Two weeks ago our coffee carafe broke...right in the middle of a snow storm. Being at the end of a long, long gravel road, we can't expect to simply hop in the car to remedy such things. We must wait for the snow to stop falling, wait for the plow to uncover blanketed roads. Crestfallen and wondering what in the world we were to do, I was rescued by my sweet husband, who encouraged me to try the coffee pot mom brought when she was here this past Thanksgiving.
A gift from a friend and then gifted to us in turn, what a wonderful treat this turned out to be! I was hesitant at first- it is not electric...it is not my coffeemaker.
But oh! How feminine! Coffee is not distinctly feminine, like, say, tea can be. But this coffeemaker defied that notion, and for the entire week we waited for the new carafe to show up, I was thankful for this gift- not for just the mild, wonderful coffee it made, but also for the simplicity of it. I couldn't help but share my delight with you. Who'd have thought? Coffee- feminine!
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And now I come to a very exciting piece of news. (Forgive me, as I spend time being a coffee-lover).
When we moved here, one of the hardest city luxuries to give up was Starbucks. It almost seems silly now, but I remember my favorite part of going to the big city was definitely a trip to Starbucks. Within days of arriving in Iowa, I had them scouted out and was feeling right at home (coffee-wise).
When we moved into our house 2 weeks later (and were hence placed 45 minutes from "town") the daily, or even really, weekly Starbucks run became really extravagant. So I learned to love drip coffee. With the right creamer, I actually prefer the coffee we make at home to the $4.00 treats from sweet Starbucks.
But the creamer? This has been a must. And not just half and half (it was too watery), but true-to-form loaded with (who knows what kind of) ingredients CoffeeMate creamer. Reasons we HAD to go to go to town now looked like this:
-The heat lamp keeping our water pipes from freezing burned out!
-We ran out of diapers!
-We ran out of creamer!
There simply was no getting around it...but it isn't the cheapest splurge, when one consumes it at the pace we do. And I had looked for ways to make it from scratch, as that is almost always less expensive, but the only recipes I found used Non-Dairy creamer as a base. Nothing told me the secret to the basic stuff. So when my mom-in-law sent us a link to this site and told us it had recipes for commonly used items, I thought "Hey, I wonder if they have a creamer recipe."
And you know what! They had it! A wonderfully creamy, easy, inexpensive creamer mix. And if you love drip coffee, and perhaps live 30 minutes away from your closest store, and perhaps don't have $60 every month to feed your coffee cravings- this recipe is for you.
Coffee Creamer
1 1/2 Cups Milk
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
(Truly, that's all!)
You can add other spices and flavorings (like a bit of vanilla, pumpkin pie spice, etc). They have the proportions over at the site if you are so inclined. We added 3T of white chocolate syrup, and made 30 ounces of creamer for under $1.50.
And, from the heart of a true coffee-lover, this one cuts the mustard. Takes the cake. Is quite divine.
5 comments:
I'm so glad the coffee pot came in handy. It was just such an emergency that Marlene and I had in mind when she gave me the pot...to give to you. And, living with three men, we felt that you might appreciate a bit of femininity!
The site Calli sent you is great! It even has recipes for Easy Bake Ovens - not that I need them at the moment, but I've always wondered what one did once all the packets that come with the oven are gone. Now I know! I do plan to use some of the other recipes, though. Thanks for sharing.
Love you all!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Tycen and I go through at least 2 big creamers a week. It's easy to do with a couple cups of coffee during the day and tea at night.
Looking forward to testing out homemade coffee creamer - yum!
Oh Sonja, I'm right there with you! When we talked about starting up the big shopping trips again (like once a month, every six months, etc) my biggest holdback was this creamer issue (would I really be willing to put 8 of them in my cart??) Ha!
Mom, Thanks for thinking of me! I love that you think ahead for my predicaments (you and Krissy are both good at that!) And you know, I always wondered about the easy bake things too! Love you!
How clever! The coffee pot looks really fun for a special "girly" treat. Did Phil refuse to drink out anything out of the flowery pot? hehe
The creamer recipe is also really cool. I'm a half-and-half girl myself. Something about reading the ingredients on the back of the non-dairy creamer once made me change my mind... it's so tasty, but so full of chemicals! Sad.. but I'm still known to drink it on occasion at friends' houses. :)
Tif- forever Phil has been bugging me to get the creamer out of the house, using that pesky label as ammunition...I am thankful we found a compromise. It has been...dangerous to come between me and my creamer. Not that I have a problem. =)
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