Author: Nicole

Hi thank you for stopping by. I am very excited to have you here. Pull up a chair and have a seat, this is the view from my side of the table.
Recipes

Caramel Iced Coffee

Nicole
I have become a slave to iced coffee. My addiction started at Starbucks. I try to get one every time I am around a Starbucks, but that really isn’t as often as I would like, plus I hate having to pay the prices they charge. UGH! McDonalds has good iced coffee most of the time, but the last few times the person making them didn’t seem too excited about doing so, and my iced coffee suffered for it. I ended up either taking it back or throwing it away. I am determined to find the perfect iced coffee recipe I can make at home for a fraction of the price. This just might be the recipe. The taste is fantastic, and so worth the prep time. I hope you enjoy it too. Thank you Annacia for sharing!!

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups strong hot brewed coffee
  • 1/4 cup caramel sauce, plus a little extra for garnish
  • 2-3 tablespoons sugar, to taste
  • coffee ice cubes or regular will work too
  • 1 1/2 cups cold milk or half-and-half
  • whipped cream, for garnish (optional)
  • ground cinnamon, for garnish (optional)

Directions

  1. While the coffee is still hot, pour it into your measuring cup and add the caramel sauce (Hint, you needn’t actually measure the sauce in a separate cup if you’re using a 2-cup measure for the coffee. Just pour in the sauce until the coffee rises to the 1 3/4 cup mark
  2. Add the sugar, too, then stir until both the sugar and caramel sauce have dissolved. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill until cold (You can hasten the process by using the freezer, but don’t let it freeze.)
  3. When you’re ready to serve, divide the coffee between 2 tall chilled glasses filled with coffee ice cubes.
  4. Add milk or half-and-half to each glass, to taste.
  5. Top with whipped cream, if desired, then garnish with cinnamon if you’re using it. Finally, drizzle a little additional caramel sauce over the top as well.
  6. Serve.

Bookmark and Share
Recipes

Time for a little Spring Cleaning!!

Nicole
This is normally where I do all of my work. Couponing, blogging, or recipes you name it my dining room table is where it all begins. I hate sitting in the office away from everyone else so I tend to sit at the table to do all of my work. I walked into the dining room today and realized my “job” was taking over the table. I had coupons all over the place, mail in rebates, my coupon binder, Blackberry, Laptop, you name it… it was on the table. Ugh! How can it be that no matter how hard I try to keep everything neat and tidy it seems to look like this by the end of the day. I have to figure out how to stay organized, keep tidy, and still be able to pull off everything I do. Today was the first day of the rest of the year for my table. It’s going to get the SPRING CLEANED no matter what. Is it just me? OR do you have the same problem I have. It starts out looking great and somehow turns into this cesspool of a disaster. Hey it’s April 1st why not take this day to organize at least one room, section, or even drawer of your home. You and your house will thank you for it.

Bookmark and Share
Recipes

Homemade Easter Egg Dye

Nicole
This is a great alternative to your store bought egg dye. Not only is less expensive, but typically it produces much more vibrant Easter eggs. Thank you MommyMakes for the great recipe.
Ingredients:
  • 10 drops food coloring (per color)
  • 1 teaspoon white vinegar  (per color)
  • 1/2 cup boiling water  (per color)

Directions:
  1. For each dye bath combine 1/2 cup boiling water with 1 tsp vinegar and 10 drops of food coloring in a bowl. Start with 5 drops red and 5 drops yellow, for orange for example, or 6 drops blue and 4 drops green for turquoise.
  2. Dip hard-cooked eggs in dye bath for 3-5 minutes, extend time for richer color. Try using tongs to dip only half an egg in one color, then dip other half in a different color.
  3. Use tongs or a slotted spoon to remove eggs and place on wax paper to dry, blot any excess with a paper towel.
  4. If you plan to eat your Easter eggs, never leave them unrefrigerated at any point for more than 2 hours.

    Recipes

    Spinach Artichoke Dip

    Nicole
    This recipe is divine! I made half a recipe because I didn’t want to take a chance that the recipe wouldn’t be good, and for fear it would go to waste. I should have made the entire recipe. This is soooo good. It reminds me of Applebee’s recipe for Spinach Artichoke Dip. The recipe below is the full recipe.

    A big thank you goes out to one of our readers Angela for sending us this great recipes.
    Ingredients:

    • 2 cups grated parmesan cheese (fresh or out of a can)
    • 2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
    • 1 (10 ounce) box frozen finely chopped spinach, thawed
    • 1 (14 ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
    • 2/3 cup sour cream (room temperature)
    • 1 cup cream cheese (room temperature)
    • 1/3 cup mayonnaise (room temperature)
    • 2 teaspoons garlic, minced

      Directions:

      1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
      2. Mix together Parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese, spinach, and artichoke hearts.
      3. Combine remaining ingredients and mix with spinach mixture.
      4. Bake for 20-30 minutes.
      5. Serve with crackers, chips or toasted bread.

      var pfHeaderImgUrl = ”;var pfHeaderTagline = ”;var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = ”;var pfBtVersion=’1′;(function(){var js, pf;pf = document.createElement(‘script’);pf.type = ‘text/javascript’;if(‘https:’ == document.location.protocol){js=’https://pf-cdn.printfriendly.com/ssl/main.js’}else{js=’http://cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js’}pf.src=js;document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)[0].appendChild(pf)})();Print Friendly and PDF
      Check Out Our Online Recipe Book: www.CafeChatterbox.com

      Recipes

      Free Homemade Chicken Broth

      Nicole
      After reading My Vintage Kitchen‘s post Tutorial: Make Your Own Veggie Broth in the Crock-Pot I had an apifany! For all these years I have been throwing out all my veggy scraps when I could have been savings them, recycling them, and making free stuff out of them. FREE? OH I love free!! It only took me a week to have a zip bag full of veggy scraps in my freezer. You name it I had it in the bag.. a ton of garlic and onion skins and some pieces. Asparagus and bell pepper pieces, oh yeah and green onion ends too. The bag was just full of veggy “trash!” A few nights ago we had a roasted chicken for dinner, and I knew it was time to make my chicken broth.
      I had a large chicken so I knew it was never going to fit in my crockpot.I ended up cooking my broth in a large stock pot instead. I decided to add some flavor by sauteing the vegetables pieces first. The pot looked like something I would normally be putting down the garbage disposal.
      Once they were a nice dark color I added the chicken and filled the pot with water leaving about 2 inches from the top of the pot. 
      I brought the water to a boil, then dropped my temperature down to medium/low. I put the lid on the pot and let it simmer for around 8 hours, then it was ready.
      I ended up with 28 cups of broth that I split up into 14 bags (2 cups each) that are now residing in my freezer. That’s 14 cans of broth for free!! I only had to pay for the freezer bags which cost $1.99
      I figure I saved a minium of $12.
      Please visit My Vintage Kitchen you will be so happy you did. I know I am!!

      Bookmark and Share