3 Drinks for the Price of 1 at Starbucks :)

I am a fan of Starbucks and thanks to my many drinks a week I have "earned" a Starbucks Gold card through March 2018.  Ah-hem.  Anyway, a lovely perk of being a Gold Card member is FREE REFILLS (works for the lower Green level too).  Did you know this and more importantly do you take advantage of it?

I've sort-of-known about this perk but didn't take advantage of it fully until recently.  Here's what I'm talking about.  For the low low price of $2.93 I got not one, but three Grande drinks!  It was such a great deal I did it three times in the last week. 

Drink #1 - A "Misto" my go-to favorite winter drink.  It's basically a cafe au lait, 1/2 brewed coffee (I get the dark blend) and 1/2 steamed milk.  I ask for extra foam and 2 sugar in the raws (for a grande) and a "to-stay" cup whenever possible.  Because it's much better to drink out of a cup and the other customers give you inquisitive and somewhat envious looks.  This drink cost me $2.93 including tax.

Drink #2 - My first refill, a dark brew coffee (still grande) and I add 1/2 and 1/2 and sugar packets.  It rings up as $.50 but when you use your Gold (or Green) Card it zeros out.  Cost = FREE!

Drink #3 - After reading, chatting with friends or just chilling for a couple hours I'm ready to actually leave Starbucks so I ask for my next refill to go.  A (grande again) 2 pump peach green iced tea, easy ice.  Cost = FREE

How great is that?  The free refills FYI include: iced tea (not w/lemonade), iced coffee, hot coffee and hot tea.  No matter what drink you get first (even a frappuccino!!) you can get refills of coffee/tea for free with the Gold (or Green) Card.

If hanging out in a coffee shop for a few hours isn't in your schedule you can also get the refills while you do errands.  A few of my local grocery stores (including Target!!) have Starbucks inside.  I get an iced coffee when entering the grocery store and a refill as I'm leaving.  Two drinks for the price of one ($2.75 for a Grande Vanilla Iced Coffee).

So go caffeinate up before they change this reward!! 

Fisher Price Friday - Car and Camper Set

I've got a set that's before my time but well loved here with my littles.  It's the Play Family Car & Camper #686 made between 1968-1970.  The set is tiny and was only made for 3 years but is oh-so-cute!

The set had five pieces including a camper, trailer, car, boy and his trusty dog Lucky.  It had quite a few variations besides the one shown above including different colored cars, trailers, dog collars and even the boy's hat!

The camper is solid wood with lithographs on each side.  The top has a hole just perfect for the dog (or boy) to ride in.

The right side of the camper has the door, lamp and a window that shows a huge salad bowl inside the camper.  Interesting choice!

The left side of the camper has a larger window and this time it's a huge bouquet showing with flowers flying outside the window.

The camper has two holes that fit perfectly over the trailer.  The trailer is plastic with plastic wheels and matching colored axles.  The trailer could be white or red.

The car is plastic with matching plastic axles unlike the later Garage cars that had metal rivets.  The car has a trailer hook in a "C" broken shape and no gas hole.  It came in a red top/white bottom version too.  There were many other small variations for the experts things like metal rivets on the bottom, Fisher Price on the tires, etc.  

The little set had two wooden little people figures.  They both have straight sides unlike the later larger/curvy FPLP to come.  The dog could have a blue, red or white collar all with "dots" rather than lines.  The boy was always yellow but could have a red, white or blue hat.  The red hat version also came with the #685 Car and Boat set as did the blue collar dog.

Happy Camping!

For more (much larger) camping sets check out:

Pop up Camper #992

Play Family A Frame #990

Play Family Camper #994

Lemon and Raspberry Sour Cream Pie

It's that time of year where there are people regularly offering fresh lemons (and other citrus) for free.  Just this last couple of weeks I've brought home a couple dozen lovely homegrown lemons thanks to friends!  Since there is only so much lemon I can use in my regular cooking I searched out recipes (ah-hem desserts) that are lemon flavored.

This recipe passed the Pinterest test and it's a winner!  So if you're up to your eyeballs in lemons at your house too don't just make lemonade, make pie!

Lemon and Raspberry Sour Cream Pie

Ingredients
1 8″ pre-baked pie shell
3 lemons, zested & juiced (1 Tbsp. zest + 1/2 cup juice)
3 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup granulated sugar
3 egg yolks
1 cup milk (I used whole)
1/2 stick butter, cubed
1 cup sour cream
whipped cream, to garnish
fresh raspberries (or jam) to garnish

Directions
1. Pre-bake your pie crust (homemade or store-bought, I found a tasty and organic pre-baked pie crust at my Fry's Grocery) and let it cool completely.
2. In a medium size saucepan, whisk together the lemon juice, lemon zest, cornstarch, sugar, egg yolks and milk. Cook over medium-low heat until thick, whisking frequently.
3. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter. Allow the custard to cool completely.
4. Once cooled, whisk in the sour cream. Pour into your pre-baked pie crust and refrigerate at least two hours.
To serve, slice and top with raspberries (or a layer of jam) and whipped cream.

Serves 8 (or 4, you know, depending on how much you LOVE pie!).  Remember to keep it refrigerated.

For more lemon recipes check out:

Luscious lemon ice-cream

Lemon Chicken Spring Vegetable Soup with Quinoa

Lemon Butter Baked Cod

Coconut Banana Bread with Lemon Glaze

Delicious Baked Sour Cream Donuts

I've got a new baked donut recipe to share!  Evidently I only make donuts when we have play dates because I haven't made them since the last time we had friends over.  I liked our last Cinnamon Sugar Donut recipe but thought I'd try a different one this time.

I LOVE making donuts for play dates since they are easy and a super fun snack with kids.  The weather has been amazing here lately (ah Arizona winters) so we ate them outside while the kids played.

Sour Cream Donuts

1 cup all-purpose flour 
1/2 tsp baking soda 
1/4 tsp salt 
Pinch of nutmeg 
1/2 cup sour cream 
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus more for coating the doughnuts 
1/4 cup coconut oil 
1/2 tsp vanilla extract 
1 large egg 

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare donut pan by greasing it with coconut oil.  In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and pinch of nutmeg. Set the dry ingredients aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sour cream, granulated sugar, coconut oil, vanilla extract, and the egg. Switch to a spatula and stir in the dry ingredients.  Fill a plastic storage bag (or a fancy icing bag) with the batter and pipe it evenly among the prepared donut pan. The batter should reach about half way up the inside of each circle. Bake the donuts for 12–16 minutes until the top edges begin to turn golden brown. Remove the donut pan from the oven and let the donuts cool for about 5 minutes before tossing them in the extra granulated sugar.

I found that this recipe made 6 very full (and delicious) donuts with extra batter to spare so I made a bonus heart shaped donut too.

The girls loved the donuts! 

Fulfilling a Wedding Gift...12 years later

It took 12 years but we finally have new silverware.  Not that we've been using our hands all this time, let me explain.

Back when we were getting married we registered for lovely and relatively expensive silverware which unfortunately no one bought us.  At the time it didn't seem like a good idea to buy it ourselves so we made due with the oh-so-bachelor IKEA Dragon set.  Not to knock IKEA since I am clearly a fan, but this was one of their cheapest sets.  Only $9.99 for a 20 piece set! (note that I see they are STILL the same low low price 12 years later).

Between a decade of use, small children and a penchant for pieces falling into the garbage disposal they have become pretty worn.  We were way overdue for a more substantial/long lasting set.

We've looked a couple times over the years but could never find a set that we both agreed on.  They were either too shiny, too huge (what's with all the giant spoons?) or too expensive.

On a whim during a date night last month I suggested browsing Crate & Barrel to see if they had anything new that we'd agree on.  Well lo and behold there was not one but two sets that we liked!  

After some deliberation Clark made the cut.  Not too big, not too shiny, not too expensive and not too boring.  Perfect!

Welcome home Clark, we're thrilled to have you and hope you last a long time (watch out for the disposal)!