Easy Holiday Latte

I love my Keurig, but I have found myself at Starbucks a lot more recently, for one simple reason: I am a sucker for holiday flavors. I love pumpkin spice lattes, gingerbread and caramel brûlée lattes, and peppermint mochas. In order to save a little money, I've been trying to create holiday coffees that I can make at home, without buying special syrups. 

My old stand by is an easy pumpkin spice latte. I brew a Cafe Escapes Vanilla Latte kcup and stir in a little pumpkin pie spice. My newest favorite flavor is the gingerbread cookie latte. It starts with the vanilla latte, which is a pretty good base because it is creamy, but lends itself well to adding other flavorings. Then I add some ginger and cinnamon, and before I stir it all up, I stick the end of my stir spoon in molasses, stirring the molasses and spices into the latte all at the same time. 

I'd love to hear your favorite coffee recipes, feel free to share!

Getting in the spirit

Though it may not even be thanksgiving yet, it is the Christmas season according to Starbucks. The red cups are back, and when I went to Starbucks for coffee last week, I found myself with a conundrum that could really only happen to someone like me.

You see, I have an adorable re-usable coffee sleeve that my best friend bought for me, it is bright and springy, and I have used it as a pattern for similar sleeves for fiends and family, but I always use the same one.  I like things to match - it's part of my aesthetic OCD - and when I went to put my cute pink and teal coffee sleeve on the red Christmas cup, I nearly had a mismatched meltdown. I know, only me.

Of course this meant that it was time to break down and make myself a new Christmas coffee sleeve. It turned out really cute, and I was super excited to use it, until I realized that my sleeve had bright cherry red, and the Starbucks red cups are a darker, deep red this year. I can't seem to win, but at least I got in the same seasonal theme and color family, and it is still really cute!

Yum!

Today I am thankful for an amazing breakfast on the go. Let me tell you, this one was all about being prepared the night before. I started by pulling a bag of banana chocolate chip muffins out of the freezer - I know, super hard. But they were ready for me this morning, and I needed that!

I also tried a new iced coffee idea, and it is amazing, probably my favorite homemade version yet, and I finally got to use the adorable travel cup that I got for Christmas from a very crafty friend! It definitely made my day!

So here's the easiest iced coffee recipe ever, thanks to my Keurig; I made two mugs of vanilla cafe expressions and poured them in a pitcher, I topped that off with a cup of coffee, stirred it all up and let it sit in the fridge overnight. In the morning I stirred it again and it was ready to go! Love it!

Smile!

This is my new coffee mug, doesn't it make you smile! If you need one too, it's from Kohls :)

Tradition

I have a secret Fat Tuesday tradition that I'm about to admit. This could be considered hysterical, or just really really sad.

Every year I get up early on Fat Tuesday, drive to my local Kroger store and buy a whole bunch of pazckis. I do have a reason for buying them, every year I take them to school and call it a lesson in culture. After I buy the pazckis I stop at Starbucks, also in the Kroger store, hence the reason that I always buy them at Kroger, and get my coffee.

Coffee and pazckis in hand I load myself in my car and stuff my face with pazcki on my drive to work. Hey, it happens once a year, it's all good right?

This year I am really trying to be good, mostly due to the extra pounds the came from our quick vacation, so I passed on the Starbucks, which is a decision I am about to regret very very soon seeing as I haven't skipped my morning coffee on a workday in hmmm, like 4 years.... This girl is about to have a massive headache, but at least I'll get my pazcki!

Starting this holiday off right

I can't think of a better way to celebrate this particular holiday than a pumpkin spice latte with lots of whipped cream. Bring on the calories! Now I've got a parade to watch before we hit the road (can I just say that I'm not impresses with the hosts, really, this was the best CBS could do? I miss the Matt Lauer/Katie Courick days, and yes, I'm a child of the 90s).

Obsession

Ever since my very first experience with a vanilla bean frappucino I have loved Starbucks, and since then I have tried many different flavors, experimenting at home to see if it was possible to recreate my favorites. Nothing has ever been as good as what I can get at Starbucks. And yes, I fully recognize that i have become a Starbucks snob - it must be a true, stand alone Starbucks, not an in-store kiosk because those are just not the same. I have drink orders that cannot be repeated, or understood by anyone who does not frequent my favorite coffee shop on a regular basis. But despite the fact that we are currently nearing the end if my favorite time if year - pumpkin spice latte season, I have found myself ignoring my Starbucks gold card, preferring the convenience of my new toy. Why did I not buy this Keurig sooner?! I could've saved so much money, and I'm not just talking the cost of a latte, but gas to get to the nearest Starbucks and back to work is almost 20 minutes out of my way. You live you learn right? And I am learning that I love this machine, and all of the wonderful goodness that comes with it. Whoever created the variety pack is a genius. I love k-cups, and if that is all that I get for Christmas, I will be perfectly happy!

So, did I mention that I love this machine?

And now to the thing that I actually wanted to share with you today, and yes, it is somewhat related to my little rant above.

I have a fairly extensive collection of coffee mugs, this one is my favorite. Of all time. It's from Starbucks (I fully believe their travel mugs are far superior to any others, and I love the designs), circa 2006 - back in the day when I could use my meal plan at our campus Starbucks (and you could buy drink ware with your meal plan as long as it was purchased with a Starbucks beverage - leftover meal plan dollars bought MANY Christmas gifts when I was in college).

As you can see I have designed my entire kitchen decor around this wonderful piece of commercial arty, and I will be devastated if it ever breaks (like the gold Christmas version with the reindeer that I dropped on the cement:).

There you have it. Longest post ever about absolutely nothing!

Starbucks justification of the day

I had to stop at Starbucks today because I'm getting my hair done this afternoon, and I needed to break a $10 bill so I can tip my hair stylist, so I HAD to go to Starbucks...