanilla yogurt for the ice-cream. The drink had a creamy texture, a vanilla flavor, and a tart taste.
For a third variation, I substituted Horizon Organic Fat-Free Plain yogurt for the ice-cream, which made the drink very tart. Folks who don’t like sugary drinks would enjoy plain yogurt in iced-coffee beverages.
Wearing the hats of mom, school teacher, and school volunteer, I’ve mixed a lot of play dough and clay over the years, but this recipe from KinderArt was new to me. I brewed a cup of hot tea and whipped up a batch. I tried to make a VW bug but ended up with a cat! After the clay dried, I used felt tip markers to add color. Making oatmeal clay dough is a fun activity for teaching children about the nutritional value of oatmeal!
Oatmeal Clay Dough
1 part flour
2 parts oatmeal
1 part water
Mix ingredients. Add more flour if dough is too sticky. Form into shapes and let them air dry. Pieces can be painted or colored with felt tip markers when dry.
You can prepare this dessert from Boulder Ice Cream in a short time but your guests will think you slaved for hours! Serve with frosty drinks using colorful Hawaiian cup sleeves on the glasses.
Island Coconut (Ice) Cream Pie
1. Slightly soften a pint of Boulder Ice Cream Coconut flavor.
2. Spoon it into a graham-cracker pie crust and freeze.
3. Just before serving, sprinkle grated coconut on the pie and decorate with cut pieces of fruits such as pineapple, mangos, kiwi, and oranges.
July is National Ice cream Month. We suggest you use a Kream Kollar and begin taste testing your favorite flavors this month!
A neighbor shared her delicious pumpkin-bread recipe (November 2007 newsletter) with me thirty years ago. It’s a great one to bake ahead and store in your freezer. It makes 14 large muffins, 12 mini loaves, or 2-3 large loaves.
When your guests leave, give them a mini loaf from a basket set by the front door. Or use the small bundt-shaped pumpkin bread with a name tag tied on it as a place holder for your dinner table.
Invite a friend over, brew a teapot of tea or tisane, and cover it with a Tea Tabard (tea cozy). While you visit, the tea cosy and matching Kup Kaps (cup lids) on the mugs will hold in the heat. Enjoy a plate of your freshly baked pumpkin muffins and pecan pie pastries from Boonzaaijer’s Cakes & Pastries in Colorado Springs!
“I just used my Kup Kap for something new. HOT FUDGE!!! I came into to check my email with my lunch on a tray. Lunch consisted of strawberries, banana, cheese, pretzels and hot tea. I was trying to go healthy, but as an afterthought, I decided to warm up some hot fudge for dipping the fruit. Naturally I wanted to keep the hot fudge warm as long as possible so, “what to the rescue?” My Kup Kap! Thought you’d enjoy the idea. I know how much you love hot fudge!”
Mary in her beautiful kitchen whipping up a delicious delight!
I found a sample of India Spice Chai in my box of Celestial Seasonings Fruit Sampler 5 Herb Teas. I followed the package directions for brewing, then added fat free milk and one packet of Splenda. I slipped a Kup Kollar onto a glass of ice to slow the melting, then added the chai latte. It was a glass full of delicious for only 40 calories! Next Fall, I’ll drink the chai latte hot in a cup with a Kup Kap on it to hold in the heat!
*Put 1/4 cup frozen blueberries into a blender. Add 1/4 cup cold brewed coffee concentrate, 1/4 cup half & half, 1 cup vanilla ice-cream, and 1 tablespoon chocolate syrup. Puree until smooth, no more than 90 seconds. Pour into a chilled glass.
I forgot to make chocolate syrup so I measured 2 tablespoons of Heresy’s cocoa powder into a small bowl, added half and half, and whisked until it was syrupy. I didn’t add sugar because the other ingredients are sweet enough.
I slipped a Kup Kollar onto the glass and took a sip. I’m not a coffee drinker but I’m about to become one! I loved this delicious drink with the perfect blend of blueberries, chocolate and subtle coffee flavor. I’ll experiment to take some of the fat and sugar out of coffee drinks while keeping the flavor in so I can enjoy this treat more often!
The secret for making delicious iced coffee is to use cold water! Using hot coffee that has cooled will give your iced coffee a bitter taste because hot coffee becomes more bitter as it cools.
Directions for making iced coffee in a French press:
Add one coffee scoop of coarsely ground coffee for each 4 ounces of cold water to your French press.
Stir the mixture with a wooden or plastic spoon.
Place the lid on your French press with the plunger fully extended.
After the press sits for 12 hours, slowly push the plunger down.
Pour the coffee concentrate over ice and add the same amount of water–or to taste. Drink plain or add cold milk or cream. To maintain the flavor, use ice cubes made with the concentrate.
Be sure to use a Kup Kollar (cup sleeve) on your glass of iced coffee to keep your hands dry and slow the ice melting. If you’re serving iced coffee in your French press or pitcher, cover it with a Koffee Kozee (coffee cozy) to slow the ice melting and enjoy your delicious brew longer!
