Hi, Hello, Iced Coffee Anyone?

Hello Blog World! I finally jumped on the bandwagon & started one of these things. To tell you a little about myself, I'm a 20something girl/fiance/dog-mom working full time in a hospital & part time as a make-up artist. I have a passion for make-up (of course), cooking, coupons, & being outdoors. (outdoors as in a romantic beach or shady picnic, let's not pretend I love to rough it in a tent here) I plan on posting about make-up (you see a trend here?) yummy food/coffee (some healthy recipes, too!) & anything else I feel like sharing. (Like details on my wedding.. that's just a little over two months away!) I hope you enjoy what you find here & visit often. :)

For my first post I thought I'd share a recipe I've shared all over Instagram lately.
It's not only delicious, but it's saved me a lot of money!

So anyone who knows me, knows I love Starbucks. I love coffee. Not black coffee, but the sweet/girly stuff that gives you a buzz not only off the caffeine - but the sugar.
With Macchiatos running upwards of five bucks a pop (or coffee, really) & us just buying a new home, I needed to find an alternative solution to my caffeine/sugar/carmelheaven addiction. This led me to the search for the perfect iced coffee recipe. Being the computer-guru that I am, I ran to my number one Internet resource for the answer - google. ;)
Google brought me to one of my favorite ladies, Ree from The Pioneer Woman.
(I really suggest checking out her blog for recipes by the way. Good stuff!)
I basically use her "Perfect Iced Coffee" recipe as a template & modified it to my liking.


Start off with your favorite blend of ground coffee. The richer the better. I like to use Folgers's Black Silk or Starbucks Colombia blend. Any blend you like will do, really.
(For every 1 pound of coffee, you need 8 quarts of cold water to soak it in.)

Combine coffee grounds with cold water & let soak in an airtight container for at least 24 hours. Keep in mind this makes about a week's worth of coffee for a household of two very sleepy young adults who like to stay up late, so you'll need a big container. The longer the soak time, the stronger the coffee. It will look kind of gross.. but will taste quite the opposite, promise. :)

After soaking, strain the coffee grounds from the liquid and disregard. I use a strainer and a coffee filter to do this, but Ree from TPW uses a cheesecloth. Either will do. I choose to strain directly into the new, clean container I use to store it in our fridge.

After you strain the coffee grounds from the liquid mixer, you are left with the most glorious coffee concentrate you have ever tasted. (as long as you're sure to not let any nasty grounds seep through!) I think it is especially good because you're not messing with the coffee's temperature. You're not "shocking" the coffee by taking it from one extreme temperature to another. The result is a beautiful thing, really.

Let chill in the fridge for as long as your heart desires then finally pour yourself a nice, cold glass over ice. I add in roughly two tablespoons of whatever flavored creamer I prefer at the time being and enough milk to make it similar to the taste/consistency of an iced latte. (Pioneer Woman uses sweetened condensed milk, but I have pants to fit in, so let's keep it real here!)

That's pretty much it, guys! Hope that's enough instructions to get you through, Ha!
Let me know how good that iced coffee tastes! Save me a glass! ;)