Lasagna

I don't know of any recipe for lasagna that doesn't take a long time to cook, usually at least an hour. But this one is quick and easy to make because you don't have to cook the noodles first. I love that! And it still only takes an hour in the oven.

Quick Lasagna

Ribbed Lasagna, uncooked (12 pieces)
32 oz prepared spaghetti sauce (like Prego or Ragu)
15 oz drained cottage cheese
12 oz grated Mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 lb ground beef

Brown ground beef. Mix in spaghetti sauce. If the jar is a little less than 32 oz, I usually add some water and sprinkle some Italian seasoning in to make up the difference.

Spray cooking spray in a 9x13 glass pan. Place a small amount of the spaghetti sauce mixture in the bottom. Place three strips of uncooked lasagna in the bottom and then one broken piece to fit and fill in across the short side.

(I usually put my cottage cheese in a colander while I'm browning my ground beef so if there is any excess liquid it will drain out.) Spread 1/3 of the cottage cheese and 1/3 of the spaghetti sauce mixture on top of the noodles. I plop it down and then mix the two together as I spread it out across the noodles. It looks like this:

Then sprinkle 1/3 of your Mozzarella cheese on top of that. I actually just buy two packages of the shredded cheese and end up with 16 oz and use all of it.

Repeat these layers two more times.

Top with shredded Parmesan.

Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking an additional 30 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

This recipe came from a lasagna noodle box or a Ragu jar or someplace like that. I've had it for so long that I don't remember where it came from.

I tried those flat noodles once instead of the ribbed and they worked the same.

Cake Balls

Am I the only person who hasn't made these before?

Mine were lumpy. I didn't worry about making them all smooth, and I'm even a perfectionist. I guess I'm now a recovering perfectionist.

See, lumpy.

I had a leftover Valentine's Day funfetti cake mix without matching frosting. I baked it, sans sprinkles, in a 9x13 pan. When the cake was done I dumped it into a bowl and crumbled it up with two forks. Then I took a can of cream cheese frosting and mixed it in good. I used my Pampered Chef scoop to get the cake out and made them into lumpy balls. I put them on a waxed paper covered cookie sheet. I placed it in the freezer for an hour or so to let them cool and get a little hard. (I had 33-34 cake balls.)

I melted three cups of white chocolate chips with three tablespoons of shortening in the microwave. I put sticks in the balls and drizzled my melted white chocolate over them one at a time. I placed them back on the waxed paper covered cookie sheet to harden. I like them chilled, so I put them back in the refrigerator.

Hubby said they could cause a weight problem. Caboose thought they were one of the best things he'd ever eaten. They taste an awful lot like the $1.50 birthday cake version at Starbuck's, and yes, I paid $1.50 to try one. I was hoping they were big like the picture, maybe even cupcake sized. I was wrong.

Black Bean & Corn Salsa

I created this recipe today to try and replicate something similar I'd had in the past. Sparky and I taste-tested it after it had been in the refrigerator for a couple of hours for the flavors to blend, and I had a hard time convincing her she could wait until small group tonight to have more! It's good!

Black Bean & Corn Salsa

1 15-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can whole kernel yellow corn, drained
1 can original Rotel
2 T lime juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp fine sea salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
16 oz homemade salsa

Stir everything together in a large bowl and chill for a couple of hours for the flavors to peak. Serve with tortilla chips. Tostitos scoops work great!

Salad

I like to have my lettuce in smaller pieces in my salads. It makes for easier and neater eating.

I also like to have a little stuff in my salad. Stuff like tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, broccoli, hard-boiled eggs, and even sometimes some crumbled bacon, shredded meat, or shredded cheese.

The problem I find with having some of that stuff in my salad is that unless it's cut up pretty small, you don't get some with every bite. And I kind of like to have it with every bite where I can taste it.

I got creative last night. I got out my new food processor (thanks in part to CSN Stores which I'll tell you about later) and started working on my lettuce first. I wasn't sure what would happen, but it came out in small, shredded type pieces. (I put it through the chute and it passed one time through the large blade.) I used one bunch of regular organic green head lettuce and one bunch of organic romaine. Then I passed through a tomato that I'd cut up into about six wedges, some baby carrots, a cucumber I'd peeled and cut into wedges, and one head of broccoli.

Here is what one bowl of it looked like.

The other thing I like is croutons, but I never buy them. They get stale quickly and they are expensive. But since I'd just been reorganizing my pantry recently I thought about my bread crumbs. They are basically like croutons. I had a couple of different flavors, but I chose Parmesan. I sprinkled it on the top with some ranch dressing and stirred it all up (although I hadn't yet in this picture).

I loved it and a couple of the kids tried it with different dressing choices and liked it too. Hubby was already in bed when I put it all together last night, so I packed some up for his lunch today. He called after he'd eaten it and asked to have it every day. He likes salad, and he really liked the bread crumbs (although he couldn't quite figure out what they were). He also commented that because the lettuce was cut up like it was that a lot more fit in his container.

It was a hit all the way around. I can't wait too try it with a bunch of spinach leaves in it and some different lettuce blends. It would be easy to hide from picky kids that see the leaf and know what it is! I think it will also be great this summer with leftover grilled meats sliced up on top.

This whole post made me start thinking about the Seinfeld episode about "The Big Salad." I had to go find it and watch it tonight!

Caramel Brownies

I'm working on my recipes and there are so many that I've forgotten about. Tonight was small group at our house so I made these for our snack.

Caramel Brownies

1 pkg German chocolate cake mix
3/4 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup evaporated milk, divided
6 oz chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts
50 caramels

Combine dry cake mix, butter, and 1/3 cup evaporated milk. Spread 1/2 of the mixture in a greased 9x13 pan. Bake 6 minutes at 350 degrees.

Sprinkle chocolate chips and nuts over cake. (You know I didn't put those nuts on.) Melt caramel and 1/3 cup evaporated milk and drizzle over nuts and chips. Add remaining cake mixture and spread gently with a spatula. (Mine ended up kind of mushy with the caramel layer since the cake mixture is thicker. I couldn't figure out how to spread it without mushing them together.) Bake 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees. It won't look like regular brownies. It's going to be kind of gooey looking.

Cool before cutting.

Very yummy!

Chicken 'Aghetti

It's actually Chicken Spaghetti, but that's what our girls called it when they were little.

Chicken Spaghetti
from my cousin, Jennifer

1-16 oz box spaghetti noodles, cooked and drained
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can Rotel
1 can chicken broth
1 cup chopped, cooked chicken
2 cups shredded cheese (I used one of the 8 oz Kraft mixes plus some grated Parmesan)

While spaghetti noodles are cooking, mix other ingredients except cheese together in a large bowl. I usually add about 1/2 cup water because otherwise it seems a little thick. Drain spaghetti and mix it in with the other ingredients.

Pour into a 9x13 casserole dish. Cover with shredded cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until bubbly around the edges and hot in the middle.

The Rotel gives it a little kick and it's different than any other Chicken Spaghetti I've ever had. Yum!

Turtles

This was ashamedly the only thing I baked over the holidays, and I don't think it can qualify under the baking category because it was so simple.

You've probably seen them out there, but in case you haven't, I want to share the simple deliciousness of this treat with you.

Turtles
can't remember where I saw it first

mini pretzels, calls for twists, I used the square Snyder's
Rolos, unwrapped
pecan halves

Place the pretzels on a parchment paper or aluminum foil lined baking sheet. Place the Rolos on top.

Bake at 250 degrees for 3-5 minutes. You want the Rolos shiny, which means they are soft, but not melting and losing their shape on their own yet.

Press a pecan into the top of each Rolo. Place in the refrigerator to cool and set.

Try not to eat them all in one sitting.

Christmas Cranberry Salad

But it's not just for Christmas!

Christmas Cranberry Salad
from my friend, Lori

1-6 oz pkg strawberry jello
2 cups boiling water
1 large pkg frozen strawberries, thawed (I think mine was 16 oz)
1 large can crushed pineapple, undrained
1 can whole cranberry sauce

In a large bowl, dissolve jello in boiling water. When cool, add pineapple, cranberries, and strawberries. Place in refrigerator until firm. It's best made the day before.

Williamsburg Orange Cake

I always try to make a cake for Christmas since we celebrate it first as Jesus' birthday. This was the one I made this year.

Williamsburg Orange Cake
from my friend, Marsha

Cake:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
3 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 T grated orange rind or 2 T orange juice
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

Combine all the ingredients except the pecans, 30 seconds on low and then 3 minutes on high. Add pecans.

Pour evenly into 3 greased and floured 8-inch cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Cool in pans 10 minutes. Remove and cool completely.

Frosting:
3/4 cup butter, softened
6 3/4 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 T grated orange rind
7 1/2 T orange juice

Mix in blender until it is spreading consistency. You can add little bits of orange juice if you need more liquid.

Store in refrigerator.

You must use butter in the cake. My grandma tried to make this years ago when she was still living after I had made it for her for her birthday. She used margarine. It didn't work.

Beef and Noodles

Last week was beef week at our house. It was cold and time for some comfort food. We had Beef and Noodles, a recipe I got courtesy of my good blogging friend Betsy at My Five Men. We even found out we have in real life friends in common this last year.

Beef and Noodles
from my blog friend, Betsy

3 lbs beef stew meet, cut in 1" cubes
1 onion, chopped (or use some onion powder)
4 T butter
8 tsp Beef Soup Base
24 oz wide egg noodles
10 cups of water

Brown stew meat and onions in butter in a large stock pot. Cover with 10 cups of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 2 1/2 hours.

Take out the meat and set aside. Add soup base and noodles. Cook until noodles are tender. Return meat to the pot with the noodles and check seasonings. Add salt and pepper if needed. Serve once the meat is reheated. It usually doesn't take long.

I've doubled Betsy's original recipe. I usually only have enough leftovers for one large serving even after having doubled it. If I served a lot of sides with it it would go farther, but we were really in the mood for some warm comfort food last week. It's been cold here!

Broccoli-Romaine Salad

Last night at small group I made something a little different for our not-dessert snack (we always have a dessert and a not-dessert, or a sweet and a salty, or whatever).

I've been running out of ideas for something new and different, so I made a salad for the grown-ups, and if the kids ate it, it would be good for them.

When you look at the picture, just remember that I doubled the recipe below.

Broccoli-Romaine Salad
from my mom

1 bunch of broccoli, chopped, or a package of broccoli wokly
1 bundle of romaine lettuce, chopped (I had one bunch of red and one bunch of green and chopped them up pretty good so they were smaller pieces)
2 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (which you know would qualify as food in my food and was not included, because it's nuts)

Brown and cool:

1 package of ramen noodles in 2 tablespoons of butter, without the little seasoning package.

Dressing

1/2 cup sugar (or Splenda my mom said)
1/2 cup Canola oil
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 tsp soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Shake or stir dressing and refrigerate. Add just before serving along with the browned ramen noodles. You'll have to shake or stir again.

None of the kids ate it, which is a good thing, because the grown-ups (including me!) were vultures. It's a good thing I doubled it.

Oatmeal Cookies

I'll warn you that this makes lots of cookies, but you can refrigerate the dough and make them as needed.

Oatmeal Cookies
recipe adapted from a Ronald McDonald House cookie recipe

2 cups butter (4 sticks!), softened or partially melted
2 cups brown sugar, packed
2 cups white sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
2 tsp salt
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
6 cups quick-cooking rolled oats

Cream together butter, eggs, sugars, and vanilla until fluffy.

Sift together flour, salt and baking soda. Stir into butter mixture (I use the lightest setting on my mixer).

At this point everything has to be moved into a larger bowl.

Add oats and mix well. This is where I adapted the recipe. I don't like food in my food, so I left out the stuff, like raisins and nuts. But if you like that, you can put some in. Go ahead and ruin your cookies if you want.

The dough can be refrigerated at this point and cookies baked as needed.

Drop by teaspoonful 2 inches apart on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes. It takes about 12 minutes on my stone and 10 minutes on my regular uninsulated cookie sheet. I add 2 minutes when I bake them out of the refrigerator.

This is what they look like when I take them out. We like our cookies chewy and without other food in them.

This is what they look like after they've cooled. Yum!

I use my Pampered Chef (I think medium) scoop for these, and I get about 9-10 dozen cookies. Yes, I give some away.

Strawberry Swirl Cake

We had company for dinner last Friday night and this is the cake I made. It's something you would probably find yourself making more in the spring or summer, but I just got the recipe from my friend and I had to make it.

This is the same cake that was served at the baby shower in May. There's a better picture on that post of my friend's cake. She wasn't lazy and put the strawberries on top.

Strawberry Swirl Cake
from Food & Family, Spring 2007

1 pkg white cake mix
1 pkg (4-oz serving size) Jell-O Strawberry Flavor Gelatin
2/3 cup sour cream
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 8-oz tub Cool Whip
1 1/2 cups sliced strawberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two round cake pans (mine stuck a little, so a dusting of flour might be helpful). Prepare cake batter as directed on package. Pour half of the batter into a medium bowl. Add dry gelatin mix; stir until well blended.

Spoon half of the white batter and half of the pink batter side by side into each prepared pan.

Swirl batters together lightly, using a teaspoon. Do not overswirl or the color of the cake will be all pink and not pink and white marbled.

Bake 30 minutes. Cool 30 minutes in pans. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

Mix sour cream and powdered sugar in a medium bowl until well blended. Gently stir in whipped topping.

Place one of the cake layers on serving plate; spread top with 1 cup of the whipped topping mixture. Top with 1 cup of the strawberries (I just sliced them and placed them until I'd filled up the top, and I cut them a little thick since I thought I might be too lazy to put any on the top).

Top with remaining cake layer (When I stacked them, I made sure the pink side of one was opposite the pink side of the other just to get a good mix when it was cut). Spread top and side of cake with remaining whipped topping mixture. Top with remaining 1/2 cup strawberries just before serving. Store leftover cake in the refrigerator.

I totally wish I'd taken a picture of a slice so you could see it. Hubby was so impressed. He thought only bakeries could make marbled cakes by some special secret! But do you know that we ate the entire cake that night before I could even think about taking a picture. The ten of us that were here all had a piece and that took about 3/4 of the cake. When our company left, four of us finished it off with a second helping.

This is definitely one of my new favorites and one I'll make again and again.

Peanut Butter Cookies

One of my all-time favorite cookies.

I remember Grandma making them for me when I was growing up. They were an especially nice treat when I was in college and would receive a tin!

You can make them with crunchy peanut butter or smooth & creamy.

My mom wrote the recipe down for me when I left home as a newlywed in 1985 when we were college sophomores.

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Cream butter, peanut butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla. Sift together your dry ingredients and add into your creamed mixture.

Or you can be lazy like me and add in the baking soda and salt first to make sure it gets into the creamed mixture really good, then add your flour, without sifting any of it.

Shape into 1-inch balls, or something like that. Roll in more sugar. Place on your cookie sheet and criss-cross each cookie with a fork. I have to dip my fork in the sugar so it doesn't stick.

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes. You might need to adjust this, because when I use my dark cookie sheet they get really dark and crunchy at 10 minutes. But we like chewy cookies.

This makes about 5 dozen cookies.

I won't even tell you how many I ate the first day, except that it was less than a dozen.

Chicken Spaghetti

Chicken Spaghetti
from my cousin, Jennifer

2 cups cooked & cubed chicken
1 box (16 oz) cooked spaghetti
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can diced Rotel
1 can chicken broth (I use Swanson's since it's a little bigger)
Shredded Cheddar (I use a finely shredded mix Kraft makes)
Shredded Parmesan

Mix soups, Rotel, and chicken broth. Combine with chicken and noodles. Pour into a 9 x 13 ungreased pan. Cover with shredded cheddar cheese (recipe calls for 8 oz but I use at least 2 cups) and sprinkle with shredded parmesan cheese (I leave this off if I don't have it).

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until bubbly around edges. (The recipe calls for 40-60 minutes, but mine only takes about 20-30 minutes, depending on whether I'm using freshly cooked and cut up chicken that's already warm or some I've thawed from the freezer that's cold. I think the 40-60 minutes might be when you've made it ahead and frozen it.)

The Rotel gives it a different flavor so it doesn't taste all "chicken-y."

The pictures came out dark and poorly focused. I have trouble indoors. Sorry!

This post is linked to Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

Peach Pie

I live where they have an annual Peach Festival, peaches are in season and abundant right now, and my friend Mari just posted a peach pie recipe. I'm thrilled!

I used my homemade pie crust recipe I've had for almost 25 years. It was for an apple pie with crumb topping, but I used it for the bottom and top crust both.

Pie Crust
from my friend Marsha

2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 cup shortening
5-7 T cold water

Mix dry ingredients. Cut in the shortening with two knives or a pastry cutter. Add water until dough is the right consistency. Roll out into two pie crusts.

Peach Pie
from my friend Mari

5 cups sliced fresh peaches
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 add'l T sugar

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare pastry for your pie and place one crust into your 9-inch pie plate.

Peel and slice peaches. Mix peaches with lemon juice.

Mix 1 cup sugar, flour, and cinnamon; stir peaches into the mix.

Pour into your pie crust.

Cover with top crust and place slits in crust (I forgot). Seal crusts and flute edges. Brush water over the top crust and sprinkle the additional 2 T sugar over the top.

Cover edge of pie with 2 inches of aluminum foil to prevent excess browning. Bake for 30 minutes; remove foil and bake for about 15 more minutes or until crust is brown.

It tastes great warm with vanilla ice cream!

I know what's for breakfast tomorrow morning!

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting

I recently (as in the last six months) made a homemade chocolate cake. It didn't look this chocolate-y, it didn't taste very chocolate-y, and it tasted like you would imagine a homemade cake to taste. At least like I imagined it would taste, which was not so good. I'm used to a boxed chocolate cake mix.

Funny thing is, just a couple of weeks ago I made a boxed chocolate cake I had in my cabinet and was thinking how I wished I had a good recipe for a delicious chocolate cake. You know, so when I wanted to have chocolate cake I didn't have to have all those preservatives and could just have all those homemade ingredients and lots of white sugar and white flour, which isn't supposed to be good for you at all.

But cocoa and antioxidants — they are supposed to be good for you. So maybe they cancel out all that white sugar and white flour. I'm just going with that.

Well, a week after I had my little "wish I had a homemade cake recipe" thought, our friends brought over chocolate cake for small group. They brought the recipe, which happens to be off the box of Hershey's Cocoa. Here it is, along with the frosting recipe, also from the box. Enjoy!

Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups Hershey's Cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans. Put water on to boil.

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla; beat on medium speed 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour into pans.

Bake 30-35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; removed from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting.

"Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting

1 stick butter
2/3 cup Hershey's Cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt butter. Stir in cocoa. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk, beating on medium speed to spreading consistency. Add more milk if needed. Stir in vanilla. Makes about 2 cups.

1. The batter was thin. Chatty said I should pour some of the water off the top!
2. It took me about 37-38 minutes to cook, but I did open the oven at 30 minutes and 35 minutes to stick toothpicks in one of the cakes to check.
3. I didn't add any additional milk to the frosting. I wanted to, but I went ahead and added in the vanilla first. It was okay then. But now that I'm looking at the recipe I think I might have made a mistake and added 2 tsp instead of 1 tsp to the frosting. I can't remember and I don't know why I'm thinking that. Maybe it's because of the cake. Oh, well, it was good, and you may or may not need a little smidge of milk.

Slow Cooker Meatballs

This is the recipe for Sweet and Sour Meatballs that I got from Mama Bear right before New Year's Eve. I've used it a couple of times. I like it because it's so easy. I'm going to write it the way I use it, which is for a large group. If you buy a smaller bag of frozen meatballs, just use one can and one jar.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

from Mama Bear

1 bag of frozen meatballs (the kind with 100-120)
2 cans jellied cranberry sauce
2 jars chili sauce.

Stir the sauces together in your slow cooker. Stir in your frozen meatballs. Heat on high for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally. I have found that stirring with a heat-resistant spatula keeps from breaking the meatballs.

Last night we had small group at our house. I had an extra bag of meatballs in the freezer, an extra large one. I decided I wanted to do something different than the Sweet and Sour Meatballs I had done a few months ago. I'll just call them Swedish Meatballs. I know I've done mini-meatloaves kind of like this.

Swedish Meatballs
an experiment that worked!

1 bag of frozen meatballs (the kind with 100-120)
1 large can cream of mushroom soup (50 oz), the kind from Sam's Club
2/3 cup water

Stir soup, water, and frozen meatballs together in your slow cooker. Cook on high 3-4 hours, stirring occasionally. I added the water after mine had been cooking for an hour or two, but I think it would be fine to just add it in at the beginning.

These were a huge hit.

Blondies

Remember the giveaway that is open until Saturday night and if you haven't checked it out yet, my new online shop, The Daisy Shop.

I love me a good brownie, but I have a new obsession — blondies. I'm addicted, and my cholesterol isn't happy. Well, technically I guess my doctor that wants my cholesterol to go down wouldn't be happy if he knew.

These are delish! Make them at your own risk.

Blondies
from The Simpsons

2/3 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

The first time I made them I used too much butter. It's because I used to be good at math, quick too, but now I have to mull it over a few times and double check myself. Using the sticks, it's 10 1/3 Tablespoons, just in case anyone else wants to save brain cells. It's nice that they have the Tablespoons marked, but the first time I used some crazy amount on the second stick. I don't know what I was thinking.

Melt 2/3 c butter. Add the remaining ingredients and mix together. (I usually mix them all except the flour and add it last.)

Put in a greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle 1 cup chocolate chips on top. Bake about 30 minutes or until the middle is done.

You have to cool them some before you can cut them. Waiting is the hardest part.

Iced Coffee

Iced Coffee

1/2 cup instant coffee granules
1 cup cocoa
1 cup dry milk
1 cup dry creamer
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Place ingredients in a blender or food processor and process until fine. Keep in a jar in a cool, dry place.

To make iced coffee place the following in a blender:

1/2 cup mix
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 cup ice

Blend until ice is crushed and is a smooth consistency.

I don't drink iced coffee from any of the chains, so I don't really know what they normally taste like. This ends up being just a little bit slushy but sips through a straw nicely.

I also altered the mix and used half regular creamer and half French vanilla creamer. I probably could have reduced the sugar, but since I forgot to add it until after I'd already made my iced coffee and then had to figure out how much to add in, I'm not sure I did it quite right. I think the next time I do it that way I'll do 1/2 cup sugar when I'm adding in the French vanilla creamer since it's a little sweet on it's own.