Wednesday, June 11, 2008

don't waste your money

i know getting an iced latte from starbucks is a great treat on a hot day, but you don't have to waste your money everyday. nor do you have to keep cold coffee in your fridge people. nor? the secret to having a delicious iced coffee whenever, not wherever (only at home) is INSTANT coffee!


if you think it tastes bad, maybe you are thinking of your parent's instant coffee. instant coffee, like any modern food, is just one of those things that scientists strive to improve on... like the seedless watermelon. not that i would know much about that because i detest all melons. it's true.

here is how to make a great iced coffee - no waiting.

1) get a 500 mL glass. i like to use a pint glass that somehow made its way from the pub into my cabinet. (don't ask me how it got there, i didn't take it for real!)

2) instant coffee is 1 rounded teaspoon per cup, so i scoop in 2 teaspoons.

3) the trick is now to add a very small amount of boiling water, just enough to dissolve the coffee.

4) now is the time to add your flavour, maybe some sugar free vanilla syrup, or sweeteners, or real sugar if you're wild and crazy.

5) add milk, soy milk, almond breeze... whatever floats your boat. about 1/3 of the glass should be full.

6) fill up the rest of the glass with cold water.

7) pop in some ice cubes, and a straw if you so desire, and you are good to go.

VOILA!


i took shelley's advice and got a fuel belt. it was $50 at the running room which is $$$ in my world, but it's worth it. the other belts just had one giant bottle at the back and i was not into it. after i bought it, i looked to see if i could get one for cheaper online, but shipping included, not possible. if anyone finds a cheaper one... keep it to yourself haha. i didn't want pink necessarily, but it's pretty cute.

the man at the store said the bottles go at the back.

i am at home today, so instead of doing more HIIT as planned, i'm going for a run outside (after i enjoy my iced coffee of course). it's nice and sunny. oh, and i must have been hugging the wrong side of my spare pillow in the night, because i have these insane, deep indentations in my face! i've had sleep marks before, but never like this.

i am reading the year of fog by michelle richmond so i'm going to go back to bed and do that while i finish my iced coffee. it's so good! it's about this child who goes missing... i can't put it down.


last night before bed i had a candy attack. i ate tootsie rolls and candy corn from my halloween stash. is it weirder that these are the candies i like or that i STILL have a candy stash from halloween? i still have candy corns from when i made vampire cookies for my boyfriend's students. this post is too full of links. i don't know what i'm eating today yet. maybe just iced coffee all day!

oops - one more thing. i found this superfun link (for fitness nerds!) women, click on either the "bulking" or "cutting"... i don't know anyone that would choose bulking hahaha. anyway it opens an excel sheet and you put your stats in and it tells you what your resting metabolic rate is, and how many calories (of protein, carbs, and fat) you should eat per day to "cut." i couldn't eat with such rigidity (i can't believe that's a word!) but it's still very interesting! bye for now.

16 comments:

Robin said...

I may have to give the instant coffee a try. I haven't had it in a long time, but remember it being terrible.

The pink fuel belt is super cute!

Do you have any idea how many calories you eat a day? (I asked you on the food blog, but didn't know if you would see it.)

healthy ashley said...

You could even blend the instant coffee for a faux frappacino!

I've been looking at those belts for a while now. Let us know how it goes. I worry I wouldn't be able to move around with it on.

Amanda said...

oh yes, instant coffee is my secret love. others can have fancy coffee machines, but I like mine simple and cheap :) thanks for the comment about my cupcakes on my blog slowlikehoney.net. they were definitely swoonworthy, and completely worth the 2 days of running that I forced myself to do after consuming two or three...

Jaime said...

Duh, I totally had instant espresso on my shopping list forever...then completely forgot about it. Thanks for the reminder...I'll be stopping by the little Italian shop this weekend. :)

Funny enough, it was actually hot here the other day so I purposely made an extra pot of coffee and put it in a juice jug in the fridge. Of course, it's been cold for two days so I'm drinking hot coffee.

Jaime said...

Oh, and when I make my iced coffees, they are in a Strongbow pint glass....hehe...I was given a set of 6, and let's just say they were not store bought... :)

Randi said...

Good tip on the coffee. You can control the calories and fat easier at home too.

I think it's good self control to still have the halloween candy. I don't think candy can really go bad can it?

RYC - I graph my HIIT with my garmin gps/heart rate monitor. It just shows nice peaks and valleys corresponding to fast and slow intervals. I really don't learn anything from it, but it does look nice.

Jen said...

*laughs* my husband and his friends were playing with that link at work one day...his friend entered that he wanted to gain 20 lbs in one week and it told him to eat something like 13000 cals a day and 400 + grams of fat!!! CRAZY!

I will have to try instant coffee!! usually I take a cup of coffee from the morning and put it in the fridge over night...but then it tastes kind of stale...

That belt is too cute!!! Even if it wasn't pink (though I love pink)

I bought TONS of halloween candy when it went on sale, because I like something sweet and if they are individually packaged I will only eat one or two...my cupboard is STILL stocked with it!!!

VeggieGal said...

this is the belt I really like: http://amphipod.com/overview/overview.html again because you can clip the bottles in sideways and they are still easy to lift out. You can also add accessories to the belt, like a pouch for your keys & stuff.

Shirls said...

I've never had an iced coffee :0) BUT I'm feeling love and support from you today, cause we are together in our anti-melon stand :0) I hate the stuff and I really hate that any attempt to buy a fruit salad is really just cut up melon, uggh

that book looks great, thanks for the heads up and for the website links too!

Sara said...

thanks for the iced coffee tip - I was just thinking the other day how I was craving one!

Very cute belt!

HC said...

I've recently rediscovered the joys of iced coffee -- I may have to go grab some instant stuff!

P.O.M. said...

Nice Pack. I ended up with the one bottle pack, but it does bounce and annoy me. So I only take in on 10+ runs.

Gonna check out that site.

Erin said...

Love the pink belt!! I would SO have gotten that one!

Crissy Rae said...

lovin the fuel belt...now I want one! that iced coffee sounds pretty good too, i may have to try it out. yummy!

carla said...

love the pink! and I AM NOT a pink person typically (nor an excel nerd but you KNOW I adore that site you linked to...have it in faves...never use it though :))

MizFit

Lex said...

Okay, I have GOT to try the instant iced coffee!!!