CAN'T BUY ME LOVE...

...or a cup of COFFEE at these prices.
Are ya kiddin' me? $9.89 for a large container of Folgers at the Super-Stoopid Market? Sorry but ya lost me Wal-Mart, and Krogers should give me a discount just for walking in their store.  Tom Thumb needs to get their thumb outta their backside and the Dollar Stores can't afford the small let alone large containers. Come on fellas, it already costs me half a tank of gas to get to your sliding doors! Give a Sista and my fellow coffee addicts a break why don't cha. 

The aroma (best part of waking up...),the anticipation of slowly engulfing the deep brown cup of steaming, morning stimuli. Thoroughly knowing you are ADDICTED. Hook - line and sinker. Every addiction has a price.   Raise the price thirty cents here, ten cents there.  Still within reach. Two years ago $4.50 was reasonable. This past January $6.89 made me rework the budget. But on Thursday the cost was $9.89 -  it's getting harder to part with a ten spot. Who would have thought coffee would be competing with Silver Salmon sauteed in truffle oil? 


But I'm not going through lacavation, losing my mind if I don't have my Folgers, five scoops per pot - yep, that's the only thing I like dark. And I take my beloved with me on vacations. I dare not suffer caffeine headache withdrawals at coastal latitudes. I can be a biotch all by my lonesome but become Super Biotch ten fold for hours without the black gold coursing through my veins.


I-Hop and Cafe Brazil are the only other places I drink coffee but it's always three or four cups to get that ethereal feeling. I find myself driving by coffee shops just to get a whiff of that black gold.  I had to force myself not to go in Escape (an Allen Coffee House) the other day for a Java Chip Frap. Missed my morning cup cuz I didn't release my bed sheets til early afternoon. Circled the block and gave in to my addiction...cost -  $4.14.  Isn't that a Happy Meal, a few chicken wings, a gallon of gas or a cheap pack of smokes? Do I really need caffeine that bad?  Yeah.


 What cha gonna do to make the most out of the expensive granules?  Start using coffee in your cooking - at least you feel like your hard earned dollars are going further by giving you a healthy jolt at suppertime. 


Coffee-Infused Southern Style Pulled Pork (1 cup brewed)
Kept wanting a cigarette with each bite.

• 2 teaspoons Crisco^® Pure Vegetable Oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped green pepper
• 1 cup brewed Folgers^® Classic Roast Coffee
• 1 (18 oz.) bottle prepared hickory smoked barbecue sauce, divided
• 4 to 5 pounds pork butt roast
• 
  

1. oven method
2. HEAT oven to 350° F. Heat oil in Dutch oven, sautéing onion and green pepper until softened. Combine vegetables, coffee and 1/2 a bottle of barbecue sauce in a medium mixing bowl.
3. RINSE and pat dry the roast. Brown meat on all sides in drippings remaining in Dutch oven. Pour barbecue mixture over meat in pan. Cover; roast 30 minutes per pound or until meat is tender enough to shred with a fork, about 2 to 3 hours.
4. REMOVE pork from pan. Strain out vegetables from pan juices; discard. Skim fat from pan juices. if desired. Combine 1 cup of meat juices to remaining barbecue sauce; discard remaining juices. Shred pork with two forks. Combine pork with remaining barbecue sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. SLOW COOKER METHOD
6. COAT inside of slow cooker with no-stick cooking spray. Sauté vegetables, mix barbecue sauce mixture and brown r. Place browned roast into prepared slow cooker. Cover with barbecue mixture. Cook on HIGH 5 to 6 hours or 8 hours on LOW, until meat is fork tender.
7. REMOVE pork from cooker. Strain out vegetables from pan juices; discard. Skim fat from pan juices. if desired. Combine 1 cup of meat juices to remaining barbecue sauce; discard remaining juices. Shred pork with two forks. Combine pork with remaining barbecue sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Swedish Meatballs with Egg Noodles (1/2 cup of brewed coffee mixed with other stuff). Now why would you mess up an already decent meal. Tasted like a hot mess, which it was. Tossed the recipe.


Coffee Pork Chops - just drink the wine, save the coffee as an espresso after dinner drink.

    6 pork chops 
    3 spoonfuls of olive oil 
    2 mashed cloves of garlic 
    2 spoonfuls of minced parsley 
    150 ml of red wine 
    150 ml of strong black coffee 
    3 spoonfuls of honey 
    salt and black pepper, freshly-ground 
    juice and grated pulp of a lemon or lime

Put the chops inside a large, but low stew pan. Mix the remaining ingredients and drop them all on to the chops. Let it marinate for one night, stirring every now and then. Remove the chops from the stew pan, put them under the grill and turn them over until uniformly browned. Put them again into the stew pan, and bake in the oven (180C) for 30 minutes. Remove the chops, and skim the fat off the gravy. Serve with rice. Serves 6 people.
 

Banana Sour Cream Coffee Cake - now that's just wrong. And time consuming - smelled good but couldn't gt over sour cream in my coffee.

With the high cost of my coffee and the hit and miss recipes, I'm sticking to straight coffee.  If the price of coffee hits $11.00 for the big can, I'm gonna move to Mexico and learn to love instant Nescafe. At least it will come with a view.