Posted on 07/01/2026 5:19:22 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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Sweet Cream Iced Coffee / when the heat wave hits
Quick, easy w/ sweet cream finish, a gourmet coffee shop clone.
Ing Cold Brew: 8 c water 2 c coarse ground coffee Sweet Cream:
4 oz sweetened cond/milk 6 oz 2% evap/milk 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 tsp cinnamon
METHOD Mix water/coffee. Cover and let sit 12-24 hours. Then sieve.
Cream: combine ing and fridge. Serve coffee over lots of ice w/ Cream added.
Note: Add about 1-2 tbl sweet cream to 8-10 oz of cold brew.
Love the addition of molasses in your recipe.
Adds a nice zippy flavor ....and so healthy.
What a great idea for baking your ribs with the Sun! Talk about economical, LOL!
Yes, I like your thread idea about sharing memories and the old-time ways of life! :)
I am having an Iced Coffee right now! :) Nothing fancy - just ice cubes, leftover coffee from this morning and some Hazelnut Creamer. Deeee-LISH!
Then look about ready to pop in the broiler and finish off. All with no gas. I’ll post a pic. Good timing because rain is coming. I wish I had thought of this earlier in the week.
I told Mick (Foster Son) what you were doing and now he wants to fry some eggs on the sidewalk, LOL!
I thought of that a couple of days ago except would use a steel enamel plate so I could have them. I have 3 chicken legs if it is hot enough tomorrow I will cook those. Ribs in the broiler getting finished off with more sauce. I like them glazy with not a ton of sauce.
Sounds good.
Try the Sweet Cream recipe....cheap to make.....and utterly delicious.
If you have a steel spatterware enamel plate I was going to do some butter first and put the eggs on after it melted. Could also cover with a glass lid. They would be yummy.
You are certainly turning Lemons (heat wave) into Lemonade (sun-baked ribs)!
Did it get up to 165 deg. F? (Safety mark for pork, IIRC.) But then you said it’d go into the broiler for a bit.
If you could rig it with a couple of reflecting panels, even cardboard with aluminum foil (shiny side toward the sun), you could probably hit up to 200 deg. F. (I boiled a fairly large pot of water in a foil lined cardboard box, using the flaps as extra reflectors, years ago.)
I say Make ribs while the sun shines.
Quite a few storms are “going at it” with gusto, well to our SE, down in West-Central TN, plus some in West-Central KY. There is a little movement of some toward us, but, that’s a long way off. Local forecasters seem to think they may get close enough to fire outflow boundaries at us B4 sunset — NWS seems unconvinced. Rain would only cool us off briefly, and then the humidity will be back worse than ever, as no cool front is involved. “Cebu-like”, as I tell my wife.
We have that same cutting board! Love your ribs…low and slow, baby!
Chicken salad on tap for us here tonight. Tomorrow is hubby’s all-American baby back ribs day. We thought we had a rack in the freezer, but discovered we had eaten that already. So we went and got a new batch from Costco earlier.
Sides will be corn on the cob fresh from the orchard market fields, and sauteeed zucchini, onions, and tomatoes (their homegrown zucchini- like the corn is) and baked beans. Homemade strawberry shortcake from berries grown on their fields.
Great job, Mom!
It looks good to me!! :-)
I was going to do some more grilling* this evening once it cools down a bit, but, those storms in TN are inching this way and generating a little out in front of them too, so it looks like about 1-in-3 chance I get rained out.
*The fuel is downed oak and hickory from our property so, that’s ultimately “solar” too, right? (As is it all, really, just by a matter of how many steps away and how long.)
Sounds like a yummy feast. I have two of those cutting boards, hubby and I both worked at Amway world headquarters. It from their ICook line. Years ago now, doubt if you could find one. Love it great size and lightweight.
I got around to testing two of the 5000mAh (rated) 10x 22650 Li batteries I received from Parts Express, last week. Both came out just over 5500 mAh, which is great!
(It’s also great that my ASUS charger will handle 2 of them at a time, although I have to add a small conductive “spacer” at each end to assure good contact to the charger’s contacts.)
5 of these will go into a power supply for a portable Bluetooth speaker. Rock ‘n Roll all night, baby!
The others get various uses such as, in one case, upgrading a 1500 mAh 18650 in a security light.
I’d toyed with the idea of use in a head-worn flashlight, but, these would be pretty heavy for that. (That weight is why they have such high “real” charge capacity: The best of my 18650’s weigh less than half as much.) Besides, I already have a headworn flashlight that uses 2x of the 18650’s, and that’s about as much weight as I want on my head. I don’t have a handheld “white light” flashlight that will take 22650’s, but will keep my eyes out for one at yard sales. (Flashlights that take 22650’s tend to be a little pricey.) 22650’s WILL work in my big UV handheld flashlight aka ‘Hornworm hunter’, but I can’t imagine needing that much charge capacity in that light. If I have that many hornworms to find, my tomato plants are in big trouble! But, then again, in that case, so may be our local fish population: Hornworms make fantastic bait.
BTW, Happy Independence Day, all! After a bite to eat, I’m headed out to the yard to try to beat the heat. T’storms look likely later.
Zucchini au Gratin / Gruyère and Panko Topping
Tender vegs covered in creamy béchamel, a delicious entrée or side.
Ing--veg 3-4 zucchini in ¼" pieces 1 ea large bell pepper, onion, sliced 1 tbsp unsalted butter Sauce--4 tbsp unsalted butter 4 tbsp flour 2½ c milk ¼ tsp nutmeg s/p 1 c Panko, divided 1 c Gruyère shredded 1 tbsp unsalted butter
Method: toss sliced zucchini, salt. Set aside to draw out liquid. Melt butter, add onion/bell pepper, s/p. Sauté to lightly brown and soften onions, 6-8 min. Set aside offheat.
Sauce---whisk melted butter/flour. Reduce heat to med-low. Add milk, whisking into a creamy, smooth sauce. Whisk in nutmeg, pinch s/p. Set offheat.
Vegetables: Pat zucchini slices dry. In 9x13" baker, layer 1/3 zucchini, 1/4 cup panko, 1/2 onion and pepper mixture, 1/2 half Sauce. Repeat, then top w/ rest zucchini.
Topping. Combine 1/2 c panko/Gruyère; sprinkle evenly over zucchini. Dot w/ small pieces of butter. Bake 400 deg 25-30 min, cheese is melted and golden-brown. Cool slightly before serving. Best served immediately.
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