Hot tea with the My K Cup from Keurig

I love loose tea and the ability to mix them like a recipe, the only problem is that the tea infusers can be messy, until I had a V-8 moment with my My K Cup coffee filter... now a tea infuser! I am still playing with the idea of making videos, so here's my second video attempt with the My K Cup tea infuser!

My K Cup review and a life hack

As a member of Influenster, I received products to review, on occassion. My most recent review-able items was a My K Cup refillable coffee filter. I have had a refillable coffee filter with my old Keurig and was disappointed that there was not a new one for the new machines.

Well wait no more! Influenster sent me one with a pound of coffee for review on my Keurig 2.0 machine. It is as good as the previous model, but with less parts.  Lots of Pros and only one Con, which is not really a con for me, but others seem to take issue. Suffice to say, Keurig has another sales opportunity to make a carafe sized My K Cup!

Please, please Keurig, Make a My Carafe K Cup!

Pros:

Easy to Clean- dump out the wet coffee and dust out the dry a few hours later

Well Sized- fits into the K Cup holder and holds lots of coffee

Easy to Use- just fill to the tab, line up the marks on the lid and brew

Con:

Doesn't work with the carafe- this is no deal breaker for me, but judging from reviews on the site, it bothers some people.























Now for the life hack!

I'll admit, I don't like holding down the button for water to dispense to make tea. Then it hit me. I could empty the tea bag into the My K Cup and brew.
Lo and Behold... the perfect cup of tea. One bag can brew enough to have 12-14 ounce cup of tea.

Though Mr. Carson would not approve, I think it's brilliant!

Life hacks- fried okra and fried green tomatoes

Whenever I drive to my college town, I always stop by the produce stand at the "Crossroads" where the gentleman calls me Darlin'. Today was one of those days!

He had watermelon, okra, green and red tomatoes, onions, peaches (of course) and cantaloupe.  With this array of local goodness, I decided dinner would include fried okra and fried green tomatoes with watermelon for dessert. Once home, I realized that I was tired from meetings and the long drive.

So, dinner plans needed to morph somewhat to not include standing at the stove and frying batches of things, which brought me to this Life Hack... also known as a hoe cake. A hoe cake with benefits!

Like many of my recipes, and the way many Southerns cook, this is a flexible recipe, more of a guide, really. If you do not know how to cook, or can only follow strict instructions, my recipes are not for you. Life is about risk, chance, and change- so are my recipes!







Okra and Green Tomato Hoe Cakes

about 3 cups of washed okra, chopped
2 green tomatoes chopped fine
2 tablespoons finely diced red onion
1 egg
1/2 cup of White Lily cornmeal mix (self rising) and brand is important!
1/2 cup buttermilk
Salt and pepper to taste!

beat egg and mix with buttermilk. Add the chopped okra, tomatoes, onion then mix. Add cornmeal mix and mix. If mix looks too dry add buttermilk, if Okra looks too naked, add more cornmeal mix and buttermilk. Once you have it where you want it, drop by serving spoon sized dollops into a hot lightly greased skillet ( I used a non-stick) and flatten some to make an even layer. Flip when first side is browned, about 1-2 minutes and keep cooked hoe caked in an oven on 275 degrees until all are cooked.


So, I had my fried okra, my fried green tomatoes and my cornbread all in one handy little cake! Leftover can even be heated in the toaster. As you can see from my hoe cakes, I wanted a lot more veg then cornbread. When I look at these pics, they look like jalapenos... which would be delish! Maybe next time will have a little heat.

Life Hack- lazy chocolate chip cookies

Sometimes you want homemade chocolate chip cookies...
 and you have all the ingredients...
 and some milk to enjoy them with.

However, you have lost the will to scoop them out on to a cookie sheet for 10 pans worth of cookie making work!
Bar cookies are out of the question! They are never really crispy like a cookie, anyway.

Then inspiration hits. 

The "you've got your chocolate in my peanut butter" moment of what if I made a really thin "bar" cookie, has arrived in your head. It's crispy, like a cookie. It's lazy like a bar cookie. It is the perfect marriage of crisp cookie meets lazy baker!

So ladies and gents, here is your new cookie method. Simply spread you cookie dough thinly on the cookie sheet or jelly roll pan! I tried and offset spatula, but my dough was too think. So, I pulled out the wax paper and smushed it down as flat as I could or a greased cookie sheet.

I used the recipe on the Coach's Oats bag for Oatmeal Coconut cookies and added 2 cups of chocolate chips. Here's the link to the original recipe.

You can cut it like a bar, a square, or if it must be round, whip out that biscuit cutter! One pan. One round in the oven. One afternoon you just got back in your life.