Hello LilyOnTheLam.Com Readers:
If you read yesterday's blog post, you will know that I confessed that I can be a hypocrite sometimes ... saying I would not do something and then going forward and doing the very same thing I had just said I would not do!
In yesterday's post, it was a hypocrisy admission that while I had said I was trying to cut down on processed food that I had purchased and made the Tarte D'Alsace from Trader Joe's - a frozen, heat and eat flatbread. (And loved every bite!!)
I feel a bit like Kelly Killoren Bensimon from Bravo TV's "Real Housewives of New York" (a.k.a. RHONY) who said on the show that she doesn't eat processed food but all the while she indulges in lollipops and gummy bears. I love this 8 min 53 second mash-up of top Kelly Bensimon moments from RHONY on YouTube.com. By the way, the new season with three NEW Housewives premieres tonight on Bravo TV - will you be watching?
Well Ladies and Gentlemen - Lady Hypocrisy strikes again! (Me, not Kelly Killoren Bensimon, that is!) First let me give some Lily "Facts" before I start my tale ...
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury ... allow me to enter the following into evidence ...
1) I am an obsessive Keurig fan with at least 35 different types of K-cups in my coffee/tea bar. For those of you unfamiliar with Keurig and K-cups, it is a type of coffee maker that makes individual beverages by running heated water through freeze-dried or otherwise powdered coffee/tea/other beverage concentrates that are packed in a small plastic cup (a.k.a. K-cup.) It is quite an expensive habit with K-cups ranging anywhere from 35 - 80 cents U.S. each, but I prefer to make coffee/tea/apple cider/hot cocoa one drink at a time versus making an entire pot. I rationalize that it is cheaper than Starbucks, but I don't go to Starbucks every day ... so it may be a more cost-effective savings for others than me. (You can see a picture of my coffee/tea bar in my previous blog post here.) Even though a box of tea bags is usually 1/3 to 1/4 the price of a box of tea K-cups, I have at least 10 varieties of tea K-cups in my coffee/tea bar.
2) I usually drink my coffee black and unsweetened, but if not I may use coconut "milk," almond "milk," skim milk or half and half. If I need sweetener, I usually use Stevia in the Raw but if I am somewhere without a stevia option I may grab a pack of Splenda. (Livestrong.com has a blog post about the dangers of Stevia in the Raw here. Womentowomen.com has an article about the potential dangers of Splenda here.)
3) I like to have a variety of options for my coffee/tea drinking friends who may come to visit. So I have packets of sugar (even though I don't use it personally in my coffee) and I used to keep the long shelf-life Parmalat milk and Land o' Lakes Mini Moos Half and Half singles for those who use creamer in their coffee.
However the foot traffic at my in-home coffee bar is not as prevalent as the local Starbucks and I noticed that even the long-shelf life products I had bought were nearing their expiration. Because I tend to overbuy and under eat at home (and over eat in restaurants!), my pantry and refrigerator remind me of grocery stores in Russia. I'm constantly throwing out things that I bought that have gone past their expiration date - waste of money! I once found a box of chocolates in a grocery store near Novogrod, Russia that was one YEAR past its expiration and still sitting on the shelf for sale. (I did NOT buy them.) I also tried "Peanut-flavored Cheetos" in Russia. They tasted stale and nasty ... but then again I never checked the expiration date, maybe they were a year past the "use by" date?
Anyway, because my kitchen is like a Russian grocery store I decided to buy some packets of powdered non-dairy creamer for any coffee/tea bar guests who wanted creamer in their coffee. The powdered stuff has a much longer shelf life than the liquid Land O'Lakes Mini Moos. (Check out the article "Seven Things You Need To Know About Non-Dairy Creamer" at www.bodyandhealth.canada.com. And then read my blog post on why I will be invading Canada.)
4) I never met a tub of "light" non-dairy whipped topping (a.k.a. Cool Whip Lite) that I didn't like. (Check out "The Horrifying 12 Day Cool Whip Experiment" if you dare on JonathanFields.com.)
Now that the four "facts" above have been entered into evidence, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, let me proceed with my Lady Hypocrisy tale ...
My Green Mountain Coffee catalog arrived in the mail today. As someone with a Keurig K-cup obsession, this is like porn to me. I flipped through the pages with rabid glee ... until I stopped on a page that was of particular interest ... TWO NEW KINDS OF "BREW OVER ICE" K-CUPS! I did a little happy dance - more kinds of K-cups to add to my expansive coffee/tea bar collection!!!
Living in Florida, I usually ice my beverages - whether I use a "Brew Over Ice" K-cup or if I throw in some ice cubes after brewing a regular coffee or tea K-cup. (Side Note: "Brew Over Ice" is a type of K-cup that delivers a more concentrated coffee product so that when you add ice cubes you will have a cup of iced coffee not a cup of watered down coffee.) I have a very large personal K-cup inventory of Green Mountain Coffee's Nantucket Blend Brew Over Ice Iced Coffee (strong, hearty and delicious), French Vanilla Iced Coffee (creamy, not artificial tasting and only 2 calories!) and Celestial Seasonings Brew Over Ice Unsweetened Black Iced Tea.
I would have more "Brew Over Ice" varieties but most of them contain sugar and as entered into evidence in point two above, I prefer unsweetened or Stevia if I absolutely must have a sweetener. I do make an exception for the occasional Celestial Seasonings Brew Over Ice Half and Half Perfect Iced Tea - which is half lemonade and half black tea. But it is chemical tasting - I'd be better off just pouring fresh made lemonade into iced tea instead.
I am so obsessed with coffee/tea bar and my K-cups that if you come to my home for an iced coffee or tea, you will be handed a tumbler with the "Brew Over Ice" logo. I need a new term for my kind of obsession!
So back to the Green Mountain Coffee catalog ... I see that there are two new Brew Over Ice varieties ... Introducing Donut Shop "Brew Over Ice Sweet and Creamy" iced coffee - "medium roast coffee with a splash of sweet creamer" (quoting the catalog). Available in Regular and Nutty Hazelnut, artificially flavored. My eyes squinted at the words "sweet creamer" - mmm hmmm those words to me mean: "SUGAR and NON-DAIRY CREAMER." I'm on to you! I figured there was no way these K-cups were zero calories. And when you're an international traveler (and international EATER) like me, you have to be hyper-vigilent about hidden calories. The catalog does not contain any nutritional information on the products, but luckily the website does.
Nutritional Information for Regular "Sweet and Creamy" K-cup
Nutritional Information for Nutty Hazelnut, artificially flavored "Sweet and Creamy" K-cup
I found it intriguing that if you click on the two links above, there is a notation that these products cannot be shipped to Canada. Hmmm ... what conspiracy is this? Is Canada not allowed things that are sweet AND creamy? Does Canada only get one or the other? Should my planned invasion of Canada include a side mission of establishing an underground smuggling operation of "Sweet and Creamy" Brew Over Ice K-cups?
Will you see a fuzzy surveillance video feed of me on the Investigation Discovery channel with Bill Kurtis narrating that I am (allegedly) the criminal mastermind of an international smuggling operation that created a pipeline of Sweet and Creamy K-cups all the way from Florida to Ottawa? And more importantly, what will my criminal nickname be? Bitchy McCaffeinated? Jitters Espressoworth? The Lady Arabica Robusta?
I read the nutritional information for the two new "Sweet and Creamy" iced coffee K-cups in the links above. Both were 80 calories per K-cup. The first ingredient for each K-cup was SUGAR. The second ingredient for each K-cup was NON-DAIRY CREAMER. The last ingredient for each K-cup was sucralose (a.k.a. Splenda) and the label said the product contained milk and soy. I didn't see "coffee" in the ingredient list -- I guess that's covered toward the end of the ingredient list where it says "natural and artificial flavors"??
So let me get this straight ... these "Sweet and Creamy" iced coffee K-cups contain BOTH sugar and sucralose artificial sweetener? These "Sweet and Creamy" K-cups contain BOTH non-dairy creamer and milk products? The regular one has 14 grams of carbohydrates and the Nutty Hazelnut has 15 grams of carbohydrates. And what's up with the soy? Not to mention the 80 calories ...
Sorry "Sweet and Creamy" - you are chock full of too much that I don't want and not enough of what I do want! Wow, you're like the majority of men I have dated! I will have to forgo the "Sweet & Creamy" K-cups and go with my own version ... I call it the "Snarky & Beige Fast Iced Coffee." Until my picture is on every K-cup in the land, I will be making my own version of the "Sweet & Creamy."
Lily's Snarky & Beige Fast Iced Coffee:
Equipment - You will need a Keurig coffee maker.
- 1 Brew Over Ice unsweetened coffee K-cup (Green Mountain Coffee Nantucket Blend Iced Coffee or French Vanilla Iced Coffee)
- 1 Land O'Lakes Mini Moo half and half single
- 1 packet of sweetener
Brew the coffee K-cup into a heat-safe tumbler filled with ice. Add 1 Mini Moo single and 1 packet of sweetener. Stir well. Enjoy! (And then invade Canada.)
Variation: If you're not into non-sugar sweeteners, use 1 packet of sugar instead.
Calorie count:
With Nantucket Blend K-Cup, Mini Moo and Stevia = 10 calories
With Nantucket Blend K-Cup, Mini Moo and Sugar = 26 calories
With French Vanilla K-Cup, Mini Moo and Stevia = 12 calories
With French Vanilla K-Cup, Mini Moo and Sugar = 28 calories
You can add more Mini Moos and sweetener/sugar to taste, but remember the calorie count will increase.
If you don't care about speed to make or calorie count, check out this iced coffee concentrate with sweetened condensed milk recipe from CravingComfort.blogspot.com.
I love sugar (have you seen how many pie pictures are on my blog??) I love lite Cool Whip non-dairy creamer and could seriously eat a tub of it with a pint of strawberries while I sit on the couch watching a marathon of "American Justice." I love K-cups. And yet I have zero desire to try the new "Sweet & Creamy" Brew Over Ice K-cups. Chock this up to yet another example of how I am Lady Hypocrisy ... and potentially the mastermind of an international smuggling ring. Love me for who I am, flaws and all! Or just buy me some Green Mountain Coffee Brew Over Ice Nantucket Blend Iced Coffee K-cups. My love does have a price.
P.S. I would love to hear from anyone who has tried the "Sweet and Creamy" Brew Over Ice K-cups. Is it a tasty, creamy iced coffee or is it artificial-tasting and disappointing? Please leave me your personal review of the product in the Comments section below. Thanks!
Google Affiliate Ad: This is the same model of Keurig coffee maker that is in my fabulous coffee/tea bar. I love it, love it, love it! I am not compensated by Keurig to say this - it is my honest opinion. But if you buy your Keurig using the link below I may get a finder's fee. Full disclosure, people!
If you read yesterday's blog post, you will know that I confessed that I can be a hypocrite sometimes ... saying I would not do something and then going forward and doing the very same thing I had just said I would not do!
In yesterday's post, it was a hypocrisy admission that while I had said I was trying to cut down on processed food that I had purchased and made the Tarte D'Alsace from Trader Joe's - a frozen, heat and eat flatbread. (And loved every bite!!)
I feel a bit like Kelly Killoren Bensimon from Bravo TV's "Real Housewives of New York" (a.k.a. RHONY) who said on the show that she doesn't eat processed food but all the while she indulges in lollipops and gummy bears. I love this 8 min 53 second mash-up of top Kelly Bensimon moments from RHONY on YouTube.com. By the way, the new season with three NEW Housewives premieres tonight on Bravo TV - will you be watching?
Well Ladies and Gentlemen - Lady Hypocrisy strikes again! (Me, not Kelly Killoren Bensimon, that is!) First let me give some Lily "Facts" before I start my tale ...
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury ... allow me to enter the following into evidence ...
1) I am an obsessive Keurig fan with at least 35 different types of K-cups in my coffee/tea bar. For those of you unfamiliar with Keurig and K-cups, it is a type of coffee maker that makes individual beverages by running heated water through freeze-dried or otherwise powdered coffee/tea/other beverage concentrates that are packed in a small plastic cup (a.k.a. K-cup.) It is quite an expensive habit with K-cups ranging anywhere from 35 - 80 cents U.S. each, but I prefer to make coffee/tea/apple cider/hot cocoa one drink at a time versus making an entire pot. I rationalize that it is cheaper than Starbucks, but I don't go to Starbucks every day ... so it may be a more cost-effective savings for others than me. (You can see a picture of my coffee/tea bar in my previous blog post here.) Even though a box of tea bags is usually 1/3 to 1/4 the price of a box of tea K-cups, I have at least 10 varieties of tea K-cups in my coffee/tea bar.
2) I usually drink my coffee black and unsweetened, but if not I may use coconut "milk," almond "milk," skim milk or half and half. If I need sweetener, I usually use Stevia in the Raw but if I am somewhere without a stevia option I may grab a pack of Splenda. (Livestrong.com has a blog post about the dangers of Stevia in the Raw here. Womentowomen.com has an article about the potential dangers of Splenda here.)
3) I like to have a variety of options for my coffee/tea drinking friends who may come to visit. So I have packets of sugar (even though I don't use it personally in my coffee) and I used to keep the long shelf-life Parmalat milk and Land o' Lakes Mini Moos Half and Half singles for those who use creamer in their coffee.
However the foot traffic at my in-home coffee bar is not as prevalent as the local Starbucks and I noticed that even the long-shelf life products I had bought were nearing their expiration. Because I tend to overbuy and under eat at home (and over eat in restaurants!), my pantry and refrigerator remind me of grocery stores in Russia. I'm constantly throwing out things that I bought that have gone past their expiration date - waste of money! I once found a box of chocolates in a grocery store near Novogrod, Russia that was one YEAR past its expiration and still sitting on the shelf for sale. (I did NOT buy them.) I also tried "Peanut-flavored Cheetos" in Russia. They tasted stale and nasty ... but then again I never checked the expiration date, maybe they were a year past the "use by" date?
Anyway, because my kitchen is like a Russian grocery store I decided to buy some packets of powdered non-dairy creamer for any coffee/tea bar guests who wanted creamer in their coffee. The powdered stuff has a much longer shelf life than the liquid Land O'Lakes Mini Moos. (Check out the article "Seven Things You Need To Know About Non-Dairy Creamer" at www.bodyandhealth.canada.com. And then read my blog post on why I will be invading Canada.)
4) I never met a tub of "light" non-dairy whipped topping (a.k.a. Cool Whip Lite) that I didn't like. (Check out "The Horrifying 12 Day Cool Whip Experiment" if you dare on JonathanFields.com.)
Now that the four "facts" above have been entered into evidence, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, let me proceed with my Lady Hypocrisy tale ...
My Green Mountain Coffee catalog arrived in the mail today. As someone with a Keurig K-cup obsession, this is like porn to me. I flipped through the pages with rabid glee ... until I stopped on a page that was of particular interest ... TWO NEW KINDS OF "BREW OVER ICE" K-CUPS! I did a little happy dance - more kinds of K-cups to add to my expansive coffee/tea bar collection!!!
Living in Florida, I usually ice my beverages - whether I use a "Brew Over Ice" K-cup or if I throw in some ice cubes after brewing a regular coffee or tea K-cup. (Side Note: "Brew Over Ice" is a type of K-cup that delivers a more concentrated coffee product so that when you add ice cubes you will have a cup of iced coffee not a cup of watered down coffee.) I have a very large personal K-cup inventory of Green Mountain Coffee's Nantucket Blend Brew Over Ice Iced Coffee (strong, hearty and delicious), French Vanilla Iced Coffee (creamy, not artificial tasting and only 2 calories!) and Celestial Seasonings Brew Over Ice Unsweetened Black Iced Tea.
I would have more "Brew Over Ice" varieties but most of them contain sugar and as entered into evidence in point two above, I prefer unsweetened or Stevia if I absolutely must have a sweetener. I do make an exception for the occasional Celestial Seasonings Brew Over Ice Half and Half Perfect Iced Tea - which is half lemonade and half black tea. But it is chemical tasting - I'd be better off just pouring fresh made lemonade into iced tea instead.
I am so obsessed with coffee/tea bar and my K-cups that if you come to my home for an iced coffee or tea, you will be handed a tumbler with the "Brew Over Ice" logo. I need a new term for my kind of obsession!
So back to the Green Mountain Coffee catalog ... I see that there are two new Brew Over Ice varieties ... Introducing Donut Shop "Brew Over Ice Sweet and Creamy" iced coffee - "medium roast coffee with a splash of sweet creamer" (quoting the catalog). Available in Regular and Nutty Hazelnut, artificially flavored. My eyes squinted at the words "sweet creamer" - mmm hmmm those words to me mean: "SUGAR and NON-DAIRY CREAMER." I'm on to you! I figured there was no way these K-cups were zero calories. And when you're an international traveler (and international EATER) like me, you have to be hyper-vigilent about hidden calories. The catalog does not contain any nutritional information on the products, but luckily the website does.
Nutritional Information for Regular "Sweet and Creamy" K-cup
Nutritional Information for Nutty Hazelnut, artificially flavored "Sweet and Creamy" K-cup
I found it intriguing that if you click on the two links above, there is a notation that these products cannot be shipped to Canada. Hmmm ... what conspiracy is this? Is Canada not allowed things that are sweet AND creamy? Does Canada only get one or the other? Should my planned invasion of Canada include a side mission of establishing an underground smuggling operation of "Sweet and Creamy" Brew Over Ice K-cups?
Will you see a fuzzy surveillance video feed of me on the Investigation Discovery channel with Bill Kurtis narrating that I am (allegedly) the criminal mastermind of an international smuggling operation that created a pipeline of Sweet and Creamy K-cups all the way from Florida to Ottawa? And more importantly, what will my criminal nickname be? Bitchy McCaffeinated? Jitters Espressoworth? The Lady Arabica Robusta?
I read the nutritional information for the two new "Sweet and Creamy" iced coffee K-cups in the links above. Both were 80 calories per K-cup. The first ingredient for each K-cup was SUGAR. The second ingredient for each K-cup was NON-DAIRY CREAMER. The last ingredient for each K-cup was sucralose (a.k.a. Splenda) and the label said the product contained milk and soy. I didn't see "coffee" in the ingredient list -- I guess that's covered toward the end of the ingredient list where it says "natural and artificial flavors"??
So let me get this straight ... these "Sweet and Creamy" iced coffee K-cups contain BOTH sugar and sucralose artificial sweetener? These "Sweet and Creamy" K-cups contain BOTH non-dairy creamer and milk products? The regular one has 14 grams of carbohydrates and the Nutty Hazelnut has 15 grams of carbohydrates. And what's up with the soy? Not to mention the 80 calories ...
Sorry "Sweet and Creamy" - you are chock full of too much that I don't want and not enough of what I do want! Wow, you're like the majority of men I have dated! I will have to forgo the "Sweet & Creamy" K-cups and go with my own version ... I call it the "Snarky & Beige Fast Iced Coffee." Until my picture is on every K-cup in the land, I will be making my own version of the "Sweet & Creamy."
 |
| The Green Mountain Coffee Catalog with my "Snarky & Beige" ingredients on top |
Lily's Snarky & Beige Fast Iced Coffee:
Equipment - You will need a Keurig coffee maker.
- 1 Brew Over Ice unsweetened coffee K-cup (Green Mountain Coffee Nantucket Blend Iced Coffee or French Vanilla Iced Coffee)
- 1 Land O'Lakes Mini Moo half and half single
- 1 packet of sweetener
Brew the coffee K-cup into a heat-safe tumbler filled with ice. Add 1 Mini Moo single and 1 packet of sweetener. Stir well. Enjoy! (And then invade Canada.)
Variation: If you're not into non-sugar sweeteners, use 1 packet of sugar instead.
Calorie count:
With Nantucket Blend K-Cup, Mini Moo and Stevia = 10 calories
With Nantucket Blend K-Cup, Mini Moo and Sugar = 26 calories
With French Vanilla K-Cup, Mini Moo and Stevia = 12 calories
With French Vanilla K-Cup, Mini Moo and Sugar = 28 calories
You can add more Mini Moos and sweetener/sugar to taste, but remember the calorie count will increase.
 |
| Growing up in Minnesota and school in Wisconsin, I never met a dairy product I didn't like |
 |
| Land O'Lakes Mini Moos Nutrition Facts |
I love sugar (have you seen how many pie pictures are on my blog??) I love lite Cool Whip non-dairy creamer and could seriously eat a tub of it with a pint of strawberries while I sit on the couch watching a marathon of "American Justice." I love K-cups. And yet I have zero desire to try the new "Sweet & Creamy" Brew Over Ice K-cups. Chock this up to yet another example of how I am Lady Hypocrisy ... and potentially the mastermind of an international smuggling ring. Love me for who I am, flaws and all! Or just buy me some Green Mountain Coffee Brew Over Ice Nantucket Blend Iced Coffee K-cups. My love does have a price.
P.S. I would love to hear from anyone who has tried the "Sweet and Creamy" Brew Over Ice K-cups. Is it a tasty, creamy iced coffee or is it artificial-tasting and disappointing? Please leave me your personal review of the product in the Comments section below. Thanks!
Google Affiliate Ad: This is the same model of Keurig coffee maker that is in my fabulous coffee/tea bar. I love it, love it, love it! I am not compensated by Keurig to say this - it is my honest opinion. But if you buy your Keurig using the link below I may get a finder's fee. Full disclosure, people!
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