Heavenly Homemakers

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How to Make Delicious Iced Coffee that is ACTUALLY Healthy

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It really is possible to make delicious Iced Coffee that is ACTUALLY healthy! And not that it matters, but is there anything prettier?

Yum

Confession: I didn’t take this photo. I grabbed it from an online photo subscription source that I love to utilize. Occasionally using their photos has enabled me to continue writing here since I don’t have the work time I used to have now that we have little ones in the house again! Without a doubt, their photos are better than mine anyway!

I tell you that for one big reason. When I make iced coffee, I use coffee ice cubes instead of water ice cubes. No need to water down our delicious coffee, right? And making coffee ice cubes is fun and easy!

There, now you know. Shall we talk about healthy iced coffee now?

How to make Iced Coffee that is Actually Healthy

1. I begin with a Dollar Coffee Club coffee packet. 

They have two coffee options, but I prefer the taste (actually, I love the taste!) of their Burn and Control coffee. Here’s a quick summary of why their coffee is actually healthy!

Dollar Coffee Club coffee (formerly known as Javita) is filled with fabulous God-given herbs and mushrooms that our bodies need for great health. We could grow these herbs ourselves and utilize them every day to help cleanse our systems, give us energy, regulate our blood sugar, and so much more. Or we can take advantage of the fact that the hard work has been done and the wonderful herbs are already prepared for us in these delicious drink packets!

Typically, I make my coffee packet into a regular hot coffee. But to make it into an iced coffee, I simply heat a little water and dissolve the packet in the hot water (about 3 Tablespoons). Then, I add cold water, my coffee ice cubes, and voila! I have healthy iced coffee!

2. Next, I add 1/2 and 1/2 or heavy cream.

Lest you fear that the cream makes the coffee unhealthy, I will remind you that it is a real, natural fat that our bodies recognize and can utilize for nourishment. Hooray for cream! This makes it sweet enough as for my taste and preference, therefore I declare that coffee with cream is absolute perfection! My family disagrees and prefers something sweet with their cream. And so…

3. They add this NuNaturals Chocolate Syrup.

It is sweetened with stevia, but you can’t even tell! My family is a bit picky over most stevia-sweetened treats. But this chocolate syrup wins them over and is perfect to add to coffee and cream for a fabulously sweet (but not sugary!) coffee treat!

So, coffee filled with wonderful, healing herbs, plus cream, with or without stevia sweetened chocolate. THAT is how you can make an iced coffee that is actually healthy!

Are you an iced coffee lover?

—-> Read more about Dollar Coffee Club coffee and other products here The entire business structure has been revamped, making it so much better for everyone! AND the prices had gone up, but they just went back down, oh yeah!<—-

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How to Make Iced Coffee for a Crowd

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iced coffee

In three years I went from not liking coffee, to loving coffee, to becoming a coffee snob. I mean this in the sweetest way. I’ve learned that there’s coffee, and then there’s coffee. Can I help it if I prefer the coffee that makes me feel the actual love of Jesus flow over me? Well of course I can’t help this.

I blame my oldest son for my particular coffee preferences, because any time I can blame one of my children for something, I do. (I hate it when I spill something and none of my kids is around to blame. It’s very frustrating.)

Why are my coffee snob issues Asa’s fault? Because I was in my early years of drinking coffee about the time he took a mission trip to Ecuador two years ago. While he was there, I happily sipped my “coffee from a red canister that shall remain nameless” like I had done since I started my coffee drinking ways. When he came back home, he brought me a cute little Ecuador bracelet as a souvenir and a package of Ecuadorian coffee. How nice, I thought. Coffee from Ecuador. I’ll pray for the ministry there while I drink it. It will be so lovely.

Lovely didn’t even begin to describe this experience. I took my first sip and exclaimed, “Oh my goodness!! This coffee!! I’ve never had anything like it. I think this must be the most amazing thing I’ve ever tasted. I might even like this more than butter.”

From that moment on, no other cup of coffee measured up. Once you have the best, it’s hard to go back.

(Our second son, Justus, will have the delightful opportunity to go to Ecuador this summer for his first overseas mission trip. I am so excited for him to bring me back a suitcase full of coffee share the love of Jesus with people there.)

How to Cold Brew Coffee

Needless to say, I hoarded my little bag of Ecuador coffee and rationed it – saving it for the mornings I could truly savor it. I might not have shared even a drop with anyone, but I can’t remember all the details. I’ve since started buying (and yes, even sharing) these Guatemalan coffee beans online. I find the flavor to be very similar to the Ecuador beans. This coffee is so delicious!

I questioned myself. “Should I really be spending extra money on high quality coffee?” So I did the math.

I discovered that it costs between $0.50-$0.60 per pot of coffee when I use the good stuff. This is more than a pot of the cheaper coffee. But worth it? Well, is it worth it to spend more on butter instead of settling for margarine? Obviously! (I know. That’s not an apples to apples comparison because the butter/margarine thing is more about eating real food for good health, but still. I think it’s worth it to pay a little extra for good quality and taste.)

Iced Coffee for a Crowd

Well, all that to say – get yourself some good coffee and treat people to this delicious Iced Coffee I’m going to tell you about. Or just use the cheap stuff for this recipe since you’re adding sugar anyway. :)

Last week I was asked to provide drinks for a get-together. I made a gallon of Homemade Lemonade (with sugar instead of maple syrup to cut the cost). Then I decided to make a big jar of iced coffee just for fun. It was a hit, so I thought I’d better share the idea with you!

My rough calculations tell me that a half-gallon of this Homemade Iced Mocha Coffee costs about $1.00. (I priced it at the store a few days later. The cheapest one cost $2.66. Boom.)

How to Make Iced Coffee for a CrowdYum

How to Make Iced Coffee for a Crowd
 
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Ingredients
  • 1 quart coffee
  • 1 tray coffee ice cubes
  • ½ cup heavy cream
  • ½ cup homemade chocolate fudge sauce (more or less to taste)
Instructions
  1. Cold brew coffee, or hot brew as normal, then chill.
  2. Stir cold coffee, coffee ice cubes, cream, and chocolate sauce into a half-gallon jar.
  3. Shake well before serving.

Some helpful links for you:

You might also enjoy this idea:

How to set up an Iced Coffee Bar

How to Make an Iced Coffee Bar

We set up that Iced Coffee Bar for my birthday guests last year and it was so much fun! See? I’m nice and share my good coffee now. I’ve grown so much.

Are you particular about what kind of coffee you drink?

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How to Set Up an Iced Coffee Bar

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Need a party idea? Set up an Iced Coffee Bar!

Monday was my birthday. (Yay, 42!) Since most of my favorite peeps (aka three outa four of my boys) were still at church camp and thus not home to help me celebrate – we instead invited a few friends over. It was such a blessed time.

Not planned or appreciated is the fact that our grill chose to die at the very moment we were ready to begin cooking our meat (for 13 hungry people). I mean the grill didn’t just die. It also became very dead. So, so dead.

One of our friends who had just left her house to come over saved the day by bringing her grill (hi, can you come to my birthday get-together and if it’s not too much to ask can you load up and bring an entire grill when you come? k thanks.) So we ate a little bit late. It made for a longer celebration, and then the food tasted even better than if we’d eaten an hour and a half before during the regularly scheduled program. This is what memories are made of. And also this…

While the men were outside looking under the hood of the grill, and one of my friends was loading up her grill to bring over, and some other friends were outside throwing around a football, and some kids were in the lego room upstairs – this was happening in my kitchen:

birthday bouquet1

birthday bouquet2

I am loved and richly blessed by these dear people.

After we finally ate the most delicious dinner (grilled steak and chicken and amazing side dishes brought by friends), out came a brand new buffet I had been working on for a couple of days. Allow me to introduce you to the very wonderful Iced Coffee Bar. This idea came to me as I was thinking about my favorite foods and drinks while planning the get-together. What did I want for my birthday meal? Steak, for sure. And wouldn’t it be fun to serve iced coffee, thought I. One thing led to another until this:

Iced Coffee Bar

Yes, the White Chocolate and the Caramel are in vases.
What a great way to re-purpose those, don’t ya think?

I brewed/chilled coffee and made coffee ice cubes all day in preparation. I made sweet sauces. I had absolutely wayyyyy too much fun. And then during the party? Let me just say that you must do this sometime. It was a blast seeing what people put together. Some drinks got blended. Some used ice cream. Some mixed all three sauces. Some made fun of me for having to drink decaf. Hey, I wanted to sleep after my party, okay? Caffeine can’t happen after 5pm for this (very young) 42 year old.

How to Make an Iced Coffee Bar

Suggestions for options to include in your Iced Coffee Bar

Explain the options to your guests, then let them have at it.

It was so much fun to see what people came up with for their special drink. We all took turns building our concoction, then we all stood around sipping and saying “yum” over and over while talking and laughing. Bliss.

iced coffee

This Iced Coffee Bar is going to be my new go-to idea for special gatherings. Come winter, we’ll just switch it to a Hot Coffee Bar with fun fixin’s. Do this!!! It is so much fun!

Want to borrow my Coffee Bar Labels? These made it easy for guests and added cuteness to the fun.

coffee bar labels

Download and Print These Free Coffee Bar Labels

What else can you think of to add to this Iced (or hot) Coffee Bar?

P.S. If you are in my local Bunco group, you are not allowed to use this idea until after I host, mmkay?

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5 Things You Probably Want to Know About My Week ~ Especially the Part About the Chicken

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I have taken several pictures this week, knowing most certainly that you would want to see them and learn what’s been going on at our house. Haven’t you just been wondering if possibly I came across a new chicken recipe that was delicious? Yes, that’s exactly what you’ve been wondering. Let’s start with that picture then:

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That, my dear ones, is called Chicken Lazone. A friend of mine posted the recipe to Facebook, and since I saw that it had both butter and cream in it (and sure, chicken too, but whatever), I knew it was a “must try.” We had it for lunch today. It was awesome (and easy too). Find the recipe here.

In other news not at all related to chicken – flowers are popping up all over our yard. On Wednesday, my husband sent me a picture of 2lips while he was working outside. What? That’s what he called them in the email he sent me. I thought it was cute.

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I had already taken the following pictures of my very favorite purple wild flowers that spring up all over the yard.

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They are so very pretty to me. Sometimes when I am singing worship songs, I pretend I’m dancing in a field full of these purple flowers. Alone. Just me and Jesus. No one else wants to see me dance. No one.

One day this week was especially sunshiny and lovely. I made myself my first iced coffee of the season, then sat outside shivering while I drank it. Apparently it was still not warm enough to drink iced coffee. Oh well. At least it tasted delicious.

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Arm yourself for iced coffee this summer. Learn to make Coffee Ice Cubes. Learn to Cold Brew Coffee. I do both of these, then add just a little bit of cream to my glass. It is iced coffee perfection.

What else? Well, my Amazon Subscribe and Save order came in on Monday. It was a fun one: two cases of Izze Sodas. A case of organic corn starch. A box of Larabars to take to soccer games. A big box of Bearitos Organic Tortilla Chips. We love Amazon Subscribe and Save deals paired with online coupons. (I just updated our Amazon Deals page with the latest and greatest.)

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Tuesday we made homemade pizza for lunch. Well…it was mostly homemade. I’d ordered the crusts from Bountiful Baskets to give myself a little bit of healthy convenience. It was worth it. The boys did most of the work putting the pizzas together. We added fruit to the meal and had a delicious lunch.

 april 164

Yes, I just buy pepperoni from the store. Not the greatest, for sure. I do usually buy turkey pepperoni – which is really only a little bit better. Is it possible that if you don’t read the list of ingredients before eating something then it won’t hurt you? If only.

Many soccer games and practices, too many loads of laundry, hours of school work, and many other blessings filled the week too. And how about you? What are some of the highlights of your week? Have any flowers blooming in your yard? Tried any great new recipes?

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Make Coffee Ice Cubes for Iced Coffee

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Frozen Coffee Cubes
Well, if this idea doesn’t take the idea of “freezer cooking” to a whole new level, I don’t know what does. I’m guessing many of you have already seen this on Pinterest or on another blog. Still I felt it was worth mentioning as a reinforcement that the idea is really wonderful.

By the way – remember when I didn’t like coffee? Then how I started liking coffee just a little bit? Then how I started liking it just a little bit more?  Yeah. I totally love coffee now.  Love it.

It seemed to happen right around the time I turned 40. Suddenly coffee started tasting really good to me. I drink it in the morning while I spend time with God. Oh my goodness, how I love to let the goodness of Jesus and the deliciousness of coffee wash over me as I start the day. Simply awesome.

So now what’s all this about making coffee ice cubes for iced coffee? Here’s how I learned this idea: Matt and I have a great male friend who is super athletic, macho, and manly. Not that guys who are super athletic, macho, and manly can’t be on Pinterest, but when this guy said to me, “Hey Laura,  do you do Pinterest? I found a great idea for you!” I was so shocked that I laughed out loud and snorted like an idiot. Oh, c’mon. You know I’m exaggerating. I totally concealed my shock, held my composure, and simply giggled and blurted, “Whoa. Dude. Seriously?”

What can I say? I’m used to this guy greeting our family by putting one of my boys in a choke hold instead of sharing his excitement about a Pinterest idea with me. Nonetheless, the idea he found is brilliant, which is this:  If you like Iced Coffee, freeze leftover coffee in ice cube trays. That way, when you pour coffee over ice, the ice won’t melt and water down your coffee. See? Brilliant.

Freeze Coffee in Ice Cube Trays
I’m not much into eating or drinking sugar these days (my body rebels and I start feeling sick – also something that happened about the time I turned 40). Therefore, my favorite way to make an iced coffee is to pour cold coffee into a glass filled with coffee ice cubes, add a shot of whole milk, and sit down to enjoy the creamy delightfulness of rich, cold coffee.

If you’re a little more into having a little sweetness with your coffee, I recommend stirring in some Homemade Chocolate Caramel Creamer. And by the way, I know there are wonderful gadgets on the market specific for cold brewing coffee. I just find that it’s easier to brew a pot of hot coffee in my French press, then chill it (or freeze it into coffee cubes). Why buy another gadget for my already full kitchen, right?

Do you like coffee? Do you like iced coffee? Ever tried freezing coffee in ice cube trays? Serious deliciousness.

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