Our Crazy Boys » food

Cheap {and oh-so-yummy} Iced Caramel Coffee

Becca — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 03:07:19 +0000

As some of you know, I recently switched schools and now work where the boys go. Moving was a hard decision, and my pro/con list looked something like this:

Pros

4 minute drive to work

Be on the same campus as my boys

Have lunch with Michael on work days

My classroom would be bigger

Cons

Nowhere to stop for coffee on the drive to work

—

Yup. That was the only con.

Just kidding.

(I was super sad to leave the amazing people at my other school. Hi guys!)

It’s funny that coffee was an issue for me…

-I only drink coffee 2-3 times per week (I work 2 days a week).

-Until this month, I never made my own.

-I don’t know how to use my coffee maker (I bought it for company).

-I like to drink what I call “girly coffee” (blended or iced, and always with caramel, chocolate, or peanut butter).

I was bummed that I wouldn’t have that fanciness when starting my day at work after switching schools.

Why?

Because we live in the middle of nowhere.

25 minutes from the nearest coffee shop.

But then? Then I found Via.

Iced Via.

*cue angels singing*

I should also mention that I am saving a bundle of money, too.

The wonderful woman behind the Starbucks counter taught me how to make my own Iced Caramel Coffee.

I perfected the recipe.

And now, my friends, I am passing my recipe on to you.

May I present…

Becca’s Amazingly Amazing Cheap {and oh-so-yummy} Iced Caramel Coffee

It has a ring to it, right?

You’ll need:

Starbucks Via Iced Coffee packets ($5.95 for 5 packets. Each packet makes 2 servings)

Starbucks Caramel Syrup ($10ish for one bottle)

Milk

Ice

Cold water

Directions

Each packet has 2 tblsp. of powder in it. I measure out 1 tblsp. and put it in my drink shaker (a.k.a. Martini shaker).

Add 8 oz. cold water

And 1 tblsp. caramel syrup. (More or less to taste, of course)

Mix it all together in your fancy shaker and pour over ice. I’m telling you – starting your day with something from a martini shaker makes all the difference in the world.

Add milk to taste – extra cool points if you have one of the hard to find reusuable Starbucks cups.

Yum.

I picked up coffee for a friend the other day at Starbucks and order an iced caramel coffee and honestly?

It wasn’t nearly as good.

And it cost twice as much.

{you’re welcome}

Lesson Learned.

Becca — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 23:59:28 +0000

This is going to be a short and sweet lesson.

Because my fingers hurt.

Lesson:

When attempting to be all fancy and make homemade green chili enchilada sauce,

do take lots of pictures to show off your chili and tomatillo roasting skillzzz:

but don’t attempt to de-seed the chilies without wearing gloves. Because even if you don’t think they’re hot, you might be unpleasantly surprised:

You will soon have to put your camera down and grab a bowl full of milk to soak your poor little fingers in:

And your 10 year old might laugh at you while taking your picture.

And p.s. The milk? Doesn’t help.

Rotisserie Chicken Soup {a recipe}

Becca — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 15:34:15 +0000

Steve came home from traveling to the UK on Friday. (Yay!)

But he came home sick. (Boo!)

Horrible sinusy, stuffy, yuck sick.

So I made him some homemade soup.

And yes, the high was 102 yesterday.

But when you’re sick, you’re sick.

It’s my favorite soup to make during the “winter” (in quotes because the winter season is debatable in Arizona) and it’s really easy to make.

Homemade Chicken Soup

You will need:

1 rotisserie chicken (make your own, or if you’re lazy like me, just buy one from the grocery store)

2 “boxes” of chicken stock (or if you’re fancy and you make your own, 64 oz.)

2 cups of water

1 tomato, diced without the seeds

2 zucchini, diced small (I used grey squash yesterday. Whatever you have in the fridge is fine.)

2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp pepper

barley (I use about 1/4 cup, but you can definitely use more)

brown rice (again, I use 1/4 cup, but use more if you would like)

The barley and rice can be replaced with noodles, just remember that noodles expand a lot when you cook them :)

—-

Pour the chicken stock and water into a stock pot.

Pull the chicken off the the bone. I put it all on a cutting board and then cut it into smaller pieces before putting it into the pot. A huge step that I used to skip (because it’s icky) is putting the skin, drumsticks, and wings into the pot. Don’t skip that step. It adds a lot of moisture and taste, and you’re going to take out all the yucky stuff before you eat the soup. Trust me.

Go ahead. Close your eyes and put the drumsticks and wings in.

Throw the zucchini (cut very small, like pencil erasers) and tomato into the pot.

Add the salt and pepper.

Add the barley and rice.

Let it simmer (slow boil) on the stove for an hour. Or two. Or three.

Check to make sure the rice is soft before serving :)

Humor me…

Becca — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 09:30:51 +0000

So, I’ve been in the spotlight for… 23 days now.

And I have something to ask of you.

After seeing a trailer for this show the other night,

I have to know.

Tell me…

What’s the best thing you have ever eaten?

Ever.

In your life.

Not good.

Not great.

The best.

I would tell you mine, but I don’t have an answer.

Seriously, I have been thinking about it for 2 days now.

I am eyeing the last piece of homemade banana bread on my counter, though, and thinking that some peanut butter might make it the best thing I have ever eaten.

But probably not.

Hmmm…

Ok. Sorry.

Share away.

S’more summer, please.

Becca — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:14:53 +0000

It happened this weekend.

Spring turned to summer.

I don’t know exactly when it happened, but it actually feels like summer now.

We had a busy, but uneventful weekend.

We picked our first home grown tomatoes.

Michael and his friend set up their first lemonade stand of the year.

The kids were in the pool for hours each day.

And had serious pool hair when they finally got out :)

They ate sno cones with their friends.

And wrestled in the backyard.

But the best part about summer?

The s’mores.

Definitely the s’mores.

Breakfast is served!

Becca — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 23:40:49 +0000

We have a bit of an issue with food in this house.

I eat too much of it, and my kids don’t eat enough.

That’s not true. Michael doesn’t eat enough.

SO, we have been supplementing his breakfast with some sneaky calories.

He doesn’t seem to mind, and the rest of the family reaps some benefits, too.

In addition, I’m the Mom who gets breakfast requests from friends who sleepover. {Thankyouverymuch}

“Um… Becca, can you please make smoothies tomorrow morning? Please?”

“And, um… can I have a granola bar? Can you give my Mom the recipe?”

Do you know how happy this makes me??!!

No, you probably don’t. Because you don’t know that normally, I am not allowed to make breakfast.

I make a mean dinner, and some some pretty great lunches. But in the morning, Steve won’t let me near the kitchen.

Confession: I make horribly flat pancakes and soggy waffles.

Movingrightalong.

I thought I’d share my recipes with you. Along with some Pioneer Woman-esque pictures. A gift, if you will.

Feel free to give me something in return.

Yummy Strawberry and Banana Smoothies

Cast of characters:

Frozen strawberries

Yogurt – any kind.

Protein powder (I use unflavored soy, but I won’t try to control your smoothie… use what you like)

Milk – 2% is pictured, but we use whole milk for Michael and Jack.

Bananas

A few notes:

I showed you two types of yogurt because I know that yogurt is a very personal kind of thing. Well, it is around here. I like the YoPlus (even though it has some added sugar) and the boys like the unflavored or vanilla.

What I love about this recipe is that it can be easily adapted for people who don’t need all of the extra calories and fat of whole milk and mucho protein powder. And you can easily make multiple (different) smoothies at the same time.

This recipe should adapt well to any blender/smoothie maker. I’m pretty bad at taking exact measurements when I make anything (no, that’s not what was wrong with the waffles and pancakes). Just look at the pictures and adjust the ingredients to fit your taste.

Here we go…

In the bottom of the cup/blender, etc. pour 6-7 small strawberries (or 4-5 of the hughmongo Costco sized ones).

Add one container or 2-3 large spoonfuls of yogurt. (And next time, make sure Jack moves his hands out of the picture)

Pour milk to the top of the strawberries.

Add 1/2 the amount of one serving size of protein powder (for a regular smoothie) or twice the amount of protein powder (if you need to gain a little weight).

Break up a banana and add it in there (and maybe a few extra strawberries to make it thicker).

I have a favorite smoothie maker (that also works for making awesome salsa). We just ordered our second one last week because our 2 year old one just started to die…

*affiliate link*

I’m a little controlling “by the book” when I add the ingredients. I stick to the order listed because I have found that there is less protein powder stuck to the side of the cup when I follow this order. But do what you want, I’m not going to control your smoothie (unless you’re making it in my house. then I might get a little weird).

If the blender isn’t blending well, you probably need to add a bit more milk. Test it out, and drink it up. 2 servings of fruit right there…Yum.

“Mom’s Really Good Granola Bars” (named by Jack, not me)

Cast of characters:

3 cups oats

2 tablespoons additive (I use ground flax seed, but you could also use wheat germ, 7 grain cereal, etc.)

1/4 cup protein powder

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon chunky peanut butter (or creamy. I’m not controlling your granola bars.)

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup chopped almonds and walnuts

1/4 cup dried cranberries and raisins, cut in half

1 cup bear naked granola (or any other kind you like, or not. you can skip this ingredient)

Some notes:

You could substitute chocolate chips for the raisins and cranberries, or for the nuts. This recipe is really flexible.

Sometimes I toast the oats and nuts on 400 degrees for about 13 minutes, but I haven’t been able to tell if it makes a difference. If I have time, I do it. If not, I don’t.

Here we go…

Put peanut butter and honey into a pot, and heat it on low until it melts together.

I use a handheld chopper to chop the almonds and walnuts and a knife to chop the cranberries and raisins because they are so sticky.

Pour oats, flaxseed, protein powder, nuts, raisins and cranberries, and granola into a large bowl.

If you’re using chocolate chips and you decided to toast the granola, you should let it cool down so the chocolate doesn’t melt. But if you have picky kids and you need to trick them into thinking that they are eating chocolate granola bars you could let it melt and change the color of the whole granola bar. Not that I have ever tricked my kids into thinking they are eating lots of chocolate when they in fact are not.

Pour the melted honey and peanut butter into the bowl.

Let your 9 year old helper use Suzy, your beautiful mixer:

Or you could do it the old-fashioned way (how I used to do it before Suzy came into my life) and get out a wooden spoon and stir, stir, stir.

But this way is much more fun.

While Suzy was mixing away, I grabbed a 9×9 pan (well, stone, because I have no pans. Only stones.) and lined it with some parchment paper.

Pour the mixture onto the parchment paper:

And cover it up with another piece of parchment paper.

If you have a small rolling pin (this might be where I have to admit my Pampered Chef addiction) you could use it to flatten down your granola bars. If you don’t, you could use your hands. As Darcie shared with me last night, you could also use a wine bottle. Hmmm… if your wine bottle is too big, I bet a beer bottle would work just fine.

But your husband may or may not give you a weird look.

After your granola mixture is nice and flat, throw the top piece of parchment away and use the bottom one to lift out your granola onto a cooling rack.

Push the granola into a nice firm square on all sides, then let it sit and harden for at least an hour.

I use a pizza cutter to cut my granola bars.

And I store them in a ziplock container in the pantry. They last for about 1 week, but you could get a little more time out of them if you store them in the refrigerator.

Oh, and if you bring some into your co-workers every once in a while, you get lots of smiles!

Completely irrelevant fact about my kitchen: After proof-reading this post, I realized that everything except for Suzy and the blender are from Pampered Chef. Hmmm…

Why am I so TIRED?

Becca — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 04:40:02 +0000

I just can’t figure it out.

On Friday night, we took the boys to Outback with some friends of ours. We recapped the rock story for her while Jack made all of his crayons “naked” (tearing all the paper off of them).

Saturday was relaxing… went running, cleaned the house a bit, and walked around Target with a girlfriend. Perfect day.

Sunday was Valentine’s Day. But you all know that, right?

I woke up to beautiful tulips and after going running with a girlfriend, I came home to fresh pancakes (with peanut butter and bananas, of course) made by my Valentine.

Last night, we went out for dinner with some great friends. We sat at the restaurant for 2 hours drinking fan-cee white peach and hibiscus margaritas, eating way too much chips and guacamole, and laughing at unsuspecting fashion failures people watching.

After we ate our weight in Mexican food, we walked on over to AJ’s and decided to do some window shopping.

If you’ve never been to an AJ’s, you should probably get on a plane and get on out here. It’s that cool. Amazingly beautiful bakery items, a sushi bar, a huge meat counter, and holycowthosearehugestrawberries produce. All at crazy expensive prices, but hey, you can’t have everything. Hence, the window shopping.

I did manage to snag a picture of their beer selection.. It’s Steve’s favorite part of the store:

And I left with only one frivolous purchase:

Because isn’t she the cutest thing you’ve ever seen? It’s a dish scrubber. With it’s own little holder. Her name is Nicole, but she has friends… you know, in case you need one too.

So, we ate, we shopped, we came home.

And then.

Because the rock incident of the last 2 weeks didn’t wear me out enough, we hear this from Pauline, our amazing friend that loves on our kids when we go out:

“I need to tell you something.”

OhhhKayyyyy…. What?

“Jack cut his hair.”

Of course he did. He’s Jack. I’m not surprised.

“I’m sorry. I sent him in to brush his teeth, and he came out with his hair cut.”

Yup. That’s the Jack I know. But don’t be sorry… It definitely wasn’t your fault!

We couldn’t get a good look at it last night because he was zonked face first on his pillow. So we waited until this morning.

Before:

After:

Beautiful.

He’s proud of it.

I asked him why he cut his own hair.

He said, “It was too long.”

I took him to get it fixed today and the hairdresser gave him a hard time.

She told him that if he does it again, he’ll be getting a mohawk.

I completely agree with her.

Short, short, short… ugh.

He’s still adorable.

He told the hairdresser that it was ok to cut your own hair…

as long as your Mom says it’s ok.

I guess I must talk in my sleep.

*In the interest of full disclosure, there are affiliate links in this post*

My new love… Guacamole.

Becca — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:25:55 +0000

I have recently discovered guacamole.

Yes, I was sheltered growing up. (Just kidding, Mom!)

Last week, we had some friends over. I decided to make good use of my Pioneer Woman cookbook and make her guacamole.

Yum.

Did I say yum?

It was super easy and so tasty.

Everyone kept asking if I made it and where I got the recipe.

So, as we were looking through the cookbook…

Friend 1: Um… do you know there’s an avocado seed in your guacamole?

Me: What? How did that get in there?… Just kidding. It keeps the guacamole from browning.

Friend 2: WHAT? I’ve never heard that. Does it work?

Me: Well, the guacamole isn’t brown.

Friend 3: How come you never told me that before?

Me: I thought everyone knew it. I never thought about it before.

Friend 2: Well, thanks. I’ve been making guacamole for years and never knew about it.

So, friends… I am telling you now.

I wish I knew where I learned it.

I can’t remember.

Obviously not from experience because I have only recently started making guacamole.

For more life changing tips (well, probably not life changing, but great tips nonetheless) head on over to Kristen’s blog.

On an island in Southern California…

Becca — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:40:49 +0000

On an island, in a restaurant named Islands… Beggars can’t be choosers…

Anyway,if you happened to be in a restaurant named Islands in Laguna Niguel this afternoon, you may have overheard this conversation…

Mom: “Let’s decide what you boys want to eat. Here are your choices: Chicken tenders, macaroni and cheese, a hot dog, a hamburger, grilled cheese, or a quesadilla.”

Jack: “Corn dog, please.”

Mom: “No, that wasn’t a choice. Let me read them again. Chicken tenders, macaroni and cheese, a hot dog, a hamburger, grilled cheese, or a quesadilla.”

Jack: “They don’t have corn dogs?”

Mom: “No, they don’t. Would you like a hot dog?”

Michael: “Mom, do you have a napkin? I want to spit my gum out.”

Mom: “Sure. Picks napkin up from right in front of Michael, holds it out for him. Spit.”

Michael: “Thanks, Mom.”

Mom: “Jack, spit out your gum.”

Jack: “I don’t have it anymore.”

Mom: “Did you swallow it?”

Jack: “No. It dropped.”

Mom: “Where did it drop?” Looking on the floor

Jack: “In your car.”

Mom: “WHAT? In my car? My NEW car? Where?”

Jack: “I don’t know. It fell down and I didn’t know where it was.”

Mom: “Next time you really need to tell someone when you drop something in my car. Especially gum.”

Grandma: Who remained amazingly quiet during all of these exchanges “That’s a blog post.”

Later… after lunch, after the movie… We get into the car…

Jack: “Mom! Found the gum!”

Mom: cringing “Where?”

Jack: “In my seat belt!”

Mom: BIG smile… “Jack, you really need to say something next time.”

Mom cleans gum off of the seatbelt in three different places, including some that was sticking the seatbelt and the seatbelt clip together, making it impossible to move the plastic clip part up and down the belt part. Yay.

Michael: “Can I have a piece of gum?”

Mom and Grandma: “No!”

So, where’s that island again?

I like cows.

Becca — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:35:01 +0000

This weekend we went out for a date.

Yup… 12 years later and we are still “dating.” How cute is that? Pretty cute, I think.

Anyway, we went out with another couple and ate at this great restaurant that has burgers, fries, and shakes. That’s it. And it’s not In-N-Out. How can they do that and stay in business? The burgers are awesome. REALLY awesome.

So, we get to the restaurant and sit down. I sat next to Steve and across from Darcie, who sat next to her husband, Jeff. And yes, the seating arrangement is kind of important to the story.

We start talking about what we’re going to have, and what they have had before (we hadn’t been there before, they had) when Steve realizes something.

Jeff is looking past Steve’s head and watching tv.

Steve turns around and sees the football game on tv.

I think to myself, “damn.”

Steve looks at Darcie (who has a perfect view of the football game, though she doesn’t care).

“Can we switch places?”

Of course she agrees, because she’s a nice person and not one to say no when someone asks to do something as small as switch places at a restaurant.

So, there we are. Steve and Jeff watching the game. Darcie and I looking at this:

Yes, that’s a cow. Two of them, actually. It’s not a picture. It’s the wall. I don’t even think it’s wallpaper. It’s huge. Staring at me while I eat… a cow. Darcie doesn’t eat red meat, so I don’t know if this bothered her more or less than it bothered me. Because who wants to bring up the cow elephant in the middle of the room and ask?

I like hamburgers. And steak. But I can’t think about where they come from. I can eat chicken, but only if it doesn’t look like a chicken when it enters my house. A pig roast? I could never do it. I love turkey, but Thanksgiving around here is a little tough for me.

Every time I took a bite of my (REALLY GOOD) hamburger, I thought… where is this from? His leg? Near his belly? His… nevermind. You get the picture.

It was a good hamburger, though.