National Coffee Day ☕️ & 🍩

 Wake up and smell the coffee, it's National Coffee Day on September 29. Google this day and see what specials your local coffee houses are offering.

At my first job out of high school, I drank my coffee black. Now I like milk and real sugar in my morning coffee.

And I went through a Coffee Creamers phase trying various flavors. They were loaded with sugar and gave you extra energy burst out the door. I've left those sugar bombs behind.

As high schoolers, we had half coffee and half milk with a lot of sugar. Of course, we were plied with more sugary cereals and pop-tarts, too.

I used to drink coffee at night when first I moved to Los Angeles, mainly to stay awake during my night classes in film and television, after my 9 to 5 job. Now I can't drink it at night as it interferes with my beauty sleep.

In my 20s I added boiling water to a cup of freeze-dried coffee from the jar, but now I go for ground coffee in a vacuum-sealed can from Ralph's grocery store. Sometimes I spring for fresh ground from whole beans carried at our local Trader Joe's grocery market. 

When I worked in film and TV our crew was furnished with Cappuccinos, Macchiatos, and Frappuccinos along with regular coffee. In my European travels with my late wife, Amy, I've had Americanos, Café au Lait, Irish Coffee, and Expressos. Click here to see the different types of coffee drinks explained.

My wife, Linda, prefers coffee from whole beans so I go with her selections these days -- as you can see I can handle any type of coffee, from 7-Eleven crusty burnt-flavored to a Starbucks frothy cappuccino!

For those who're lactose intolerant, there are many milk substitutes and I've tried a lot of them. I still haven't decided which one goes best with coffee. If you have a favorite then leave a comment and let us know!

One of my favorite song lyrics is from Carly Simons's top 40 hit "You're So Vain" and it goes: "I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee..."

And this Budget Barista likes coffee as much today as ever, especially when a free donut is offered on this auspicious day by Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. And they are introducing a coffee-glazed donut. and donut-flavored coffee -- too much of a good thing is right up my alley.

I like their plain glazed donuts the best. Other donut stores carry fancier and more extravagant ones, but for the price, Krispy Kreme is my go-to donut.

Orchid Donut by DK's Donuts in Santa Monica, California.

So on National Coffee Day, whether it's cloudy or sunny, get a steaming cup -- however, you like it!

Click on the above image to play my Coffee for Breakfast video.

National Coffee Day ☕️ & 🍩

Wake up and smell the coffee, it's National Coffee Day on September 29. Google this day and see what specials your local coffee houses are offering.

At my first job out of high school, I drank my coffee black. Now I like milk and real sugar in my morning coffee.

And I went through a Coffee Creamers phase trying various flavors. They were loaded with sugar and gave you extra energy burst out the door. I've left those sugar bombs behind.

I used to drink coffee at night when first I moved to Los Angeles, mainly to stay awake during my night classes in film and television, after my 9 to 5 job. Now I can't drink it at night as it interferes with my beauty sleep.

In my 20s I added boiling water to a cup of freeze-dried coffee from the jar, but now I go for ground coffee in a vacuum-sealed can from Ralph's grocery store. Sometimes I spring for fresh ground from whole beans carried at our local Trader Joe's grocery market. 

When I worked in film and TV our crew was furnished with Cappuccinos, Macchiatos, and Frappuccinos along with regular coffee. In my European travels with my late wife, Amy, I've had Americanos, Café au Lait, Irish Coffee, and Expressos. Click here to see the different types of coffee drinks explained.

My wife, Linda, prefers coffee from whole beans so I go with her selections these days -- as you can see I can handle any type of coffee, from 7-Eleven crusty pot-flavored to a Starbucks frothy cappuccino!

For those who're lactose intolerant, there are many milk substitutes and I've tried a lot of them. I still haven't decided which one goes best with coffee. If you have a favorite then leave a comment and let us know!

One of my favorite song lyrics is from Carly Simons's top 40 hit "You're So Vain" and it goes: "I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee..."

And this Budget Barista likes coffee as much today as ever, especially when a free donut is offered on this auspicious day by Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. And they are introducing a coffee-glazed donut. and donut-flavored coffee -- too much of a good thing is right up my alley.

I like their plain glazed donuts the best. Other donut stores carry fancier and more extravagant ones, but for the price, Krispy Kreme is my go-to donut.

Orchid Donut by DK's Donuts in Santa Monica, California.

So on National Coffee Day, whether it's cloudy or sunny, get a steaming cup -- however, you like it!

Click on the above image to play my Coffee for Breakfast video.

National Coffee Day ☕️ & 🍩

 Wake up and smell the coffee, it's National Coffee Day on September 29. Google this day and see what specials your local coffee houses are offering.

At my first job out of high school, I drank my coffee black. Now I like milk and real sugar in my morning coffee.

And I went through a Coffee Creamers phase trying various flavors. They were loaded with sugar and gave you an extra energy burst out the door. I've left those sugar bombs behind.

I used to drink coffee at night when first I moved to Los Angeles, mainly to stay awake during my night classes in film and television, after my 9 to 5 job. Now I can't drink it at night as it interferes with my beauty sleep.

In my 20's I added boiling water to a cup of freeze-dried coffee from the jar, but now I go for ground coffee in a vacuum-sealed can from Ralph's grocery store. Sometimes I spring for fresh ground from whole beans carried at our local Trader Joe's grocery market. 

When I worked in film and TV our crew was furnished with Cappuccinos, Macchiatos, and Frappuccinos along with regular coffee. In my European travels with my late wife, Amy, I've had Americanos, Café au Lait, Irish Coffee, and Expressos. Click here to see the different types of coffee drinks explained.

My wife, Linda, prefers coffee from whole beans so I go with her selections these days -- as you can see I can handle any type of coffee, from 7-Eleven crusty pot-flavored to a Starbucks frothy cappuccino!

For those who're lactose intolerant, there are many milk substitutes and I've tried a lot of them. I still haven't decided which one goes best with coffee. If you have a favorite then leave a comment and let us know!

One of my favorite song lyrics is from Carly Simons's top 40 hit "You're So Vain" and it goes: "I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee..."

And this Budget Barista likes coffee as much today as ever, especially when a free donut is offered on this auspicious day by Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. And they are introducing a coffee-glazed donut. and donut-flavored coffee -- too much of a good thing is right up my alley.

I like their plain glazed donuts the best. Other donut stores carry fancier and extravagant ones, but for the price, Krispy Kreme is my go-to donut.

Orchid Donut by DK's Donuts in Santa Monica, California.

So on National Coffee Day, whether it's cloudy or sunny, get a steaming cup -- however, you like it!

Click on the above image to play my coffee for breakfast video.

Deal of the Day - Greens Smoothie Kit

My latest Deal of the Day provided breakfast and lunch. Frozen fruit and greens, sweet and earthy flavors, were blended with soy milk, providing a nutritious start to my day. This frozen deli case packaged Greens Smoothie Kit from Applause Food is a deliciously cheap$kate find - you just need to add fruit juice, milk, or a substitute like almond or soy milk.

I'm a late arrival for veggies in smoothies, even after living in health food conscious Los Angeles for decades now. I sometimes make fruit smoothies for breakfast - but next time I'll add a few sprigs of fresh spinach.

As the package name indicates, the ingredients lean towards the greens scale, mainly kale, spinach and celery, with a few chunks of pineapple and sliced apple. It's more liquefied salad or cold soup than fruit drink. After blended with soy milk, the first taste was jolting, but I quickly got into the veggie/fruit mix of flavors.

The greens taste like they were steamed tender, so there is a slight mushy bite to veggie stems pieces. Keep on blending to completely break it down into a smooth gazpacho.

 It is an earthy taste with all the leafy greens. By the time I got to the bottom of the drinking glass, I was a fan of this frozen Greens Smoothie Kit. You can read all about the makers, Applause Foods, by clicking here.

  Click on any photo to see larger.

Applause Foods carry other smoothie kits that feature fruit, and immune, protein, plus super food blends. I suspect this veggie blend was the slowest to move, so it ended up at my local 99c only Store and I'm happy it did.

Greens Smoothie ingredients with soy milk.

The ingredients list is all natural fruit and veggies. And you can get 2 to 3 servings from this 8 ounce package, depending how much liquid you add - so you definitely get your money worth, as long as you have a 99c only Store nearby that stocks it. Hey, I would even put in another dollar or so for this Deal of the Day if I found it in any regular grocery store frozen deli case.

As I this package mentions "What you see is what you get", this frozen smoothie mix is very green.

Feel free to sweeten it up with any fresh fruit you have on hand, like grapes, banana, blueberries or strawberries. I would add some yogurt next time too. This package had large slices of mild flavored apple, with very little tart and sweet pineapple. I would have reversed it, adding more pineapple, as it might have contrasted deliciously with green leafy flavors.

But for a midday veggie smoothie or pick-me-up drink, just blend it with veggie or fruit juice, soy or almond milk.

So how does the latest Deal of the Day find, Greens Smoothie Kit from Applause Food, rate on my Cheap$kate Dining Scale of 1 to 9, 9 being best? Well it ranks high with a healthy 7 ! 

I could learn to start my day with a veggie smoothie, as long as these kits are kept stocked at my local dollar stores.

Dried Fig Smoothie

I am on a liquid diet since the overstuffed holidays! And, I don't mean booze -- it's back to fruit smoothies in the morning for the much heavier frugal foodie.

I am more of a grab-an-apple-and-run type in the AM. I like an omelet every once in a while, but my usual morning meal is frozen fruit blended with low-fat yogurt, a banana, and soy milk. I try to mix it up with frozen raspberries, strawberries, grapes, peaches, blackberries or pineapple.

Over the Christmas holidays, we went to Joshua Tree National Park with our Seattle friends Jenny and Kevin (meet them in my Seattle Video Diaries here.) We hit the hiking trails, enjoying the dramatic desert scenery of scrappy Joshua Trees and sun-bleached tan building blocks of skyscraper-sized boulders (to see what I'm talking about -- my previous Joshua Tree video adventure is here.) On the way back to Los Angeles we stopped for a date shake at the diner, Hadley's (website,) west of Palm Springs on the 10 Freeway. Along with Joshua Trees, the desert dryness and sun is perfect for growing fields of date palm trees. I love dates, and had forgotten how good they pulverized in a milkshake -- so cool, creamy and sweet.

 I was at The 99c only Store last week and saw dried figs for sale. I have seen small packages of dates before, but not this time, so I thought: "Why not make a Dried Fig Smoothie next time?" After all, figs are chewy dried fruit just like dates.

But, dried figs are not as sweet as dates, so I added a teaspoon of honey -- it turned out to be just the right amount of sweetness. I also used soy milk instead of ice cream (too rich for me,) a handful of ice cubes to get a slushy consistency, and some yogurt for creaminess.

So, until I see dates return to the 99c store, I'll use dried figs. If you have cheap access to dried figs or dates, give my smoothie recipe a try. It's a cool, tasty drink -- good anytime of day.

Ingredients

• 6 whole dried figs - they have small stems. I went ahead and blended with stems (it's extra roughage,) but they are easy enough to slice off, too.
• 1 small container of yogurt - about 6 ounces. I used a peach flavored yogurt, but you could just use plain.
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 cup soy milk - okay to use regular milk. For a Dried Fig Shake substitute with vanilla ice cream.
• Handful of ice cubes - optional.

Directions
Add all of the ingredients into a blender and run until smooth. With the dried figs you may have to first pulse a few times, to get it all going.

Ice cubes will make a slushy cold blend, and the dried figs will reduce to into a ground pepper like texture.

I've also started adding a couple of dried figs to my normal breakfast frozen fruit and yogurt smoothie (that recipe is here.)