How to Brew Pour Over Iced Coffee

My brother, Scott, daily makes wonderful coffee for his coffee addicted siblings ;) He uses a pour over maker and his coffee is amazing.

Here is how he makes his coffee in six easy steps :)

1. Heat Water to boiling

2. Measure 4 TBS of fresh ground coffee per cup, into the pour over filter.

3. Slowly pour boiling water through the pour over maker into a large glass.

4. Add a large amount of ice to the coffee

5. Add your desired amount of half and half

6. Enjoy!!!!!

 

Sweet Mango Smoothie

It is rather warm here; reminding us all that they didn't nickname this state "Sunny California" for nothing :) Nonetheless it is a gorgeous day today and the perfect day for a fruit smoothie.
Mom bought a big box of mangoes the other day and I have been enjoying them immensly :)
When I was younger my first and main exposure to mangoes was the dried ones you can get in a package at Costco. I loved those!! I was actually dissapointed when I first tried a fresh mango because I thought it tasted nothing like the dried ones that I loved :/
I made this smoothie to taste like the dried mangoes I remembered :)

Sweet Mango Smoothie

3/4 mango fruit
1/4 c. Lite coconut milk                                 
1c. water                                                    
1/2. or 1 scoop vanilla protein powder   

dash of vanila
1 tsp. sweetner of choice (optional)
1 c. ice

Blend everything except the ice in a blender. Add ice and blend thoroughly. Pour into a glass and enjoy!!!

Brownie in a Mug

Since our house has been flooded we have been staying in a rental house in the back woods. I love it here and would probably stay here if I could. Anyway this house is equipped with a microwave (a commodity we do not have at home) and I have been thoroughly enjoying it. I can make myself a muffin or brownie in about two minutes!!! Here is a recipe for a deliciously healthy brownie in a mug.

Ingredients:
1 TBS. coconut flour
2 TBS. cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 pinch salt
4 tsp. sweetner of choice (I use xylitol or stevia)
4 TBS. liquid egg whites (or two regular egg whites)
4 tsp. water
1 tsp. vanilla
1 TBS. Butter (you can also use peanut butter)

Directions:
In a medium sized mug combine dry ingredients. Then whisk the liquid ingredients in with a fork. Make sure you stir well. Put the mug in the microwave for 45 - 55 seconds  depending on how powerful your microwave is and how gooey you like your brownies. Just make sure you don't overcook it.
Enjoy!!!
195 calories

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins
This recipe is a spin off of the leftover oatmeal muffin recipe that I posted. Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal was my favorite instant oatmeal flavor. Whenever we had instant oatmeal I always had that kind. When I stopped eating instant oatmeal I figured out how to make regular apples and cinnamon oatmeal. Yesterday when I

was at a loss for what kind of muffins to make I decided to try to make my favorite flavor of oatmeal muffins. I also thought that adding the apples would make the muffins heartier and more filling. (Hearty, filling recipes that go a long way are kind of my thing right now because I have two teenage brothers who would eat every edible morsel in the house if I would let them.) I also tweaked the recipe a little bit to hopefully get fluffier muffins. MY family loved how they turned out and they said that they tasted very similar to apple cinnamon instant oatmeal!!! :)

Ingredients:
Muffins:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1\2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup oil
1 cup applesauce
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups leftover oatmeal
2 cups apple, peeled and chopped (about 2 medium apples)

Topping:
1\2 cup brown sugar
1\2 cup oats
1\2 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl combine the first seven ingredients. In a separate bowl whisk all the liquid ingredients. Add apples. Fold the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients. Do not overstir. Scoop into lined muffin tins. In a small bowl combine the topping ingredients. Sprinkle on muffins. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes. Cool on wire racks.
Enjoy!!
Yield: 3 dozen muffins

Greek Cappucino Swirl

Greek yogurt is a wonderful thing. It makes an awesome snack, side or light breakfast. It is thick, creamy and high in protein. I love it because it is so versatile and so lends itself to many different flavor combinations. This particular flavor combination is one of my favorites because I am a coffee fan and and even bigger chocolate fan and any for of combining those two makes me very happy. This recipe calls for espresso powder but you could use instant coffee if you want a decaf version because the expresso powder has a way, if eaten at 10 at night, of keeping you awake well past 1 in the morning (don't ask me how I knew that.) It is helpful however, for those nights before a conference when things that need to be done are keeping you up into the wee hours of the morning that the conference is supposed to start (don't ask me how I knew that either.) Anyway this snack is kind of like a chocolate coffee pudding but if you want it more runny like regular yogurt you could add more water to your espresso powder mixture. Also this recipe is low fat, low carb, low calorie and low sugar, for those of you who are into that sort of thing.

Greek Cappuccino Swirl
1\2 c. nonfat plain greek yogurt
1 TBS. water
1 tsp. espresso powder or 2 tsp. instant coffee
1 -2 TBS. desired sweetener  (I use Stevia in the Raw)
1 TBS. cocoa powder
1\2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 pinch of salt

Dissolve the espresso powder or instant coffee in the water. Put the yogurt in a bowl or a mug; whichever you prefer. Make sure it is big enough to give you enough room to mix everything. Add the rest of the ingredients including the dissolved coffee. Mix very well. ENJOY!!!!

Cox Happenings

Emma asked me to do a post about what is happening in the Cox family so to please her and give myself a photography challenge, I decided to keep my camera with me all day and take pictures of the happenings of today (now yesterday since this post has taken me longer than expected). I chose a good day to do it because today(yesterday)  was very busy with conference preparations and my aunt and her kids came. I am also going to use this opportunity to catch up on my 313 pictures.

Day 155

I started my morning with devotions. I am reading through the Bible in a year chronologically so I am in the four gospels right now.

After family morning devotions we had breakfast. Have you ever heard of having rice for breakfast? I hadn't until I heard the thrifty couple mention that they like having that for breakfast so I tried it. I simply fried freshly cooked rice in coconut oil then added brown sugar, crasins and cinnamon. My siblings really liked it with maple syrup drizzled over it. rice is kind of like oatmeal in that it is very versitle so you could add anything to it. In the other pan is a zucchini fritter which you, Emma might be interested in. To make it simply add two eggs to one cup shredded zucchini and whisk well. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Fry in melted coconut oil or butter until firm enough to flip and then fry on the other side. I eat it with a little bit of olive oil drizzled over it and nutritional yeast.

Do you think we have enough large kitchen cooking devices???

Breakfast time. You can see who likes the camera and who doesn't ;):)

Day 156

Day 157

This is what you get when you are trying to feed over 200 people 3 meals. This isn't even all the food!!! Elianna sure is having fun with all this new stuff within her reach ;)

.

Morning Preparations. The first picture is before she noticed me then when she saw the camera she decided to pose :)

Hannah and i are in charge of doing the kitchen. With all the cooking that has been going on the dishes have been piling up. HELP!!!!!!

We are helping cook 30 pounds of beans. Our crock pot is going to need a holiday after this weekend. So is our roaster. It is getting tired after cooking 100's of pieces of chicken and Hannah is getting a little frustrated cleaning the roaster so much.

Day 158

The past couple weeks Brendan has suddenly started reading alot more. Today he came up to mom and said "You know how I have been reading a lot recently?"

 mom: "Yes" 

Brendan"Well I think God wants me to be a cowboy."

 mom: "What does that have to do with reading?"

 Brendan: "Well, I need to stop reading so many books otherwise I might become a philosopher."

Where did he get that idea???

 Organizing and detailing are what we are filling our week with.  Since we are hosting the conference at another church we have to make sure all the stuff we are bringing is clearly labeled otherwise one of our coffee pot cords might go missing, again.

Lunch time!!! Elianna's favorite time of day.

For lunch I reheated the breakfast rice and served it wrapped in tortillas.

Day 159

And a smoothie. I love looking at the layers in the blender. By the way here is a recipe for a easy and yummy fruit and veggie smoothie that my siblings are big fans of.

Basic Fruit and Veggie Smoothie

In a blender chop up 1 large carrot, 1\2 zucchini or 1\4 head of cabbage, 1 banana, 1 heaped cup frozen strawberries and 1 heaped cup frozen pineapple and if you want a sweeter smoothie add a couple handfuls of dried dates. Add enough liquid to cover all the fruit. I use a can of coconut water and some regular water. Blend until smooth.

In preparation for my aunt's arrival we had to clean the bathrooms. Hannah and Sean are in charge of cleaning the boy's bathroom; while Scott and I are in charge of the girl's bathroom.

I came in to find Hannah and Sean dancing to some music. I guess whatever it takes to make a no fun chore fun, works. I got a great video of them but for some reason my blog wouldn't let me upload it.

 Nathan's contribution for the day was to go shovel hay. He is a big worker man :)

Day 160

The day's work left Nathan exhausted. Don't you wish you could just lie down and take a nap in the middle of the afternoon? I do.

One of the meals we are serving is baked potatoes. How many potatoes does it require to feed a conference full of people? 480 potatoes and there they all are waiting to be washed and poked.

Hannah and I have started walking some of our neighbor's dogs. This particular dog is our favorite. She is a very well behaved black lab and we love walking for her (even if she does have to stop to go to the bathroom every 10 yards)

Day 161

There were some awesome storm clouds that never stormed but they made for a spectacular scenery and a gorgeous sunset.

Day 162

My aunt and her kids arrived in the afternoon while mom was in town. I would like to say that we were totally ready and cleaned up when they arrived but actually it was quite the opposite; they took us quite by surprise in the midst of our clean up. Oh well, we are glad they are here.

Day 163

A house full of 15 people, 8 of whom are 10 and under is constantly full of activity and noise until all the littles go to bed. Then you get enough of a break and quiet to finish a blog post like I am doing :):)

Day 164

Family mealtime is our favorite time of the day. It is a time to debrief the events of the day even though for some of us (myself included) the day is far from over!!

Day 165

If Hannah or I summarized the past couple days' acctivities in one word we would probably say "brownies" We are making brownies to serve for one of the desserts. We first thought we would have to make 14 boxes of brownie mix but now we are discovering we need something between 18 and 20. So if any of you come to the conference and enjoy a brownie, please know that the brownie you are enjoying was lovingly handcrafted by Hannah and me, just for you :):P

Day 166

Daddy has been busily studying and preparing for his message he is going to give this weekend.

Day 167

Hannah, the crazy stirer (is that a word?) She also made her famously delicious pancakes for today's breakfast. She did want me to mention that this picture was taken at 9:30 at night and she was getting tired.

Oh yes, and what is a conference without oranges?

Day 168

This is what your freezer looks like when you are preparing food for over 200 people. We will see how empty it looks at the end of the day!!

Day 169

So, Emma and all the rest of you forbearing folks. That is what is happening in our family right now. I am excited for the conference and hopefully I will be able to take lots of pictures to show you.

Good night and God bless y'all!!