Vanilla Coffee Granita and Giveaway Reminder

I hope you all had a wonderful week, my friends. Did any of you tried my Grilled Ribeye Steaks with Vanilla Coffee Rub recipe?  Not yet?  I sure hope you’ll give that a try soon because the Vanilla Coffee Rub really embarks wonderful depth of flavors into your steaks and enhances the texture of your steaks by creating a lovely crust to seal in the juices.  The rub is super easy to put together with a rather short ingredients list.  Anyhow, don’t forget to enter the Singing Dog Vanilla Lover’s Set Giveaway (2 winners), if you haven’t done so.  The giveaway is available to my Readers worldwide, click here to enter.



Now, back to this Vanilla Coffee Granita.  As I promised you from the last post that I will share a dessert recipe using the Vanilla Coffee and Vanilla Salt.  This is one cool treat that could tame any flames and heats!  Boy, I don’t know what’s up with the weather here in the past 2 weeks, but it’s been super hot all week in L.A.  I can probably use a cool treat any time of the day.  This is a light and refreshing treat, a perfect sweet ending to any meal (more so if you made my Grilled Ribeye Steak recipe).  If you haven’t try a granita before, it’s a semi-frozen dessert made from sugar, water and various flavorings.  This time, I used vanilla coffee.  It’s ridiculously easy to prepare and let me show you how.



First, brew your coffee in your coffee maker, or French press.  While the coffee is still hot, add the sugar and salt. Stir until all the sugar is dissolved. Add the coffee liqueur and stir well. Pour the mixture into a freezer safe 9 x 13 container. Leave at room temperature until completely cooled.



Cover the container and freeze for an hour. Remove from freezer and with a fork, scrape the ice crystals that have formed on the side of the pan. Return to the freezer and scrape every 30 minutes.



Once the mixture is completely frozen (the whole process might take 2-4 hours), fluff with a fork and scoop the granita onto your favorite cup, dollop with some freshly whipped cream (recipe followed) and a sprinkle of vanilla salt on top.



The hardest part about this recipe?  Waiting!  Waiting for the granita to freeze up before you can take a bite! But it’s all worth it at the end.  It’s like having a sweet and creamy iced coffee in frozen form.  But the icy granita has a nice crunchy texture that is really refreshing on the palates. 



When you mix a little freshly whipped cream with the granita along with the crunch from the vanilla salt, that’s one perfect bite for me!  It’s definitely a party in my mouth that wakes up all my senses.  You would want to close your eyes and savor each spoonful slowly.  But then, you would also want to finish it quickly before it’s all melted.  These mini martini serving glasses are perfect for the job.  They are must-haves for parties and entertaining too.  (Please click here for product link).  I love the mini size because I won’t feel as guilty if I indulge more than one!  I hope you enjoy today’s recipe.  Have fun brewing, and freezing!  

Holiday Shopping and Promotion from Fekkai

I can’t believe there are less than ten days before Christmas! It’s been busy and hectic for me in the last couple of weeks. With holiday shopping, baking orders, activities with kids, etc. I hardly get some time to rest and relax.

So the big question is. Are you almost done with your Holiday shopping? I guess I’m 80% done, but I still got a few online orders that I’ve placed and still waiting for them to arrive. If you are “still in progress” on your Holiday shopping, or have someone who has everything and you’re not too sure of what to get them, I have a great news for you and some suggestions.


 


Fekkai is having a wonderful Holiday Promotion. You’ll receive 10% off your total order and a complimentary exclusive holiday headband with $50 purchase (while supplies last) Use Promo Code: HEADBAND (please see picture below). Here’s the link to their site if you need more information.


 

 


Isn’t the headband gorgeous? I’m sure that it would be a nice hair accessory when you attend your holiday party. ;) Or, it could be a wonderful stocking stuffer as well.

According to their website, Frédéric Fekkai collection was developed to meet the particular needs of different hair types.  In addition to providing exceptional professional results, Fekkai’s products feature luxurious textures and invigorating scents. The hair care line is divided into regimen “families”, including: Advanced Care, Color Care, Curl Care Glossing, Repair, Styling and Styling Tools. Before his products are marketed to the public, Frédéric and his staff personally test every formula in his world-renowned Frédéric Fekkai Salon to ensure the highest quality and performance.

That gorgeous headband and the discount definitely made my purchasing decision a lot easier. I hope you’ll give their products a try as well.

Stay tuned for a Holiday Cocktail recipe on my next post. Until then, Happy Shopping.

Earth Day Recap

We had a wonderful afternoon at the park on Earth Day (yesterday).  We arrived at a nearby park, had a feast (as usual, more so when my hubby is involved), and spent the next hour or two on slides, swings, monkey barring, running, jumping, laughing, clicking (on my camera), yawning (when we were ready to leave), etc.  It was so much fun.

Of course, I packed my own food for a lunch picnic, as shown in the picture below.  But what I really wanted to share with you today are these amazing drinking jars!  I got them on Amazon a while ago and I’ve been using them for both hot and cold drinks.  Best of all, they travel really well because I can just screw the mason jar caps on and they’re good to go.  No spilling what-so-ever!  As the picnic season approach, I can see myself using these jars more often.  As a side note, yes, the Meyer Lemonade with Strawberries was mine and the plain one was my husband’s (if you don’t already know... he doesn’t like strawberries). 



In case if you’re wondering what’s in the yellow container (in the picture above), that’s my greenest (although it doesn’t look that green) Chicken Salad.  It has rotisserie chicken, green grapes, green olives and green onions in it.  They were so good on my homemade loaf bread, and also amazing on the pretzel crisps!  Yeah, I purchased extra pretzel crisps so I have plenty to work on my recipe contest.  They make a great snack as well.  Speaking of recipe contest, thanks to those of you who voted for me.  Your help is greatly appreciated.  Today will be the last day of voting.  Can’t wait to find out who won!     In case if you haven’t vote today, here’s the link again. 

P.S.:  If any of you is interested in the Greenest But Not So Green Chicken Salad recipe, just let me know in the comment and I’ll post it in the future.  Have a wonderful week.