Sweet Tooth Sweet Life

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Coffee Friday At Home

By 44 Comments

While we were away last week, you know I spent a lot of time in a certain Dunkin Donuts using their Wi-Fi and sipping iced coffees.

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Well on one of those occasions, I ended up splurging and ordering myself one of their Caramel Mocha Iced Coffees. I mean, I had been perched underneath the promotional poster for it all week, so I had to give it a try.

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This morning, I got a major craving for one again, and I was *this close* to convincing myself that I needed to go out and get one. It IS Coffee Friday and all…

(For those of you reading who may be new to the bloggy, I used to declare Fridays “Coffee Friday” with a trip to Dunkin’ Donuts on my way to work as a treat for brewing my own coffee Monday-Thursday. I looked forward to it every week!)

But since we had just brewed up a brand new pitcher of iced coffee last night, I decided to save my $2.74 and make my own version.

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First, I added some chocolate syrup and caramel to the bottom of the glass- probably about a teaspoon of each (which is already cutting boatloads of sugar, had I gotten it from DD).

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Next, pour the iced coffee into the glass…

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Top it off with some skim milk…

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and you’ve got a homemade Caramel Mocha Iced Coffee.

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Which, I must say, pairs rather nicely with a whopping cereal combo bowl. Winking smile

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Today’s combo was a triple threat: Quaker Oatmeal Squares + Kashi Heart to Heart + Kashi Golden Goodness + blueberries.

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As usual with the Kashi Golden Goodness, I held off on adding my almond milk until after picture time was over. Soggy cereal = no good.

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This bowl was massive, awesome, and delicious.

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Happy Friday, friends!!

Question for the Morning:

Do you ever try to make homemade versions of your favorite restaurant/fast food items?

Comments

  2. I make my own mochas by adding chocolate syrup but never thought to use caramel sauce. Must try! I like to try to make healthier version of restaurant meals, but my favorite thing that I've made were the Cranberry Bliss Bars Starbucks has around the holidays. Not exactly healthy but sooo good!
    Reply

    • It may not be calorically healthier to make those bars at home, but i bet you make 'em without all the extra preservatives and stabilizers necessary for them to survive the trip to Starbucks from the factory!
      Reply

  3. Happy Friday! I used to be obsessed with Chili's volcano cake dessert, but I knew that it was so bad for me! So I made a healthier version of the molten lava cake at home, and it was just as good, if not better! I think ice cream makes anything better :)
    Reply

  4. Yes! I love Mexican...especially Chipotle or Qdoba, so I make my own burrito bowl! It's still delicious and filling, not to mention much less expensive and better in the nutritional stats department!
    Reply

  6. I have actually tried to recreate the shaken iced tea (in passion flavor) from Starbucks but they must do something magic because mine never tastes quite the same. I have a whole box of tea bags though so I'll keep trying until I get it right! Your coffee looks amazing by the way! :)
    Reply

  7. yummy looks like the perfect breakfast! I make my own DD at home, but it never tastes good. Perhaps if I add a lil' caramel and choco syrup like you, it will taste better :-) I love to make healthified versions of my fave restaurant foods. Most recently I made lettuce wraps from PF changs with precooked chicken, broccoli saw, a touch of plum sauce and soy sauce. They didn't taste like the real thing, but they sure tasted good!
    Reply

  8. I try to make homemade versions of my fave restaurant an coffee shop treats all the time. Sometimes they turn out great. Other times its awful haha.
    Reply

  10. That looks awesome! You are too good, using skim milk. I need half and half for my coffee! I know... I should part away from it, but it's just so good :P I love making over restaurant foods, especially things that are too cheesy, or fried. I either switch it up by using less cheese, or reduced fat, and for the fried foods, I just bake them! =] Happy Friday!!
    Reply

  11. I love trying to recreate meals and drinks from restaurants at home! It is fun :) I do the same with coffee drinks all the time. I also try and only go out for coffee once and week an brew my own at home or work the other days. I have caramel, cinnamon and vanilla coffee syrup from Starbucks at home so they always make for fun and yummy coffees!
    Reply

  12. I try to re-create recipes all the time! My favorite one (because it's so easy) is a recipe for the Cheddar Bay biscuits from Red Lobster. Those babies are gooood. I bet you save a ton of fat and calories making your own macchiato; great idea!
    Reply

  18. I try making a lot of restaurant foods at home, especially pastas and salads-they're easy to "dissect" so I can figure out what's in them! (plus you can save a ton of money that way of course!)
    Reply

  20. That coffee looks delicious! I always try to recreate this dish called "Indoroni" at my favorite restaurant back down south in Jupiter, Florida. It's macaroni and cheese, but kind of soupy and super spicy with carmelized red onions and fried garlic and chicken. The restaurant has a lot of southeast Asian influences so they always top it off with Sriacha chili sauce. IT IS TO DIE FOR! I live in Manhattan and honestly haven't found a dish THIS good here :)
    Reply

  21. I recreated this awesome breakfast at a local cafe here. It's called hasta la feasta (get it? hahaha). 2 tortillas filled with egg whites, then topped with cheese and put under the broiler, so it was melted and slightly browned. Then covered in fresh salsa, extra salsa on the side. SO AMAZING! sadly the cook who made them the first time, was never there again and each one after that paled in comparison. so i went to the grocery store, grabbed some low carb wraps, reduced fat cheddar, egg whites and fresh made salsa, and went to work. It was good, but I just can't get it as perfect as he did!
    Reply

  24. Coffee Friday sounds like a great idea, I would much rather splurge on a store bought coffee on a Friday than any other day, it just makes it really seem like the weekend with the splurge!
    Reply

  25. Oh man, I just have to ask since you talk about DD alot. I'm from Seattle and we are BIG on Starbucks - I actually used to work at the original SBUX. We used to have a few Dunkin Donuts around but they were all super gross, like 7-11 gross (do you have those?). All the DDs closed around here but I know they are big on the east coast. I just don't understand the appeal - based on the ones we had here. So, I guess my question is: are they nice there? are they a real coffee shop? I'm just curious if it's like a Starbucks or if its what we used to have here... Random I know, but I've been wondering
    Reply

    • I find them to be nice! At least the ones around me are..maybe someone else can add some input?? I'm also a huge fan of Starbucks, but I tend to crave their lattes more than their coffee.
      Reply

  26. I love to follow Hungry Girl and check out her "healthified" versions of some of my favorites. Healthy version of "fried rice" changed my life! Though I don't drink coffee, I like to make the peppermint hot chocolate from this coffee house I like with a Keurig hot chocolate pod and some flavored creamer (maybe not the healthiest, but definitely a lot cheaper!!)
    Reply

  27. Looks FAB! I love trying new things at home that are lower in calories, fat, sugar, and salt than what I would buy at the store or restaurant. Only bad thing is that I've ruined myself to all the things I used to love out and about..... margaritas, frozen blended drinks, ice cream, hamburgers, chicken, hummus, and countless others.
    Reply

  28. I'm obsessed with thai chicken bites (they make them at both Earls & Boston Pizza... <-- restaurants in canada)... anywho, we recreated them at home and they were ahmayzing! I think homemade things just taste better! Sometimes it takes a lot of effort, but 99% of the time it turns out great.
    Reply

  30. I make my own coffee drinks at home all the time, but I love the convenience of Starbucks (like one of your other commenters, I'm from Portland, Oregon, and we just don't have Dunkin Donuts here on the west coast -- Starbucks, Stumptown, and a billion mom and pop shops, but no Dunkin). But I love Starbucks because of their registered cards! Free alt milk and syrups!! YES! At home, I have a container of Ghirardelli's white chocolate powder, and I put that in a cup of coffee with a tidge of half and half and it's liquid heaven. When I was in high school, I worked at a coffee shop that used the Ghirardelli white chocolate powder for white chocolate mochas, and it's a billion times better than white chocolate syrup. I can't stop buying it now. AMAZING! I'm always jealous of your cereal bowls. All those fresh blueberries, OH MY GOSH!
    Reply

  32. I stopped eating out two years ago, when I was a sophmore if HIGH SCHOOL, because I thought I was spending waaay too much and not getting as healthy of options as I would if I just made the effort to make my own foods. The 'rents thought it was a bit extreme, but welcomed the thriftiness ;) So, yes. I've had many homemae versions of my old favorites.
    Reply

  34. Hi, Great idea! I don't normally drink coffee...but when I am near a dunkin donuts (50 min away, haha) I always get an iced coffee with caramel. How do you make the iced coffee?? I have a coffee maker but it has never been used. Do you just buy the DD coffee from the store? Thanks so much!
    Reply

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