How to Make Iced Coffee

wasn?t too exciting for me on the food front. Having this darn cold has put a slight damper on my appetite. This damper was at its strongest yesterday so although I obviously had plenty of eats, I don?t think I felt good genuine hunger during any of my meals.

I started the day off with a giant orange (gotta pack in that vitamin C!) and some yogurt with berries, banana, flax and uncooked kamut flakes (oh so crunchy).

In the aft I went on a brief uptown shopping jaunt with my friend. I managed to make one lovely purchase: tempeh!
I know that?s hardly exciting but there seems to be only one small health food store around here that sells it. I?ve looked high and low and have not been able to find it anywhere else, and I don?t make trips to this health food store very often. So I never leave there without tempeh, which I just love.

Mmmmmm tempeh.

After some running, tannage and who knows what else, I finally fixed myself some dinner. I ate my dinner much later than usual because my appetite just still wasn?t kicking but I wanted to eat so I finally mustered up enough of an appetite and made some F-U Tacos from PETA?s Vegan College Cookbook,. 

This meal was perfect because I had some leftover opened refried beans and some opened silken tofu lying around in the fridge. And I just love to use up them leftovers. I clearly didn?t eat it in a taco but rather on some spinach and topped with salsa and sour cream, and this way worked just dandy.

I also munched on leftover carrot birthday cake slivers throughout the day. This was even better the next day. Then again I think most cakes (and most desserts in general?) tend to get better a couple days later, am I right? Think next day banana bread? soooo good.

My morning started off slightly on the noisy side as we had to have people in to completely rip my mom?s bathroom apart, which had moldy rot going on in the walls and was causing water to run down through the ceiling and into our kitchen. Yeah no good. So they were here banging away for a good few hours. I didn?t mind, I just felt a little lost. I never know what to do with myself when there are strangers in my house.

The only thing that I could think to do was make some breakfast. I wanted to make a smoothie but for some reason I was uncomfortable making too much noise with the blender with them ripping stuff apart upstairs. I know, I?m weird. Instead I chopped up a nearly about to rot mango (I tried to eat the skin this time around but it was pretty bitter. It must get more bitter with age. I was sad) and ate it alongside a bowl of yogurt mixed with chocolate PB2, flax and multigrain flakes cereal. A couple of coffee cups were also inevitable.

Later on, once the kerfuffle was over and I was no longer afraid to use my blender, I ?cooked" up some Holiday Chia Pudding! I bought a small amount of chia seeds a little while back and wanted to do something cool with them so when this recipe kept popping up I decided this was where my chia seeds wanted to be.

I had exactly 1/4 cup of chia seeds. Perfect!
My differences: I used sweetened coconut (that?s all I have on hand), didn?t bother soaking the cashews, used smaller honey dates (didn?t have any Medjools), and didn?t use lucuma powder (don?t have it).
It still turned out delicious! I can?t believe how well those little Chias work their gel magic. It?s so neat.

I managed to get my mom to try a bite and after noting that ?it?s very different?? and processing the taste for a few seconds, she said it was delicious! Definitely a winner of a recipe. And SO easy. I was slightly intimidated by it at first glance but oh gosh, it took less than five minutes.

Mail man also stopped by my door today and dropped me off this book that I?ll be giving a read: Why Diet and Exercise Fail by Daniel Korn. I?ve already read the first little bit and I?m honestly already intrigued. I?m going to finish it up and say more once I?m through with it.

Today was gorgeous and quite hot!
Just perfect for a big bowl of salad, my favourite summertime lunch. Spinach, cabbage slaw, mushrooms, carrots, red peppers, and leftover F-U taco filling all packed into one pretty glass bowl. (My mom?s eating toast with melted cheese in the background? clearly our lunch preferences aren?t quite on par haha)

And that leads me to?

I?ve had quite a few inquiries as to how I make my iced coffee so I figured I might as well do a Step-by-Step (day by day, a fresh start over, a different hand to play? 90s TV? Anyone?)

1. Take a cooled pot of coffee.
You could also use hotter coffee and just set it in the fridge or freezer until it cools down a bit but I usually don?t make my iced coffees until later in the day so I just use the last bits of cold coffee that remain in the pot from the morning

2. Pour the coffee into a Magic Bullet cup

3. Pour skim milk into the coffee
Any milk or milk alternative will do, I just prefer skim because I find it froths up the most and the milky froth is my favourite part.

4. Sweeten with your choice of sweetener
I usually use Splenda but use whatever you prefer. Cinnamon is a tasty addition as well.

5. Add a couple large cubes of ice
I add more or less depending on how much coffee I?m using. If I?m making a big iced coffee with more liquid then I?ll use more ice.

6. Twist on the Bullet lid, place the cup onto the base and grind it all up until you no longer hear little ice chunks bumping around.

7. Taste it. Add more ice or sweetener and blend again if needed.

8. Enjoy, preferable outside on a hot and sunny day.

That definitely could have been explained in a couple of lines and is quite simple and straightforward but I figured this way was a bit more fun

Dinner tonight was sushi! A seaweed salad and a spicy salmon maki roll (sorry no pics), followed by some Old Navy bathing suit shopping (On sale, $14 each piece! Old Navy bathing suits are so cheap. And cute!) , weird cricket-like sport watching in the park and then a mini snackfest once I got home since my dinner was on the smaller side and I wanted something sweet.

Tomorrow I?m going to the BEACH! YAY. I?ve been craving a beach day forever and the weather is finally warm enough. I?m excited! Hope you all have a great Thursday!