Party with Some of the BEST K-Cup Flavors!

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

This past weekend we had a great time with our family and friends to celebrate the 4th of July. We celebrated at home with lots of food and treats as well as plenty of fireworks fun! We kept it low key by having a pot luck so everyone brought a few of their favorite dishes to serve and it was also my friends daughters birthday, so we had some ice cream birthday cake too! Whenever I’m having a party I’m usually preparing the night before and that morning and I’m typically a stress case. So we decided to ease some stress by going low key, not bothering too much with much decor because the little ones like to do fun and unmentionable things to my party supplies, and making it a potluck was a huge weight off my shoulders.

Cooking and baking with the BEST K-Cup Flavors

Since everyone else decided to bring some major main dishes, I thought it would be fun to make my contributions for the party include one of my favorite kitchen gadgets, my Keurig. I developed a few recipes using the Keurig Brew Over Ice line of products and of course served some of the drinks over ice as well. I made some fun pops, some cheesecake bites and a salad with a dressing made of one of the delicious drinks. I also made my usual pasta salad and Big G made his much requested hot dogs. We had so much food leftover, and what I love about potlucks is how much the following days closely resembled Thanksgiving leftovers. It’s a truly wonderful thing!

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 It is very important that, when brewing over ice, you must use a plastic cup or tumbler.
DO NOT use glass containers when brewing over ice!

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We had a fabulous time, the kids loved the lemonade, the adults loved the Sweet Iced Tea and Iced Coffee and everyone enjoyed the treats and food. I’d call it a definite success!

How was your holiday weekend?

(more party pictures at the end!)

Ingredients for Berry Lemonade Pops:

• 1 Green Mountain Naturals Lemonade K-Cup brewed at smallest setting over about 5 ice cubes. About 1/2 cup will be used.
• 3-4 sliced medium strawberries
• 3-4 sliced raspberries

Ingredients for Acai Pineapple Blueberry Pops:

• 1 Vitamin Burst Acai Berry K-Cup brewed at smallest setting over about 5 ice cubes. About 1/2 cup will be used.
• 1/4 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/4 cup pineapple chunks

Ingredients for Vanilla Coffee and Chocolate Swirl Pops:

• 1 Green Mountain Coffee French Vanilla Iced Coffee K-Cup brewed at smallest setting over about 5 ice cubes. About 3/4 cup will be used.
• 1/2 cup half & half
• 2 tablespoons chocolate syrup

Ingredients for Lemonade Cheesecake Bites:

• 1-1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 tablespoon white granulated sugar
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, melted
• 1 (8 ounce) block of cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
• 1 Green Mountain Naturals Lemonade K-Cup brewed at smallest setting over about 5 ice cubes. About 3/4 cup will be used.
• 1/2 tub whipped cream

Ingredients for Acai Berry Salad Dressing:

• 1 Vitamin Burst Acai Berry K-Cup brewed at smallest setting over about 5 ice cubes. About 1/4 cup will be used.
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

For the frozen pops, add fruit into popsicle molds, then brew over ice with the keuirg at the smallest setting to ensure a stronger taste for the drink.

It is very important that, when brewing over ice, you must use a plastic cup or tumbler.
DO NOT use glass containers when brewing over ice!

For the coffee pops, just alternate the coffee, cream, and chocolate. I didn’t mix them in any way, just poured each separately and I liked the little bits of swirled effects it caused.

Once the pops are made, stick them in the freezer until hard, usually a few hours. If you have some difficulty getting them out, run the base under warm water for 30 seconds at a time until they loosen up.

The cheesecake bites take a little more time. Begin by combining the first sugar measurement with graham cracker crumbs and melted butter. Use a dozen or so cupcake liners and fill up a cupcake/muffin tin with them. Press the combined graham cracker crumbs into the bottom of the muffin liners and even them out, bringing them to the edges.
Now, combine the second sugar measurement with the room temperature cream cheese and mix these two on medium/high speed until smooth. Add the lemonade about 1/4 cup at a time, then fold in the whipped cream.

Spoon the mixture over the crust in each muffin liner, spreading to smooth. Refrigerate until firm. Top with fruit or nuts, if you like.

For the salad dressing, mix all the ingredients into a blender or shaker cup. Blend until evenly mixed, then pour into a serving bowl. Serve with a hearty salad like the one shown here!

#BrewOverIce | #BrewItUp | #CollectiveBias

We had such a fun night! Every kid in attendance had a few others around the same age range so everyone had fun playing while all the adults enjoyed chatting, eating and a day of rest. When the night began everyone was eating and playing in the backyard, and as it got dark we got to enjoy the fireworks show from our local park that we could see from our front lawn. We also had fun sparklers and watched the show up and down our street. In our county you can legally purchase fireworks from the local stands and the proceeds benefit local schools, sports teams and various other groups. It’s our yearly tradition and we always love getting together! We were actually having such a great time that by the end of the night all of our neighbors came out and decided to hang out too! Here’s a few more fun photos I wanted to share.

While Shopping…

When I was shopping for the party supplies, I headed over to my local WalMart for groceries, food and drinks. While I was there, I saw the big end cap display over near the dairy products and that’s where I got inspired to try the various Keurig Brew Over Ice drinks to serve and use in recipes. Just look at it, there’s so much to choose from, how could you not be inspired? Of course, you can also find the Keurig line of products over in the coffee aisle too.

Did you also know that Keurig has it’s own recycling program for use with the K-Cups? The Grounds to Grow program offers a way for K-Cup users to return used cups for processing that separates grounds for compost and plastics for re-use. You can learn more about this awesome program here. Since I am an avid coffee and tea drinker, this program is right up my alley. I love that I’ve found a way to recycle those K-Cups and it makes me feel less wasteful when I’m purchasing them to create some of my favorite drinks!

What are your favorite drinks to Brew Over Ice?