Of Iced Coffees and County Fairs

County fair was here before I knew it, but was over just as fast. The past few weeks have been full of early mornings, late nights, very little sleep, blue ribbons, big smiles, hot days, showing horses, hanging out with friends, and loads of fun. I guess that this is kind of why my little corner of the internet has been somewhat silent for awhile.

Well, as the hottest days of summer roll around {and I'm also living on very little sleep}, sometimes I need a little extra boost to keep me awake and going. I'm a self-admitted lover of coffee products. Mochas. Cappuccinos. Frappes. Frappuccinos. The only thing that I'm not a fan of is the price tags that generally hang on them...that and plain black coffee. But while a hot cappuccino is great for a cold and snowy winter day, it doesn't seem so appealing in triple digit weather. So when my mom suggested coffee over ice, it sounded like a pretty good idea to me! 

After a little bit of experimenting I ended up with a iced coffee that tasted good and was really quite refreshing! I would give you the recipe, but unfortunately I'm still working out the exact measurements. It's currently a "little bit of this, and a little bit of that" kind of recipe, and it also depends on what sort of taste you like! My recipe would go something like this:

1. Dump the rest of the coffee from your dad's coffee pot into the blender (ok, there was only about a quarter inch left in the bottom...)

2. Make a wild guess at how many ice cubes you need and throw them into the blender too

3. Pour in as much milk as you think you'll need

4. Turn on the blender and blend it all together

5. Taste a spoonful of it and decide that it needs chocolate ('cause chocolate makes everything better, right?)

6. Grab the chocolate syrup and add, oh, about a large spoonful

7. Blend it all together again

8. Pour it into a fun looking cup so that you can take pictures of it

9. Add some whip cream drizzled in chocolate syrup to make it even more photogenic

10. Take pictures...lots of pictures

11. Last but not least, pull up a chair, get to work on those 4-H projects, and enjoy a refreshing sip of a cold coffee drink

And that, my friends, is how to make the perfect iced coffee. I've decided that it's one of my new favorite summertime drinks, and is right up at the top of the list along with strawberry banana smoothies.

Any summertime recipe experiments going on at your house? If so, please share!