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Frozen White Russian, Coffee-mate Style! (Giveaway!)

March 7, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 111 Comments

What have you fabulous friends been adding to your coffee, lately, to give it a little extra love? I’ve been taking my own little tour of Coffee-mate offerings (I counted 15 different options at my nearest Walmart about a month ago….clearly I was without my children if I had time to stop and count anything!). I’m currently finishing up their Amaretto flavor (highly recommend) and I’m also working through their Fat-Free Hazelnut (which I like, but I find that I personally prefer the NON fat-free options, which is sort of a bummer).

With all the flavor options Coffee-mate has to offer, I had to chuckle when I most recently decided to opt for their original flavor. But I figured that the flavor that started the company that I love probably got something right. It also happened to be an ingredient needed to make an adult beverage I’ve been wanting to try: a White Russian. But in true Tiffany style, I wanted to crank up the chill factor for this beverage. Why have it cold when I could have it frozen? So I made a few tweaks to the recipe I found on the Coffee-mate website, and create something positively dreamy!

Ingredients

1/4 cup coffee flavored liqueur (Kahlua, for example)
1/2 cup vodka
1/4 cup Original NESTLÉ COFFEE-MATE Liquid Coffee Creamer
lots and lots of ice
whipped cream (optional)
chocolate syrup (optional)

Add the liquid ingredients to a blender, and then throw in a whole bunch of ice. Blend and continue to add ice until you get the consistency you desire for your frozen drink. I added a bunch because I wanted mine to have the texture of a frozen daiquiri. Top with whipped topping and/or chocolate syrup, if desired. Yield: 2-3 servings

Oh mercy, this was a delicious drink! The vodka was a bit strong, which was a good thing for me, as it kept me from just chugging my frozen coffee treat. I’m definitely keeping this recipe on file, and would happily serve it to company, perhaps in cute little glasses, as an after dinner coffee alternative. The Coffee-mate creamer addition also makes it a dairy-free option for folks with sensitivity to milk.

Coffee-mate’s Newest Flavor

I also think that the newest flavor Coffee-mate has just released would be excellent in this recipe. It’s called Extra Sweet & Creamy, and the name alone perfectly describes how I like my coffee to taste. I’ve actually been to a few stores looking for it, but as far as I can tell, the product hasn’t yet made it to Chattanooga (it just launched in January and Coffee-mate is still rolling it out to new locations). You guys, I’m totally stalking this stuff. I get that crazy look in my eye every time I head over to the dairy section of a grocery store, and I start moving around the Coffee-mate flavors, hoping to find Extra Sweet & Creamy hiding behind the other ones. I’m sure I’m quite a sight! But I’ll keep being “that lady” in the stores until this flavor lands in my fridge! Hopefully your neck of the woods has it already (you can check the store locator to see where this exact product has been stocked!).

Back On Track to a More Balanced Lifestyle (#WowThatsGood)

January 19, 2014 · by Tiffany Merritt · 4 Comments

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser.

I have to tell you, as much as I love the fact that my family is together for almost every single meal daily (even lunch!), it comes at a price to my ability to maximize my work day. Since I work from home, I’m the one who is in the house and can get lunch and dinner ready each day. Mondays and Wednesdays are the worst, because I don’t have the kiddos with me before lunch, and it is prime “work” time. To spend 30 minutes of that precious time preparing lunch totally wrecks my attempt at a balanced lifestyle, because it gives me less time to get my job done, which in turn makes me more stressed out.

I’ve been noticing that as a result, I’ve been throwing together meal options that aren’t the best choice for my family due to their high salt intake, and I’ve been stress eating while trying to work lightning fast on those days. I need to get back on track with some healthier options that are also really convenient so that I can focus on my work, and also not feel guilty about what I’m eating.

#wowthatsgood stocked freezer

So I headed to Walmart to find some options that would help me make the most of my work hours without coming at a steep cost to my waistline. I really hit the jackpot, too, and now my freezer has an ample supply of healthier choices that can be prepared in a flash.

Breakfast this week has been looking like this:

#wowthatsgood lean cuisine turkey sausage english muffin

This is the LEAN CUISINE Morning Collection Turkey Sausage English Muffin. I’ve been eating it with some sliced citrus and a glass of almond milk. It is totally filling and takes 2 minutes to prepare. The box I purchased at Walmart cost $2.50 for 2 muffins, which makes it very reasonably priced (I can tell you from experience that a similar product at a certain fast food joint with golden arches costs more than double that price per serving where I live, and I don’t even want to know what the calorie difference is!).

For lunch, my new favorite go-to dish is the Lean Cuisine Sesame Chicken dish.

Now, in my experience, frozen Chinese food is ok at its best. And if it is a lighter version? You’ll be doing good for it to taste edible. I know that LEAN CUISINE has a reputation for putting out excellent products, so I wasn’t expecting it to taste bad.

But I also wasn’t expecting it to taste great. But it really did! It tasted like REAL Chinese food, and it cost only $1.97 and was ready in 4 minutes. It is safe to say that I was shocked by just how yummy it was. Sesame Chicken from LEAN CUISINE immediately went back on my shopping list, and I plan to buy 5 more, and then treat myself to this particular lunch once a week for the next month! Little Layah also LOVED the noodles in the dish, and certainly ate her fill of them after tugging on my sweater and pleading, “Mommy! Noodle! Peeeze!”

Did you know that LEAN CUISINE items actually come with a Money Back Guarantee? I just recently learned this, and that’s really all I needed to hear in order to start trying multiple new (to me) products each week. I’ve tried their Salad ADDITIONS before (AMAZINGLY good, by the way), and I have just learned that they also have Wrap ADDITIONS. I picked up the Creamy Balsamic Chicken, and it is DELICIOUS, and MINE, MINE, MINE! Tim doesn’t like balsamic vinegar, which means I don’t have to share. Hooray!

I’ve also been wanting to try the LEAN CUISINE Simple Favorites Macaroni and Cheese, as that is a go-to dish for really bad/hard days (it is comfort food, after all) and I’d really love to try LEAN CUISINE’s take on it. With that Money Back Guarantee, I’ve got nothing to lose!

But here’s the tricky thing about the mac and cheese: getting it past my kids without them taking (ridiculously large) bites of it! Not only did I NOT get to keep this all to myself, but when I prepared this dish, it was all I could do to get a few bites in. My little ones were like hungry piranhas around it!

When I was shopping, I also knew that I needed to help myself make some better choices during my coffee breaks (which are frequent!). I’ve been curious about CoffeeMate’s Sugar-Free French Vanilla creamer, so I picked some up. Now I just needed a little chocolate, and found a great option with Skinny Cow. They have Divine Candy is a variety of options, but I knew the moment I laid eyes on the peanut butter creme filled chocolates that they would be going home with me. What a delicious and guilt-free snack break! I highly recommend them! And as for the creamer, I was very pleasantly surprised! I think it will take a little bit of time to get used to the sweet factor being not quite as strong, but given how much coffee I drink, making the switch to a sugar-free creamer is going to have a significant impact on my daily intake of calories. I’m glad I made the switch!

Later today I’m going to be serving a really fun snack to my entire family. LEAN CUISINE Three Cheese & Spinach Stuffed Pretzels will make for the perfect 3 o’clock treat for my crew, and is a much better choice than the alternative, which at the moment is leftover holiday candy.

What about you? Do you struggle to find food options that don’t take long to prepare and that promote a balanced lifestyle? Any particular products you think I should pick up the next time I’m grocery shopping?

Great Peppermint Mocha Coffee with a Great Friend: #LoveYourCup

November 25, 2013 · by Tiffany Merritt · 3 Comments

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop for Coffeemate Peppermint Mocha creamer has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and their client.

My friend Jessie and I were long overdue for some hang out time, so I invited her over for a cup of coffee, a tasty treat, and more importantly, some food for the soul, which is what spending quality time with someone is for me.

I have hesitated many times to invite Jessie (and other friends) over. Not because I didn’t want to see them (quite the opposite!) but because my to-do list seemed out of control, and my house was most definitely out of control. Where was the time to get myself organized and presentable so that I wouldn’t be embarrassed to have friends over?

Just Do It

But you know what? If I believe that everyone else but me has it all together, then I’m fooling myself. And in my years of balancing parenting, household management and a career, I can most definitely tell you that waiting until you/your house/your list of things to get done is in a better place before spending time with friends is a great way to never spend time with your friends.

So I swallowed my pride a bit and invited my good friend over to just hang out. And I really enjoyed doing a little shopping at Walmart for our coffee date by picking up (SOOOO good, y’all!) and a mug for Jessie. Purple is her favorite color (mine, too!) and I thought it would be a fun treat to have a nice new mug.

As I was preparing for our time together, I couldn’t help but notice that I was starting to get stressed out. I was thinking about all the work on the house that needed to be done (from bits of paper on the floor to walls needed to be painted, and everything in between), and my blog work list that seems to get longer and longer, despite my best efforts to accomplish things. I was starting to squelch my own joy about having a friend over. And that’s when I took a break and poured myself a cup of coffee. Jessie wouldn’t mind if I got the party started a bit early!

coffeemate peppermint mocha #shop 2

I also made some brownies for us to much on, and I used peppermint mocha flavored coffee in the place of milk , as well as added some melted chocolate and crushed peppermint candies on top. It was really nice to have something so pretty on hand, just for us, and it wasn’t difficult to make; just a little substitution to give the brownies more of a festive flavor!

Don’t forget the whipped topping in your coffee, too! Every once in a while, the splurge is totally worth it.

I also put on what refer to as my, “free to be me” shirt. It has sparklers on it, and says, “Pass it on.” It is from Momastery, and it is a great reminder to me to let my light shine. Seems like someone else was ready to have a coffee date, too!

Owen, our elf on the shelf, seemed quite interested in what was inside my cup, so I gave him a little sip.

My friend and I had a really nice visit. Her two little boys were SO sweet, and the oldest was very patient with Layah, who is still working on the whole “sharing” concept. I got to get some coos and giggles from her baby boy (that’s all the baby fix I need!) and even got to play with trains a little bit with her almost 3 year old.

We talked a lot about our blogs and changes on the horizon, about our kids, and about the craziness of navigating the school system here in Chattanooga. And we enjoyed the relative quiet and each other’s company while sipping our coffee (or so I thought!). Halfway through our visit, Jessie said, “I’m so sorry, but could I pour my coffee out of this mug? It is doing too good of a job keeping the coffee hot and I REALLY want to drink it!”

I laughed so hard! And then I was very thankful that Jessie could just be real with me. The cup I bought for her was awesome…a little too awesome, in fact. Poor thing had only been able to smell that delicious coffee for about 45 minutes before she threw in the towel and asked for something not so perfect.

There’s a life lesson in that story, friends. Perhaps the pursuit of perfection can keep things at arms length: friendships, quiet moments, calm, and happiness with what is rather than what could be.

Coffeemate was recently featured in the Live SoFab Holiday Digital Magazine, which is such a fun read. It is full of great ideas for the holidays, and I would agree that having some Coffeemate creamer on hand for a visit with friends or just for some great coffee for yourself is a must! Be sure to check it out, along with a whole lot of other fantastic ideas for the season.

Creating Fun Fall Memories and Drinking Some Seriously Good Coffee

October 25, 2013 · by Tiffany Merritt · 200 Comments

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!!! Yes, I know it isn’t Christmas. And I’m not even talking about Christmas (although that is, in my opinion, the second most wonderful time of the year). I’m talking about FALL. In Chattanooga, this is the time of the year when it is just absolutely gorgeous outside, and so the weekends are jam-packed with festive and fun activities, like heading out to a farm to visit a pumpkin patch. Tim and I both were almost giddy about getting out there with out two little girls, and seeing them run around, laughing and playing together. What we got looked a bit more like this: Ok, fair enough. I suppose it is a rather strange ritual. So I can understand my daughter’s failure to be super impressed. But lest you think that she is overly sensitive to doing things that are a bit unusual, consider this: Girl had NO problems getting into a pit of corn and rolling around. It isn’t normal, but it should be! Now “4,000 bags of corn kernels” is on her Christmas wish list so she can recreate the moment in the comfort of her own home. As for me, I have a few rituals of my own for this time of year. We start with a fantastic scent of the season. I put my Spiced Pumpkin candle next to the pumpkin we hauled home from that wacky pumpkin patch thing we had to do. And while I would NEVER switch out my beloved iced coffee for a hot beverage, I do switch up my flavored creamer. Currently, I’m going back and forth between Coffee-mate’s Pumpkin Spice and Spiced Latte. And just so you know, they are every bit as good as they sound! Also, just a FYI, if you are watching those calories this season, the Pumpkin Spice flavor is available in sugar-free. I’m going to try it next to see if I love it, too! In fact, the Pumpkin Spice quickly became such a favorite of mine that I felt sad limiting my consumption of it to just coffee (don’t judge unless you’ve already tried this creamer, and if you have, then you totally empathize!). I whipped up these Individual Swirled Pumkin Cheesecakes, and oh. heavens. YES!!!! Let me tell you, friends. If I’ve got a great cup of coffee in my hands, I’m ready for all the pumpkin patches, 4-year-old eye-rolls, and corn pits you can send my way. And if I’ve got a yummy treat to enjoy with my coffee, well then, there’s really no doubt that it must be the most wonderful time of the year, indeed! Be sure to snag these yummy seasonal flavors from Coffee-mate before they are gone from the shelves…they are only here until December! After that, well, you’re just going to have to choose one of the other 25 AMAZING flavors Coffee-mate offers. 😉 Happy fall, y’all! Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win a fantastic prize pack from Coffee-mate. It will include the following: