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Contea from John Conti: Kentucky Proud and Delicious

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Contea Iced Tea from John Conti

Contea Tea Bags, from John Conti

One of my favorite places in Owensboro is Nona’s Downtown Market. The beautiful market is filled with delicious Kentucky food and gifts – “local pride” fills the air and it’s a beautiful thing. It seems that each time I go, I see something new. Seriously, I’m half certain little Kentucky elves restock the shelves each night.

I recently bought a big box of John Conti Tea, cleverly called Contea. Iced tea is an obsession with me, so the big beautiful box more or less just flew off the shelf at me. It had “me” written all over it..

  • tea
  • Kentucky Proud (based in Louisville)
  • the box is purple – my favorite color!

I’ve loved John Conti coffee for as long as I can remember and, each time I have coffee at a Kentucky State Resort Park, I thank God for the fact that they’re smart enough to serve John Conti coffee.

I honestly had no idea they made tea, but as soon as I saw the word “Contea,” I knew I was looking at John Conti tea and automatically knew it’d be special.

The box I bought was the sort of box you’d expect a Crazy Tea Chick to buy – big… gloriously big. This box had 24 Family Size Tea Bags (translated: HUGE) and it honestly seemed to last forever… even for me.

Contea Iced Tea Bags

Contea – Delicious Iced and Hot

While the box says “Premium Fresh Brew Iced Tea,” it does, of course, make excellent hot tea too. The iced tea is refreshingly delicious and the hot tea is some of the best hot tea I’ve ever enjoyed – and, come on now, anyone with a tea blog called “Crazy Tea Chick” knows her tea!

As with a lot of Made in Kentucky foods, I buy them the FIRST time because, like me, they’re Kentuckian and proud of it.  I buy them the SECOND time because they are outstanding. Many times, I’ll run into a particular Kentucky Made product that becomes my “go to”  brand – such as Trifecta Barbecue Sauce. I buy it each time I need barbecue sauce because, quite frankly, it tastes the best!

While (unfortunately) Contea isn’t in grocery stores, I will go out of my way to find it. It’s just that good.

Besides, I’m not gonna lie, I’m pretty wild about the purple box.

You can find where to buy John Conti Coffee and Contea on John Conti’s website.

John Conti Contea Tea

Leafsnap App: Fellow Tree Lovers, You’ll Have Fun With This One

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Autumn Trees

One of my Favorite Places on Earth: Under a Tree

If you know anything about me, you know I love trees as much as some people love their family. They’re majestic, beautiful, awe-inspiring, life-giving, and a million other “gushy” adjectives.

Trees, not other people’s families.

As for a favorite tree, it’s whichever one is in front of me at the moment. When looking through the pictures I’ve taken with my camera or phone there are always scads of trees among my family, food, cats, and coffee. I simply love being in the company of trees.

When out with my husband, I’ll often see a tree I just HAVE to take a picture of. He’s gotten to where he’ll see an especially cool tree and just say, “I know,” as he looks for a place to pull over.

If trees do it for you as well OR you’d simply like to learn more about identifying trees – for yourself or with kids – I’d love to tell you about an app I’m having fun with: The Leafsnap app.

I came across the Leafsnap app a few weeks ago when I was searching for tree-related apps. I downloaded it (it’s free) and since I’ve enjoyed it, I thought I’d tell you about it.

You take a picture of a leaf, then the app will give you choices of “likely” matches.  You can take pictures of leaves, then pull the pictures (one at a time) from your photo album within the app or you can open the app and snap a picture directly.

You have to place the leaf (single leaves only) against a solid white background. I’ve used printer paper as a backdrop as well as the hood of a white van. Both worked great.

If you were at, say, a public park and didn’t have a white car or piece of printer paper handy, you could always try a bathroom sink.

The background has to be solid white. If there’s anything beside the white or even shadows falling over the white, the app will tell you to get your act together – okay, it doesn’t actually say that, but how cool would that be?

It simply says that it appears your background isn’t white.  No big deal, really, simply place your leaf against a solid white background.

For my tests, I picked leaves off of the ground and off of trees as well (they were trees in my own yard, so they didn’t object). I’d say about 8 times out of 10 the app showed the accurate tree in the choices. It did insist that a Sycamore leaf was a Maple leaf, but in all fairness, I can see how it’d detect similar shapes.

{Continued Beneath the Tree…}

Tree in the Elk and Bison Prairie

A Favorite Tree in the Elk & Bison Prairie (Land Between the Lakes)

If you’re using the app with kids (and I’m ALL for teaching young people about nature), they’ll look at it as a really fun adventure. Their “game” of collecting leaves and doing a little detective work will also be a learning experience.

When we teach kids about nature, it not only provides them with knowledge they’ll use in school as well as life, it teaches them to respect the environment. Especially if moms, dads, grandparents, aunts and uncles point out to them how beautiful trees are and how necessary they are for the animals that depend upon them.

When you click on each individual suggestion the app makes, Leafsnap shows what a leaf from this particular tree looks like from front and back. It also shows pictures of the seed, flower, bark, and petiole (the stalk that attaches the leaf to the stem).  With this information, you can determine if you have the right tree or an impostor.

When you find yourself comparing tree leaves, flowers, barks, and other “clues,” you rack up a great amount of knowledge about each tree.

You can also simply use the app for browsing and comparing leaves. Granted, I’m a tree nerd, but I’ve had fun comparing the different varieties of Maple trees and even found a variety I didn’t even know existed.

Visit the Leafsnap website for more information or search for “Leafsnap” in iTunes.  You don’t have to be a tree nerd to have fun with this app.

Leaf Against a White Background

Coffee at The Hitching Post and Old Country Store

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The Hitching Post and Old Country Store Coffee
 

I’ve already told you one-million-and-sixteen times how much I love The Hitching Post & Old Country Store in Aurora, so I’ll skip the preliminary gushing and get right to the heart of the matter…. COFFEE.

The wonderful Old Country Store (next to Kentucky’s famous Hitching Post) is filled with pure gold for those of us who love antiques and vintage collectibles. For those of us who also happen to love delicious Kentucky food and coffee, well we just want to move right in.

When I walked into the store last weekend, I was hit… make that HIT… with the unmistakable aroma of coffee. I looked immediately to my left and, sure enough, there was a huge coffee display. I thought for sure I was going to pass out. I’m not sure the ladies working behind the counter knew what to make of me. Fortunately for me the sweetheart owner happened along and assured them I was harmless.

She even gave me some coffee to try – if I didn’t already adore her, I certainly would now!

{Review continued below…}

B-52 Coffee from The Hitching Post and Old Country Store
 

I tried the B-52 Coffee and it is exceptional. This particular coffee has a delicious blend of amaretto, Irish cream and Kahlua flavors. The aroma of this coffee sweeps you up even before you take a sip. It’s outstanding.

In our family, we enjoy making our own coffee and coffee-related drinks at home. It’s cheaper and, if you go about it with a little common sense, you won’t get hundreds of unnecessary calories in the process. The beauty of flavored coffee, like B-52, is that you get a knock-out flavor without having to add any sugar or artificial sweeteners.

I usually just drink the B-52 black – no cream and no sugar, but yesterday I added some whipped skim milk and voila! – I had a coffee house worthy latte…. just A LOT cheaper and with A LOT less calories.

It was also more delicious, but we won’t tell any of the coffee houses that. They’re sensitive after all.

{Review continued beneath Alexa…}

Coffee and Alexa
 

I would ask if you notice one of our cats, Alexa, behind my cup of B-52 coffee latte in the photo above, but how could you miss her?! I sat my cup down on the table she was sprawled out on so I could take a picture of it. I figured she’d make a nice background, and an appropriate one given the coffee mug.

What I didn’t anticipate was that she made a move for my coffee. Apparently she has a thing for Irish Cream. Who knew?

On this particular visit to The Hitching Post & Old Country Store, I also bought quite a bit of the homemade fudge.  I bought some Chocolate with Walnuts, Tiger Butter, and Peanut Butter fudge. They were all more delicious than they have a right to be – just like they are every time.

You see, I’m an expert. I buy some each and every trip.

I sampled something on this trip in the Old Country Store that I’m still kicking myself for not buying. It’s just not like me not to buy something right on the spot – but to my defense, I was pretty preoccupied with the coffee. Suffice to say I’ll buy it on the next visit. It was Southern Sweet Tea Jelly and it was ridiculously delicious. It was sweet and had that unmistakable tea flavor that we Southerners live for.

Oh man, I can practically taste it now… still kicking myself.

I hope you’ll make a special trip to The Hitching Post & Old Country Store SOON. I’m working on another article about the Country Store and will probably have it published by tomorrow.

For now, I think I’ll have another B-52 Coffee Latte. Shhhh, don’t tell Alexa.

B-52 Coffee from The Hitching Post and Old Country Store

You won’t believe how amazing this coffee smells!

More Hitching Post & Old Country Store on Genuine Kentucky:

Kentucky’s Own Trifecta Barbecue Sauce

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Trifecta Sweet Heat Barbecue Sauce

Trifecta’s Sweet Heat Barbecue Sauce – Perfection

You know what a huge fan I am of Kentucky food and all made in Kentucky products. I’ve preached so much about supporting our friends and neighbors that I’m sure I don’t have to step anywhere near my soapbox today.

Because of this overwhelming passion for all things made, baked, cooked, designed, built, and/or crafted in Kentucky, it’s like the highest of all natural highs when I come across something with Kentucky on the label that’s extraordinary.

Fortunately, it happens more than I can even begin to count.

The most recent Kentucky Food to blow my socks off is one of the Trifecta Gourmet Sauces: Sweet Heat Barbecue Sauce. This may just be the best Barbecue Sauce I’ve ever tasted.

{Review continued beneath the picture…}

Trifecta Sweet Heat Barbecue Sauce 2h

Trifecta Sweet Heat Barbecue Sauce

We eat an uncommon amount of barbecue and have gone through enough barbecue sauce bottles to fill a small lake. We live in Owensboro, after all, how could we NOT be obsessed with barbecue?!

Barbecue chicken, brisket, and pork are our favorites but we’ve also recently fallen deeply in love with barbecued ham.  I also use barbecue sauce in my homemade baked beans.

So, as you’d imagine, we are beyond particular when it comes to barbecue sauces. After all, think about it – that’ where most barbecued meat truly gets its flavor from.

Before I found Trifecta, I went back and forth between a few of the major brands. After having to give up gluten/wheat, I had to check each label carefully and weed out any sauces that didn’t say Gluten Free on the label.  That left me with about 3 really, really good sauces.

One day in Kroger, as I was reaching for one of my favorites, a bottled sauce with the words “Gluten Free” on the front caught my eye. I thought, “Whoa… someone’s not making people search all over the label for it, they’re letting them know, literally, up front.”

So, I picked up the bottle to take a closer look.  That’s when I saw the second set of magic words, “Kentucky Perfection.”

INdeed and INto the cart!

Michael was grilling chicken that night, so I knew I wouldn’t have to wait long to try it out.

You know how it is with most barbecue sauces and other condiments – after a while they kind of taste more similar than they do special.  That’s why when you get one that stands out, your taste buds are “taken aback” and do all but squeal out with happiness.

That so happened at the dinner table that night. Trifecta’s Sweet Heat Barbecue Sauce is “say it out loud” delicious.  It’s not one of those things that you taste and think, “Man, this is good.” It’s one of those things that you taste and scream, “Holy cats, this is delicious!” to everyone in the room.

{Review continued beneath the picture…}

Trifecta Sweet Heat Barbecue Sauce Closeup 2

 Trifecta Passes the “Spoon Test!”

When it comes to barbecue sauces, I’m probably about as picky with them as I am my ketchup (Heinz or Hunt’s) and mustard (French’s). I want my barbecue sauce to be a little sweet and it must not, not, not be too thin. I hate the dubious dark liquids that call themselves Barbecue Sauces without earning the title.

Look at the picture above, see how Trifecta’s Sweet Heat Barbecue Sauce clings to the back of my spoon? That’s where the magic is, you know. That’s solid proof that there are ingredients and not dubious dark liquids in play.

Ingredients!

The sauce is as delicious as it is beautiful and I’m over the moon hooked on it. The sweetness is there, in the perfect amount. As for the heat, I was relieved to discover that it isn’t at all overwhelming.  A lot of sauces get carried away with the heat aspect of the deal and seem to think that burn tastes good.

Burn doesn’t taste good. Burn tastes like pain.  Trifecta’s Sweet Heat Barbecue Sauce is the absolute perfect balance of sweetness and heat.  No pain, just perfection. Absolute perfection.

Seriously, it has ruined all other barbecue sauces for me.

Not only is my new favorite barbecue sauce the perfect companion for chicken and pork, it’s delicious in baked beans.

Heck it’s even Heavenly for dipping gluten free cornbread into – or any cornbread for that matter.

Trifecta Gourmet Sauces are made in Louisville Kentucky. They were an American Made 2014 Martha Stewart Finalist which, as far as I’m concerned is highfalutin!

From Trifecta:

Trifecta Gourmet Sauces are Kentucky Proud, made only from the finest ingredients from Kentucky Farms. Buying Kentucky Proud products ensures that you’re eating fresh and nutritious foods while supporting Kentucky’s farm families. Kentucky Proud is an investment in Kentucky’s land, people and its future.

The sauces blend a winning combination of sweet, spicy and tangy flavors. The recipe starts with vine-ripened tomatoes and fresh jalapeno peppers. All natural and gluten free, you won’t find preservatives, artificial colors, synthetic flavors, cornstarch, or high-fructose corn syrup on the list of ingredients.

I noticed on their website that Trifecta has a few sauces I haven’t tried yet… YET. I will give them a try as soon as I get my (oven)mitts on them and will let you know how they are in a future review. In the meantime, head over to Trifecta Gourmet Sauces and read more about the company. Then, make no mistake about it, you’ll want to find a bottle of Trifecta Sweet Heat Barbecue Sauce and see for yourself what barbecue sauce is supposed to taste like.

EDIT: I tried it last night in my favorite Honey Mustard Dip. See the recipe for my Tangy Honey Mustard Dip on my food blog… just replace my “old favorite” sauce with my new favorite sauce and leave out the lemon juice.

Trifecta’s doesn’t need it, thank you very much.

You can actually find Trifecta’s Sweet Heat BBQ Sauce on Amazon – stock up, you’re going to love it!

Also See: Trifecta Barbecue Sauce and Pulled Pork Tacos

Unique Deliciousness from The Hitching Post at Kentucky Lake

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Taste Elevated Sweet and Tangy Mustard Seeds

Taste Elevated Sweet and Tangy Mustard Seeds

First of all, while this raving review is posted under the category Kentucky Food, this particular deliciousness was not, in any way, made in Kentucky.  It is, however, so mind-boggling good that we’re going to forgive it. In fact, we’ll pardon it completely.

Since it can be bought in Kentucky (at The Hitching Post in Aurora, to be exact) and since it is food…. it’ll remain in the Kentucky Food category.

Besides, I don’t have a Texas Food category.

While we were browsing around The Hitching Post, the owner (one of the friendliest people you’ll ever want to meet) told us about Taste Elevated Sweet & Tangy Mustard Seeds and asked if we’d like to try it out. Michael is a huge mustard fanatic, so she had him at “mustard.” We jumped at the chance to sample something that sounded very promising.

Oh. My. Word. Holy cats was it delicious. So delicious, in fact that we bought a jar right then and there and somehow managed to stay out of it until we got it home.

It is absolutely wonderful and unique in every way. It could be, quite honestly, eaten right out of the jar. I may or may not have done this on several occasions.  It’s also incredibly good on rice crackers and cornbread.

We’ve also taken it for a test drive on corn dogs, hot dogs, hamburgers, and ham sandwiches. I’ve hidden some in the refrigerator ( shhhh, don’t tell you-know-who) to try in deviled eggs tomorrow.  Hmmmm, it’d also be great in or on egg salad sandwiches.  Or potato salad…

Seriously, there aren’t many places this wouldn’t be outrageously good.

You’ll want to grab some Taste Elevated Sweet and Tangy Mustard Seeds for grilling season, trust me.  Just motor to The Hitching Post in Aurora, Kentucky and tell them you’re looking to kick up your hot dogs and hamburgers to notches unknown with Sweet & Tangy Mustard Seeds!

Taste Elevated Sweet and Tangy Mustard Seeds
Taste Elevated Sweet and Tangy Mustard Seeds on a Very Grateful Hot Dog

More of The Hitching Post on Genuine Kentucky:

"When reading about a Kentucky event, please be sure you check the date. Old events are not always deleted from the website. If you have an event you'd like to see on Genuine Kentucky or a 'Made in Kentucky' food or product you'd like reviewed, please contact us! " ~ Joi ("Joy")

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