Must have pumpkin latte!

So, finally our Pacific NW winter weather is upon us. Cool, rainy, and grey.

Time for some fall type foods. Must have pumpkin latte!

Latte was simple to make:
Tea or coffee of your choice: I had two pots of tea today so in pot #1 Almond Oolong tea and in pot #2, Ginger tea mix called Fabulous (from Adagio)
The pumpkin latte mix:
Canned pumpkin
Pumpkin Pie spice
cream of choice (half and half or heavy cream for dairy uses),I used Coconut Cream sweetened with Maple Syrup)

In keeping in the Fall theme, last night I made a Buffalo chili:

One pound ground buffalo
1 cubed sweet potato
Half a can of rinsed black beans (personally, I would left out the beans but hubby likes them)
1 can roasted diced tomato
Standard chili seasons (Mrs Dash chili seasons, cumin, chili season, minced garlic, salt and pepper to taste).

Delicious!

Cold Brew Craze, What is it?

So Cold Brew Coffee is all the rage with millennials now and they pay dearly for them at the coffee barista shops.  I wondered what the big deal was so decided to do a little research on the subject. Afterall, its iced coffee, right? Turns out there are two versions of cold coffee over ice. 

 Iced coffee is brewed hot coffee that is chilled and poured over ice while Cold Brew is coffee that is not brewed with hot water but instead, grounds are allowed to steeped in cold or room temperature water for 24 hours or more. The theory is that by not processing the coffee thru hot water, the bitter acids are not released into the mix. OK, I buy that. 
 So, being a tea drinker, I thought I would do the same thing but with tea. Why not?

So I pulled out a package of loose green tea and dusted off my french press and gave it a go. The french press holds four cups of water so I added four heaping teaspoons of loose tea to cold water from the tap and left on the counter for six hours. 

This is the finished product, pretty! I pressed the tea and poured it into another container while I removed the tea leaves. Easy Peasy.

Now for the taste test..........

OK! I am a believer! The tea is very fresh tasting and no hint of bitterness. Perfect refreshment after an afternoon of mowing the grass, lol

Listen To Audible and Kindle text to speech books on your TV

Wow! This is great! I have so many audio books in my Audible/Amazon account but never take the time to listen to them.

My Kindle Fire HDX can be mirrored to my TV for video. I thought, well, why not see if I can also mirror my e books to the TV and listen to my audio books through the larger speakers on my TV. Perfect for when I am doing mundane chores or coloring in my color books.

If your don't mind the monotone of text to speech in your Kindle books, then that works as well!

So here is how to do this with your Kindle tablet:
Go to Settings and tap on the icon
Tap on Display & Sounds
Tap on Display Mirroring
Your Kindle will search and find your TV and display your Kindle on the screen.
Then just go to Audiobooks tab and choose your book. All controls are handled on the Kindle. Your TV is just a big monitor. That's it!

For Kindle books and text to speech, go to Books tab. You book will be displayed on your TV as its being read.