Don't Toss That! Freeze It! ~ Coffee Cubes

Meet my newest obsession...

This is a little something that I like to call Coffee Cubes. ;)

You know that little bit of coffee that you almost always have leftover in your pot every morning and usually just dump down the kitchen drain?

Yeah, don't do that anymore.  Just pour whatever is leftover into an ice cube tray.  After a few days of doing this, you should have a full tray of them. :) 

Crack out the coffee cubes and store them in a labeled and dated quart sized freezer bag. 

Okay, you say- now what?

Well, the simplest thing that you can do with these coffee cubes is plop a few of them into a cold glass of milk (or almond or coconut milk) in the afternoon, letting them melt slightly.  Voila!  An iced latte!

But there is so much more that you can do with them... 

Like, make a copycat Starbucks Chocolate Banana Vivanno smoothie!  This recipe I concocted is beyond amazing, and tastes so much like the original you may never order one from that coffee shop again. ;)

What you will need:

1 whole banana, frozen & chopped

3 coffee cubes, crushed

1 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tbsp of vanilla yogurt

1 cup of milk (can be coconut, almond, or soy too)

* I keep a few bananas in my freezer at all times.  Just unpeel your banana, wrap it in aluminum foil, and put it in your freezer!

Throw everything into your blender, and blend away.

That's it!  Enjoy your knock-off Vivanno! :)

Of course, I had to do something a little more adult with my coffee cubes as well. ;)

This is my own version of a truly decadent Mudslide Milkshake...

In a blender, combine:

2 scoops of chocolate ice-cream

1 shot of whipped cream vodka

1 shot of coffee flavored liqueur 

2-3 coffee cubes, crushed

Milk to your desired consistency- I like my milkshakes a little thick, so I use a small amount of milk.

Just blend this all together, and then top with whip cream and a drizzle of chocolate sauce. :)

I can't even tell you how amazing this drink is.  Really. You have to try it for yourself. 

Foodie on a Budget- Don't Toss That! Freeze it!

How many times are you finding yourself tossing out that bunch of wilted herbs you bought for a few snippets the week before?  Or tossing out that container of chiles in adobo sauce when you only needed one a few weeks before for a recipe?  I think I have been guilty of those things more times than I can stand.  If you happen to own a blender, an ice cube tray,  and a freezer, then you are in luck!  Here are a few ways to preserve some of those leftover culinary must-haves and waste no more.

Saving cut herbs is easy!  If you haven't used them all up within 3 or 4 days of purchasing them, then blend with a little bit of water and freeze them.  I had some leftover parsley and just blended it with a little bit of water and poured into an ice cube tray.  When you need parsley for a soup or sauce, just pop out one of the cubes and let it melt as you are cooking.  You can do this with just about any leafy herb- basil, oregano, cilantro, sage...

I often end up using chiles in adobo sauce for some of my favorite Latin recipes.  Problem is you usually only need one chile and a few tablespoons of the sauce for each recipe.  I would take the remaining chiles and sauce and place them in a storage container in the fridge determined to use them before they went bad in a couple of weeks.  About 100% of the time, that never happened.  So, now after I have opened the can and used what I needed for my recipe, I immediately toss the remaining chiles and sauce in my handy blender.  I blend until smooth and then spoon out into an ice cube tray. 

Once they are frozen hard, I pop out the chile cubes (and/or the parsley cubes) and store in a freezer bag (separately, of course!).  Be sure to label and date the bag so you always know how long they have been hanging out in the freezer.  These cubes will stay good for MONTHS frozen. With the chile cubes, you can choose to defrost them in the fridge before cooking or just add them to your sauce frozen as it is simmering and let them melt in.

Note:  One chile cube is about the equivalent of one chile and two tablespoons of adobo sauce.