Jewhungry Coffee Round Up

 

Team, we’re on vacation.  We’re back in Miami but this time we’re at my husband’s place in Coconut Grove. And yes, it’s EXTREMELY weird to say the sentence, “my husband’s place”. These kinds of trips, trips back to a city you used to live in, are always a mixed back.  You spend so much time running around trying to see everyone and the chances of me disappointing someone on this trip is/was quite great. It’s a pretty awesome problem though; the problem of having so many loved ones and not enough time to see them.

When we moved from Miami to LA, I honestly thought we’d never head back. It’s a lot less expensive and less chaotic for my husband to do the traveling to LA than for me and the 2 1/2 year-old kiddo to be traveling to Miami. But, the hubby got a gig reading the Torah on a few shabbatot (multiple shabbats) at the Coconut Grove Chabad and as payment, the Chabad bought us tickets to come out to see him.  It’s a pretty sweet deal. Part of the negotiation though was I was not gonna head back to LA with a jetlagged toddler without some help.  We get back on Tuesday and I go right back to work on Wednesday. Parenting a toddler is exhausting. Parenting a toddler alone and working as a school counselor is EXTREMELY exhausting. As a result, my morning coffee consumption has gone from 1 cup everyone morning to 2 cups. I’m officially a 2 cup of coffee lady. My love and, let’s face it, addiction to coffee is deep and it is real. I’m a monster when I don’t get my coffee. It’s shocking how rapidly I change from she-beast to relatively pleasant person after even one gulp of coffee. As a result of this new change in coffee-drinking status, I bring you a post dedicated ENTIRELY to coffee.  I’ve got coffee everything. There are smoothies, brownies, salad, fudge, homemade creamers, and, of course, drinks! I hope you find something you like!

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1. Bourbon Blondies with Chocolate Vegan Glaze from Jewhungry

2. Vanilla Almond Frappuccino from Jewhungry 

3. Coffee-rubbed Lamb Chops with Blueberry Balsamic Reduction from Kitchen Tested

4. Coconut Coffee Ice Cream from Running to the Kitchen 

5. Chocolate Chip Coffee Muffins from Very Culinary

6. Cardamom Coffee Beet Salad from What Jew Wanna Eat

Coffee-Rubbed-Lamb-Chops-on-Cutting-Board

Coffee-Rubbed Lamb Chops with Blueberry Balsamic Reduction from Kitchen Tested

 

 

7. Dark Chocolate Bark with Coffee Pistachios + Sea Salt from With Food + Love

8.  Mocha Tahini Protein Fudge from Spabettie

9. Coffee Hazelnut Spritz Cookies from Healthy Delicious

10. Sugar-free Homemade Coffee-Liqueur from  All Day Long I Dream About Food

11. Espresso Cookies with Salted Caramel Ganache from Keep It Sweets Desserts

12. Butternut Butterscotch Latte from An Edible Mosaic                            Paleo-Mocha-Almond-Pancakes_labelled

13.  Paleo Mocha Almond Pancakes from The Healthy Maven

14. Coffee Toffee Thumbprint Cookies from Crumb Blog

15. Chocolate Coffee-Almond Granola from Cooking on the Weekends

16. Chocolate Espresso Mousse from The Lemon Bowl

17. Coffee Smoothie with Fresh Cherries from Cook the Story

18. Coffee Kahlua Fudge from The Kitchen is My Playground

Coffee-Hazelnut Spritz Cookies from Healthy Delicious

Coffee-Hazelnut Spritz Cookies from Healthy Delicious

19. Mocha No Bake Granola Bars from Mom on Time Out

20. Toasted Coconut Cold-brew Coffee from Ari’s Menu

21. Baileys Irish Coffee Caramels from Bake.Love.Give

22. Energizing Green Smoothie from Tasty Yummies

23. Tiramisu Dip from Lemon Tree Dwelling

24. Mocha Pound Cake from Confident Cookie, Hesitant Baker

Date and Tahini Protein Smoothie Jewhungry Blog

It’s 7am and both the husband and the child are still sleeping. We’re on ‘vacation’ time now so the kid has been going to sleep at around 9pm, which means she’s been sleeping until 8ish and we are all loving every second of it.  I thought I might steal a few quiet moments to myself this morning—fresh cup of brewed coffee, sitting chair all to myself—-to finish this post in peace. I’m kinda excited about it (well if that’s not the nerdiest thing to be excited about, I’m not sure what is).

Date and tahini protein smoothie Jewhungry the blog

 

Date and tahini protein smoothie Jewhungry the blog

So it’s New Year’s Eve (day) or, as my mother-in-law would call it, erev New Year’s. I gotta say, I don’t get too caught up in this new year’s.  I really, and not to sound like a pretentious boob, but I really get caught up in Rosh Hashanah. I don’t make resolutions or get too nostalgic around the 31st.  I do, however, get extremely reflective during Rosh Hashanah. I remember the Rosh Hashanah before she was even conceived. I prayed so hard to get pregnant that year. I mean I implored myself to Gd to get pregnant. I felt it in my bones. I have never felt that kind of spirituality while waiting in line at a club in Chicago for an overpriced (and usually over hyped) NYE party in the early 2000s.  I mean I’ve certainly prayed while waiting in line at a club in Chicago for an overpriced NYE party and I DEFINITELY prayed after those parties.  If I remember correctly, I think those prayers went a little like this:

“Oh dear Gd who is in heaven, please send a cab my way. I realize that this is the lamest thing to pray for but it’s 14 degrees in Chicago tonight and I’m not properly dressed for this weather because my real winter coat is chin to ankle-length and hauling that thing around the club was not in the cards tonight. There was no way I was going to pay $20 to check my coat when I paid $80 to get into the club. I mean, that’s just good budgeting. Am I right? Also? These shoes are killing me (but dannnnng, they look fierce) so could you help a sister out? Please? Anything? No? Fair call.”

Date and tahini protein smoothie Jewhungry the blog

Ahhhh, those days are long gone.  Gone are the days when I felt internal pressure to have a good time on NYE.  I feel absolutely no internal need (spurned on by what the kids are now calling, FOMO or Fear Of Missing Out) to prove to the world or social media that I know how to party and I’d like to take a moment to thank my mid-30s for that.  Nope. For the past 3 NYEs, my husband and I have had the same ritual. He makes some slammin’ homemade sushi while I set up our porch with the air mattress and all the pillows and blankets so that it’s very comfortable and we watch whatever movie we’ve finally agreed upon while eating said sushi and downing some sort of bubbling adult beverage.  Some times we make it to midnight. Some times we don’t.  Either way, there’s no praying to Gd for help with anything during NYE as of late. Those prayers of help have turned into prayers of thanks and I’m ever so grateful for that progression.

Testing out my new light with my favorite model

Testing out my new light with my favorite model

Moving right along, in my quest to be a teeeeensy bit more healthy (read: no longer eat pasta at minimum 3 nights a week) and to embrace the fact that I can officially no longer eat like a 25 year-old, I’ve taken to eating banana-based protein smoothies for breakfast and it’s actually been good for me. My favorite has really been anything with almond milk and banana with the addition of raw cocoa nibs.  Raw cocoa nibs can be expensive but they’ll last a long time so I do recommend the investment. I’ve been known, from time to time, to make one of these here protein smoothies for the kiddo, throw some cocoa nibs in there and call it a chocolate milk shake. She totally buys it.  Ha, ha. Sucker.

Date and tahini protein smoothie Jewhungry the blog

 

Date and Tahini Protein Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 ripe banana
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 cups of almond milk (I like mine more ‘milky’ than a thick shake so cut it down by 1 to 1/2 a cup if you like it thicker)
1/2 cup pitted dates (roughly 8-9 dates)

Optional: 
2 tbsp raw cocoa nibs
1 tbsp flaxseed
2 tbsp cocoa or carob powder

Directions:

Place all ingredients into blender (preferrably a Vitamix or another aggressive blender) and blend for 20 – 30 seconds or until all ingredients are smooth.

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Winter break is almost over.  It’s Wednesday and just the fact that I’ve been feeling this since Monday means I’m not doing so well with ‘living in the moment’.  I needed this break.  I’m not sure there’s a single person on the school campus I work at who didn’t need this break.  I think the day we all had our lock-down procedure run-through (oh yes, because schools have now become a dangerous place to work, we all need to know where to go on campus in case an active shooter is on the premises) the faculty and staff of our school gave a collective sigh and thought, “How much longer until Winter Break!?” I capitalize “Winter Break” on purpose.  It’s very much a proper now in my book.  I need it.  I never thought I’d work at a school.  Heck, I never thought I’d be a school counselor.  Technically, I do not have a counseling degree.  I have my Master’s in Social Work and was originally hired to be a co-director of student life, which meant that I was hired to plan all the events on a private Jewish campus that make it feel a little bit like camp.  I was not 2 weeks into that job when I walked into a meeting that I thought was going to be about working with the kosher food bank but turned into a meeting about the possibility of transitioning into a position as a full-time middle school counselor.  Two years and a half years later, I can confidently say that saying ‘yes’ to that offer was one of the best decisions I ever made.

So now, here I am, in the middle of my third year working at a school in a job I was only semi-educated for and I’m realizing that the end of this Winter Break means the beginning of second semester and facing the reality that I’ll be moving on soon.  I gave myself a break from really thinking about the impending move to LA and start of my position as the Director of School Counselor for a very prestigious private Jewish day school.  It’s intimidating as h*ll.  But, I’m realizing that its time to face the facts that 2014 will be a massive year of challenges and change and boy, don’t I just LOVE challenges and change! (I don’t.  I don’t like either of those things at all).

And yet, it’s Wednesday and dang it, I still have half a week to live this Winter Break OUT LOUD! I’m pretty proud of the hubby and I for doing the majority of the things we said we were going to do during this time off.  We went to the Miami Zoo on Christmas day which, as it turns out, every other Jew in Miami decided to do.  We went to the new Perez Museum of Modern Art .  We also had some epic play dates with a dear friend from work and her insanely adorable daughters.  Mama did a little shopping, an activity that netted everyone some new threads, including mama and got to hang out with the one and only Jeremy Ashley, my co-creator of Jewhungry.  And, of course, I did A TON of cooking.  I also did a ton of coffee-drinking as our sweet little kiddo has decided to start participating in some serious sleep regression. YAY! I mean, who needs sleep, right? What a waste of time! Why would we be sleeping when we could be staring at the clock at 1:45 in the morning and praying to the sleep gds to please return our good sleeper.  Seriously, give. Her. Back.

The recipe below is one I based off a delicious iced coffee drink my local Whole Foods used to feature in the summer.  But since it’s Miami and it’s kinda always summer, I’m curious as to why it’s off the menu.  And since I’m doing a lot of coffee-drinking I figured I do some coffee-drink-making.  It seems like everyone’s got a coffee/chocolate combo but lately, I’ve been really digging on almond-flavored stuff thus, almond-flavored coffee. I hope you enjoy and if you do end up making this recipe, send a little ‘l’chaim’ up my way.

Coffee filtration system from Costa Rica.  It's HIGHLY sophisticated.  :)

Coffee filtration system from Costa Rica. It’s HIGHLY sophisticated. 🙂

Top with sliced almonds if you've got them.  It'll impress all your friends!

Top with sliced almonds if you’ve got them. It’ll impress all your friends!

A photo-montage of Winter Break.  Enjoy.

hair

We hung out at home a lot. The ultimate stay-cation

Who wants to look at gorillas when you can stop for a belly-button search?

Who wants to look at gorillas when you can stop for a belly-button search?

We got new shoes! She got slippers and mama got super-unnecessary-but-definitely-awesome-motorcycle-boots.

We got new shoes! She got slippers and mama got super-unnecessary-but-definitely-awesome-motorcycle-boots.

My little family

My little family

After her bout with food poisoning -- a drive in the car to help induce napping.  She would NOT let go of those pretzels.

After her bout with food poisoning — a drive in the car to help induce napping. She would NOT let go of those pretzels.

The morning-after food poisoning drive that took us to Wynwood.  The kiddo slept while we roamed the streets checking out the street art.

The morning-after food poisoning drive that took us to Wynwood. The kiddo slept while we roamed the streets checking out the street art.

Met up with this incredible guy.  That's right, it's Jeremy, part of the original Jewhungry team. We like to go to outlet malls and pose hipster-like with alligators dressed up like Wonder Woman.  What? You don't?

Met up with this incredible guy. That’s right, it’s Jeremy, part of the original Jewhungry team. We like to go to outlet malls and pose hipster-like with alligators dressed up like Wonder Woman. What? You don’t?

Checking out the new Perez Art Museum Miami

Checking out the new Perez Art Museum Miami

Our NYE ritual -- homemade sushi, Prosecco, an air mattress, all the pillows we have. the balcony + a movie on the laptop.

Our NYE ritual — homemade sushi, Prosecco, an air mattress, all the pillows we have. the balcony + a movie on the laptop.

Props to my girl, Tara, for the awesome W mug.  Also, yes, I know what that filter looks like.

Props to my girl, Tara, for the awesome W mug. Also, yes, I know what that filter looks like.

Vanilla Almond Frappuccino

Ingredients:
Recipe will make 3 – 4 drinks

1 Cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/2 – 3/4 Cup extra strength coffee (double up on your typical brewing scoop amount but maintain same water amount)
1 Tbsp granulated vanilla sugar (or regular sugar will do)
OR
Instant coffee works here as well – again, double up on what the directions call for in terms of coffee/water ratio
CHILL COFFEE BEFORE USING
1.5 Tsp vanilla extract
1 Tsp almond extract
Chia shot – (just to feel a little better about drinking a frappuccino)
2 Cups of ice
Pinch of salt
Sliced almonds for topping

How:

Make double-strength coffee by brewing with twice the coffee required by your coffee maker(that should be 2 tablespoons of ground coffee per each cup of coffee). Chill before using.

Once coffee is properly chilled, combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend on high-speed until ice is crushed and drink is smooth.

Pour into tall glass and marvel at how you just created a delicious, full-flavored coffee beverage for a fraction of the price.  Pat yourself on the back.

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