We had a long drive to Miami on Sunday - about 13 hours. With all that driving ahead of us, we decided we should pack a cooler full of great food to
a) save time by not stopping to eat, and
b) have healthy snacks that would keep up our energy for the drive and taste delicious.
We decided that we would chop up fresh fruits and veggies to munch on, pack the makings for turkey sandwiches, and most fun (for me) make ice coffees and granola bars for breakfast. We were getting up early to get on the road, so I wanted everything to be ready to go the night before.
On Friday I made the granola bars. I loosely followed
this recipe from Ina Garten on Food Network. I made a lot changes, like using more oats, less shredded coconut (I just didn't have more than about a quarter cup), butter and coconut oil, flax seeds instead of wheat germ, a little maple syrup, and didn't really follow the measurements or toasting/baking times. Hey, they turned out great!
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| Did I mention I added chocolate chips? =D |
On Saturday, I went grocery shopping for the rest of the cooler food. The best thing I got? Lusty Monk Altar Boy Honey Mustard. This stuff is deeeelicious! It's dang good, and it's made right here in Asheville! We put it on our turkey sandwiches (Can you see it? Chris driving and me making turkey sandwiches on a paper towel on the center console complete with tomato slices, mayo, and Lusty Monk. So worth the extra effort.), we dipped our cucumber slices in it, we put it on our ham sandwiches for lunch in Miami, and now that I'm back I've just made amazing egg salad with it (and with some relish, s&p, mayo, and chopped up cuke, red pepper, and onion. OMmmmmG.)
Anyhoo...later that day, I made some really strong coffee in the French press (aka press pot or plunger pot), and poured it into 2 jars. I also made lots of espresso (3 double shots - which in our machine are almost like triple or quadruple shots) in another jar. I added sugar to all 3 jars while they were hot, then let them cool. I realized that it was going to be hard to tell them apart, so for fun I made tags for each jar:
Incidentally, the evening I made these drinks was just beautiful. Here are some pictures from out the apartment windows:
In the morning, just before we left, I took the coffees out of the fridge and added milk. Mmmmm!
Then I packed the rest of the cooler:
Yummmm! We had the best car snacks ever! And boyyyyy were we caffeinated!
