homemade iced coffee and frappuccinos.

It's summer. And it's hot. And no matter how much I love my local Starbucks to pieces, I can only bring myself to budget so much to spend there. Any more seems bordering on obscene. Trust me. I drop enough coin that the barristas in three different local establishments recognize me and know my favorite drink. Well, I'd like to change that a wee bit since I really am a frugal individual. Honestly, I justify this to myself by reasoning that I don't spend a lot of money on lots of other things. But still. Come on. Plus, my waistline could probably use the timeout, since they now make the fraps with whole milk. Eeps.

So. That leads me to the recipe hunting that I've been doing. And who should I look to but some of my favorite sources for recipe inspiration?

The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, recently posted her recipe for iced coffee, and yes, ma'am, I'm giving this one a shot. I love the fact that she does a cold brew of the coffee, because I think this is really, really key. You need to have a coffee that hasn't gone bitter from hot brewing and then cooling.

{perfect iced coffee}

This will also give me an opportunity to substitute a dairy free "milk" just like I use for my morning hot coffee. I love, love the so delicious coconut milk creamer. I'll most likely try their vanilla milk for this, though! She also mentions condensed milk in this recipe post - which isn't just a Vietnamese tradition, it's also Jamaican, so I was familiar with that one. ;)

Martha's site just had a basic formula, but didn't really address the bitter brew problem like Ree did in the above post. Pretty photo, though! She's most likely thinking, "it's so easy, who needs instructions?!" Plus, a lot of the portions are your individual taste, I guess.

{basic iced coffee}

Then there's this post. boasting a concoction that tastes fairly close to the original. Though I will not be purchasing xantham gum, as it's not really on the list of things I intentionally include in my diet. I'll most likely try the pectin option, or try using knox unflavored gelatin. And lo and behold, as I link to it - they also have a recipe for some iced coffee stuff, so it should work...

{frappuccino for a fraction of the cost}

Anyway, keep cool and enjoy! I'm starting the couch to 5k this week. Awesome. I used to run 15k a week, but I've totally gotten out of the groove. Hoping I don't die of heatstroke, as the index was over 100 degrees by 11am this morning - I will be running earlier than that! 0.o