Happy Eater: Homemade Flavored Coffee + A Circuit Workout

COFFEE, PLEASE

Why have I never though to make my own flavored coffee? I really enjoy my morning breakfast & coffee, and now with this new simple tidbit of information, it's about to get even better :)

Ms. Kathy, my mother-in-law, called me the other day to tell me about this coffee idea she had seen on Food Network. It's simple: put a dash of whatever seasoning from your pantry into your coffee grounds. Just like that, you have naturally flavored coffee!

I've tried putting seasonings in the coffee itself, but you can't mix it in all that well and the graininess didn't appeal to me. But mixing it into the grounds? Genius. I'm so glad she told me about it :)

We of course tried it right away. I was pretty conservative at first, not knowing how powerful the new flavors might be. I probably put just a pinch of cinnamon & nutmeg and a drop of vanilla. We could taste the seasonings a little bit, but that dark roast potency dominated the flavor.

I was more heavy handed the second time around. I put (roughly) 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg, a dash of pumpkin pie spice, and 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla into six heaping scoops of dark roast coffee grounds. I loved it! The flavor isn't too strong and it also lacks that "artificially & naturally flavored" taste that comes with many store-bought flavored coffees. I will certainly be trying new combinations and flavors more often now that I know this trick :)

Thanks for the tip, Ms. Kathy!

WORKOUT

I was afraid this might happen one day...the trainer didn't show up to the 5am fitness class. (Due to circumstances out of his control.)

It is, of course, cold and dark at 5am. The other members of the class waited a while and then went home. I can't do that. My butt got out of bed at 4:30 on a Monday. There's no way I'm just going back home. So I threw together this lovely 45 minute boot camp circuit workout!