DIY With TCC Tuesdays: How To Make A Simple & Delicious Iced Coffee

May 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

As most of you may know, I am currently 6 months pregnant, and throughout the first and half of my second trimester coffee I were in a love/hate relationship. Having a sip of coffee or any caffeinated beverage made me absolutely sick! But, there were those days where I NEEDED a little pick me up and I would indulge in two or three sips of an iced coffee from either McD’s or BK (Starbucks was way too strong, maybe because it really is coffee lol). Until finally, I got myself an iced coffee from BK and I was able to finish almost half! So I started making a trip a couple of times a week, until of course the $2.37 I was spending started adding up! Which brings me to this DIY, not only do I now know exactly what it is I am drinking, but it’s way cheaper to make and I can have it whenever I want (as long as it’s before 5 o’clock). 

I started doing some research and took tips from here and there, I used sugar, Splenda, vanilla,  froze the coffee, blended it, stir, shook, lets just say I tried many many different takes until I came up with this yummy delicious ice-cold beverage! I think you will be surprised to find what the main and very secret ingredient is! :)

 

Here we go, everything you need is in the photo below:

 

  • About 1 cup of Ice Cubes

  • 1 packet of prepared instant coffee equivalent to 1 cup brewed cooled coffee (your choice)

  • 1/2 cup half and half or milk

  • 4 Tb Sweetened Condensed Milk (aha!)

  • 3 Tb Caramel topping 

Really, this is just a variation of what you could use, depending on how sweet you like it, or how strong, you can add or take away whatever you’d like, this is like a starting platform of ingredients! Since I can’t have too much caffeine, I don’t use the whole cup and add a little more half and half. A good substitution is chocolate syrup instead of caramel to make a delicious Iced Mocha! 

 

Once you have your cooled coffee ready, throw it all in a blender until your desired consistency! I like my ice completely crushed, so I then pour it over some more ice and it’s just the perfect treat to enjoy on a hot summer morning, noon, or evening! 

 

I really hope you enjoy this tasty treat as much as I do!! I would love for you to come back and let us know how yours turned out!

 

Filed Under: DIY With TCC Tuesdays

DIY With TCC Tuesdays: How To Dye Flaked Coconut and Make Peeps Cupcakes!

April 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment

This was such a fun little project and super easy too! Great to make with the kids! I look forward to making these every year with my little one!

 

Here’s what you will need:

-1 prepared cake mix
(I just discovered this Too Much Chocolate Cake recipe on AllRecipes using boxed caked mix and it is a keeper! So yummy! I used mini chocolate chips and cut down the oil by 1/4 cup and added 1/4 cup milk)
-Frosting (I used Duncan Hines Chocolate Frosting with Hershey’s)
-36 cupcake liners
-3 Cups flaked coconut
-Food coloring gel
-1 Ziploc bag
-36 Peeps

 

While your cupcakes cool you can start dying your coconut flakes, it’s so easy! I used 1 tablespoon water for every 1 cup of coconut and it took about 15 drops of green food coloring to reach the color in the photo above.

I mixed each cup of coconut separately because I just had small ziploc bags, you can try doing it all at the same time.
1.) Place the coconut into the bag, set aside.
2.) Add the drops of food coloring to the water until you reach the desired color.
3.) Add the water to the coconut and shake, shake, shake!

Once the cupcakes have cooled decorate them with the frosting, and then add the “grass”. Cut your peeps about 2-3 inches and then add a little bit of frosting to the bottom of the peep, this will work a glue to help them stick to the coconut. You can also just use the Peeps chicks, those work great too!

 

 

Enjoy!!

 

 

 

Filed Under: Baking, DIY With TCC Tuesdays