Nest Eats: Sweet Nectar Iced Coffee

Most days I'm braving what life throws at me with a travel coffee mug in my hand - I'm mean seriously between little sleep and back working outside of the house I need a little boost in the morning. My sister has always been so gracious as to make me a huge mason jar of this delicious goodness when I most need it! Do you love iced coffee? If so, this recipe is divine and super easy to make. It of course is much easier on your pocket (especially since we're really cracking down on our budget even more lately). Hopefully you make yourself some and a fellow mama who needs it!

Perfect Iced Coffee Concentrate
adapted from Pioneer Woman

Makes 4 quarts…you can double this…

Half pound Ground Coffee, 8 oz  (good, Rich Roast)
4 quarts Cold Water

To Make
In a large container (I used a huge bowl), mix ground coffee with water. Cover and allow to sit at room temperature eight hours or overnight.
* If using a large bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and place a kitchen towel over it.
Line a fine mesh strainer with cheesecloth and set over a pitcher or other container. Pour coffee/water mixture through the strainer, allowing all liquid to run through. Discard grounds.
Place coffee liquid in the fridge and allow to cool. Use as needed.

For serving
You can use the following:

• Half-and-half  or flavored creamer (a generous splash per serving)
• Sweetened Condensed Milk (2-3 Tablespoons Per Serving)
• Skim Milk, 2% Milk, Whole Milk
• Sugar, Artificial Sweeteners, Syrups
• Pretty much anything to your liking…get crazy with it!

To make iced coffee, pack a glass full of ice cubes. Fill glass 2/3 to 1/2  full with coffee liquid. Add healthy splash of half-and-half or *flavored creamer. Add 2-3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk or plain sugar and stir to combine. Taste and adjust half-and-half or whatever you are using to your liking.

*If using flavored creamer, do not add sweetened condensed milk, use regular sugar.

Go here for more information on other ways to make iced coffee concentrate.

Organization: The Meal Plan

My most common struggle with our schedule is meal prep AND actually sitting down and eating as a family. As we've really focused on our budget and begun to make adjustments to have more time together, I finally decided to give meal planning a go. Once upon a time I was a planner...so it wasn't too horrible at least starting the process to better organize our meal time.

Several months ago I was contacted by eMeals to test out their service, however, truthfully I felt overwhelmed with the weekly list of new recipes and decided to keep a folder until I knew how to utilize them. They are a meal planning company that sends you a weekly grocery list along with a week full of recipes each week! I know I should have used them sooner - but glad I figured out a way to incorporate them!

So of course after asking the question how do you meal plan? I was given some great tips and checked out Pinterest for some inspiration. I was able to find this printable meal plan calendar:

There are so many, I wanted to keep it simple. My first plan of attack was sitting and writing out all of the recipes I do know. Then I looked at the recipe lists I've been sent from eMeals and added a few new meals along with some from Pinterest. Under each recipe I listed the ingredients so I knew what was needed when I shopped.

Then it was time to execute. I will say that my grocery bill was HIGHER than usual, but I actually felt like I had realistically shopped for my family. Kai truly doesn't like to eat out much so I knew that this was in everyone's best interest. I will say all of this was the easy part - sticking to the calendar was my true challenge....

In terms of the calendar planning part I looked at our schedule and looked at days in which I could make extra (like Wednesday for youth service) and just bring the leftovers for all of us to eat. I chose Mondays and Tuesdays as my days to be creative and did include a cheat day Friday and Saturday if we wanted to go out to eat as a family or spend time with friends.

There truly isn't any magic formula when it comes to meal planning and I used a very simple approach. I'm so excited to have some structure to what we're doing and to keep up a routine that works for us. I was less stressed coming home when cooking and I even used my crock pot!

Kai is even pleased - that's a new dish may I add!

Hope you're inspired to test out meal planning!!

 

Fall Recipe: Pumpkin Sheet Cake

Happy Friday! I promise I won't over do it with the pumpkin recipes, but this one you have to try...seriously. Or at least keep this in your back pocket when you get invited unexpectedly to a gathering this season (then you can thank this post later). Before you know it Thanksgiving will be here and if you're anything like me, I always end up saying yes at the last minute (drives my hubs crazy). So thanks to my wonderful sister, this recipe works perfectly for last minute plans.

As always a brief picture tutorial so you know what to do!

 

The process...in so many words

 

This cake is not super sweet, very moist and its hard to not eat just one piece. Its really good and so SIMPLE to make! I highly suggest giving some of this to your friends and family, it makes a very large cake.
xo,
 Steph

Cinnamon Roll Pumpkin Vanilla Sheet Cake
adapted from Picky Palate
Ingredients

1 box yellow cake mix
4 eggs
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk (I used whole milk)
3.4 ounce box Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix
1/2 cup sour cream
15 ounce can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4-1/2 cup heavy cream (start w 1/4 cup and add a little more cream if needed)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and spray a jelly roll 12 x 18 pan with non stick cooking spray.
2. Place cake mix, eggs, oil, milk, pudding, sour cream and pumpkin into a stand or electric mixer, beating until well combined, about 1 1/2 minutes. Pour into prepared pan, spreading evenly.
3. Place butter into a microwave safe bowl and melt, about 30-40 seconds. Add brown sugar and cinnamon to bowl, mixing until combined. Drizzle mixture evenly over cake then take a knife and run it through to swirl.
4. Bake cake for 30-35 minutes, until cooked through and remove. Place powdered sugar and cream into a large bowl and whisk until creamy and smooth. Drizzle over warm cake then let cool for 20 minutes before cutting into squares. Refrigerate if not serving same day.
Makes 16 to 20 squares

Fall Recipe: Pumpkin Cookies

We've been wanting to go to the pumpkin patch, but the weather is still pretty crummy outside. So good thing you can make these tasty cookies regardless! Though we're inside I've been quite productive and even put up new things in the shop (woot woot!).

So if you've been able to go to the pumpkin patch, please remember us while we wait out the rain... and make use of your stash this weekend. These really are delicious.

Chewy Pumpkin Cookies
adapted from How Sweet Eats
makes about 24 cookies
1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter, melted and cooled
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups of all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 cup chocolate chips
 
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Mix the flour, salt, cornstarch, pumpkin pie spice and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.
In another bowl, mix the melted butter (make sure its cooled) and sugars until they are combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and stir until mixed. Stir in pumpkin puree until smooth. Gradually add flour mixture and mix until a dough forms – it will look crumbly at first, but it will come together. Fold chocolate chips and chunks.
Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes, then roll into golfball-sized balls. Bake for 9-10 minutes, then let cool completely.

Fall Recipes: Apple Butter

I figured it would be only fitting to sprinkle in some recipes from my amazing sister, Stephanie. I'm not much of a baker, however, I sure do love to test taste her food as well as eat in general (I know I'm not the only one). So I asked her if she could share various recipes for the season! When I tell you that this apple butter is to die for...I'm serious (I once...just kidding).

Apple Butter
adapted from Caroline B.
This recipe makes roughly 40 ounces of apple butter. So you can make 5 small 8-ounce jars (great as gifts or house warming presents), or a couple large sized jars, it’s up to you.

4 pounds of apples, peeled and cut into bite sized chunks (you can use any type of flavorful apple)
Roughly 1/2 gallon of apple cider
2 cups of sugar (use roughly 1/2 cup per pound of fruit)
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
Juice of one lemon

  Now its time to show you how easy this is to make (picture tutorial):

 Start by peeling, coring and chopping up your apples

Place your apples in a large deep stainless steel pot (or a pot that’s non-reactive). You want enough room for your apples to boil.

Pour about 1/2 gallon of apple cider over your apples just enough to cover them. Let them boil for 20-30 minutes until tender.

Once your apples are nice and tender. Remove from heat and spoon your apples into a food processor or blender and puree them. Adding a little cider liquid helps too. Make sure to put the puree in a large bowl and reserve the apple cider in a cup in case you need to thin your mixture out.

Once your done pureeing your apples you should have what looks like thin applesauce. Transfer your applesauce back into the pot and if it looks kind of thick add more cider to it, but don’t dump all the cider back into the pot or you will end up with apple juice. Discard the rest of the apple cider you don’t use.

 Bring puree to a boil on med-med low heat about 225 degrees (a candy thermometer helps). Add 2 cups of sugar or to taste, spices, and juice from 1 lemon. Stir mixture until well blended. Turn the heat down a bit and let your puree simmer for 2-3 hours (longer if you want super thick butter) stirring occasionally.

After a few hours your apple butter should darken and become nice and thick. It will cook down a bit, so don’t freak. At this point your butter should be making plopping sounds and splatters a bit. If your butter slowly comes off the spoon  and looks nice and thick, then its ready to put in jars.

You wan to use “Self-Sealing” jars to ensure that your apple butter will stay fresh for up to 6 months. You can find these at your local grocery store in the produce section. They come in many different sizes and are very easy to use. Many grocery stores even sell the canning kits that come in handy when handling a really hot jar. Be sure to wash all your jars with hot soapy water, let dry on a clean towel, before using.

Remove your apple butter from the heat. Using a large-mouth funnel spoon your apple butter into each jar leaving 1/4″ of space at the top. Cover and seal each jar. Do not close them super tight, just tight enough to not let any water get in.

To seal your jars, in a large deep pot of boiling water place jars inside making sure water covers the top of the jars. Cover the pot and boil jars for 10 minutes. Remove jars with canning tongs, wipe off any excess water and place jar on a cooling rack. Repeat process with remaining jars.

Let apple butter cool to room temperature. This can take up to 12 hours. You should hear some of the tops on your jars making a “popping sound” meaning they are sealing correctly. Once cooled, place jars in the fridge (this helps your butter become even thicker). You can store apple butter in the fridge for up to 6 months, if they are sealed correctly.

I hope this helps some of you that I know wanted to try and make this but were really apprehensive about the process. Trust me its a little time consuming, but very easy and the end results are fantastic. I recommend doing this with someone to speed things up, especially the apple peeling and chopping part.

Directions (if you're not in to pictures):

Prepare the jars: Heat oven to 225 and place jars (but not lids) on the baking racks. Jars will need to stay in the oven for at least 20 minutes. Wash the lids with hot water and let them dry completely on a clean towel.

Make the apple butter: In a big, heavy pot over medium/med-high heat add the apples and enough apple cider to just cover the apples. Bring to a simmer. A bit of a foam will form, you want to skim that off a couple of times (don’t obsess). Cook the apples until they are tender throughout, roughly 20-30 minutes. Take the apples off the heat, let them cool for a couple minutes, and then puree in a blender or food processor, in small batches (don’t fill the blender over half full with the hot liquid or you will have a mess). The puree should be the consistency of a thin applesauce. If it seems a little thick add more hot liquid. Discard any reserved hot liquid that you don’t use.
Put the puree back in the big pot over medium heat. Bring puree to a simmer (you need it to hit 220F on a candy thermometer). Then, while stirring, slowly sprinkle in the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon juice. Continue to simmer over medium/med-low heat. It takes quite a while from this point until the apple butter reduces and really thickens up, anywhere from 1 to 2 or 3 hours (try to keep it around 220F). Make sure you stir regularly, you don’t want it to burn or cook to the bottom of the pot. You are looking for the apple butter to thicken up and darken. Towards the end it gets a bit messy, the simmer becoming more lava-like – it also sounds different, lots of plop and slop noises and lots of spattering coming from the pot. Remove from heat.
Fill your your biggest, deepest pot with water and bring to a rolling boil. The water level will need to cover the jars.

Fill the jars: Using tongs carefully remove each jar from the oven and fill to within 1/4 inch of the top with the apple puree. Wipe off rims with a clean dry paper towel. Place a dry lid on each jar and close tightly. Using tongs place each of the jars in the boiling water and boil for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!