Drinks

Thirsty Thursday: Apple Cider Floats

September 26, 2013

Well, well, well, this post wraps up a YEAR of Amanda and I doing Thirsty Thursday posts. We wanted to take things full circle and end the year that started it all… apple.

I can’t believe it’s actually fall now. I’m so not ready for it this year, mainly because the faster time flies the faster this baby is here. We’re at the 2 months to go mark. 2 months! So while that is a teensy bit exciting/stressful I’m just going along with it every day. Every day the mornings are getting a bit cooler and crispier. Every day I long to go apple picking and to ultimately make tons of apple based recipes. Every day I long to get my hands on a bag of those delightful cinnamon and sugar coated apple cider donuts. No really, a bag. And I’m not sharing. Nope.

I swear you won’t want to share this Apple Cider Float either. It’s such a great way to enjoy fresh cider. Hello, ice cream on top!! It’s super simple with just a few ingredients so it takes, oh, .7 seconds to whip up and then you’re on your way to fall bliss.

Amanda has made a Caramel Apple Cider, which I’m dying to try. Caramel Apples are just the best (sorry candied apples- meh!) so I would just L-O-V-E this. Ooo maybe get some hot fresh apple cider donuts from the farmer’s market too and… I have a problem.

Thank you for following along with the the past year’s Thirsty Thursday posts! Hope you enjoyed them like we did! xox

Apple Cider Floats

Makes 2

Ingredients

2 cups of apple cider
2 scoops of vanilla ice cream
whipped cream
cinnamon and nutmeg

Process

For each float, pour the cider into a glass, preferably a milkshake glass.
Add the scoop of ice cream on top of the cider.
Top with the whipped cream and sprinkle on a the cinnamon and nutmeg.

Thirsty Thursday: Over The Rainbow Drinks

September 19, 2013

Thirsty Thursday – Over the rainbow drinks are so colorful, the taste goes straight to your eyes first and cool in your belly next

I remember watching the Wizard of Oz growing up as a kid and loving it. How can you not? Umm there is a glittery witch!! Plus, I loved Toto and the Cowardly Lion. On the other hand my mom did not share my Wizard of Oz love since the flying monkeys would scare the bejesus out of her as a kid.

Well, tomorrow The Wizard of Oz is being re-released to IMAX screens for 1 WEEK! What’s so special? Well it’s been restored, remastered, and made 3D. Sounds awesome and a great way to enjoy this classic. Hoping to be able to go next week after we are back from vacation!

“Somewhere Over The Rainbow” is such a beautiful song from the movie so I made these Over The Rainbow Drinks for this week’s edition of Thirsty Thursday. They are so fun and so simple to create. Just take some colorful ice cubes and a lightly colored soda like Sprite or a flavored Seltzer and you’ll have your own rainbow in hand.

To make the ice cubes come out really colorful I suggest making the water really saturated with color, as well as using the ice cubes right away once they are frozen. I noticed that the left over ice cubes mellowed out in color so I suggest making them soon prior to enjoying your drink and celebrating your love of the Wizard of Oz. Amanda has made a drink perfect for all your Dorothy fans… A Sparkling Apple Cider Sangria that has a ruby red spinkle rim. Perfection. Instead of clicking the slippers together just slink a glass with a friend!

Over The Rainbow Drinks

Makes 2 drinks, but qty can easily be increased

Ingredients

Food Coloring
Water
Sprite

Process

To create the colored water, lay out 6 cups with 1/2 cup of water in each one. Add drops of food coloring to create the following colors: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple. Make sure the water is very bright for each color, esp the Orange and Yellow.
Evenly divide the water among the sections in ice cube trays and let freeze. (I used a baster instead of pouring since my hands are not too steady and I didn’t want to spill!)
Start to assemble you drink by placing the colored ice cubes into a tall glass. Use 2 ice cubes each in this order: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and lastly Purple in your glass. Pour in Sprite and enjoy!

Thirsty Thursday: German’s Chocolate Cake Milkshake

September 12, 2013

Next week we are off to the Florida Keys on our little ‘babymoon’. As well, we will be gone for Price’s birthday. Last year we were in Chicago for his birthday and this year we’ll be bumming it by the pool in the South Florida sun. I think he lucks out for his birthday while I freeze my but off for mine in January.

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Thirsty Thursday: Caramel Apple Pie a la Mode Shot

September 5, 2013

I have a love hate relationship with 3 day weekends & 4 day weeks. It’s great to have the extra day for the weekend but what it really means is that I still have 5 days of work to do in 4 days. See my issue here?

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Thirsty Thursday: S’mores Frappe

August 22, 2013

This time last year Amanda and I were deep into our S’mores Week. We love S’mores so much that we devoted a whole week to S’mores recipes. It was so much fun that we wanted to reflect on that with this week’s edition of Thirsty Thursday post.

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Thirsty Thursday: Spicy Gin Cucumber Lemonade

August 15, 2013

After I made my kicked up Grilled Peach and Jalapeno Margarita as my grilled drink recipe a few weeks ago, Amanda requested that we do a theme for Spicy Drinks for this week’s Thirsty Thursday post. Isn’t it just fun to get the unexpected when you take a sip of a chilly drink and you get a spicy bite back at ya?!?!

I found this amazing sounding Spicy Gin Cucumber Lemonade and I knew I had to make it. However it was a risky since gin makes Price angry. Umm, what?!?! Exactly! For years I had been hearing how gin makes Price angry, but never witnessed it since gin = angry Price. I was doubting this argument since it sounded silly to me but then one day we saw this episode of How I Met Your Mother where they broke down everyone’s reaction to different types of alcohol. Well, low and behold, gin makes Marshall angry. ha!

The risk paid off since Price really enjoyed this (and didn’t get angry since there wasn’t too much gin in there compared to the rest of the lemonade this was a great refreshing cocktail that had a subtle kick to it and since it was a The lemonade provided a bit of tartness and the cayenne added the kick while the cucumber cooled it all off. I used a local gin made in Maine but I would also suggest a gin that has cucumber flavors in it, such as Hendrick’s, or one that has plenty of botanical, such as Oxley.

Amanda is a queen of margaritas so she made this Spicy Cilantro Margarita. I’ve never heard of cilantro in a drink before so I’m really interested.

Spicy Gin Cucumber Lemonade

Makes 2 drinks

Ingredients

4 ounces of gin
16 ounces of Lemonade
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 lemon, thinly sliced
8 thin slices of english cucumbers
ice

Process

Fill a highball glass or another style 12 ounce tall glass halfway with ice cubes.
Add the gin, lemonade, cayenne, 4 slices of the thinly sliced cucumber, and some lemon wedges. Stir well and serve immediately. Repeat for other serving.

Slightly adapted from Heather Cristo

Thirsty Thursday: Watermelon Agua Fresca

August 8, 2013

Watermelon Agua Fresca

Ahh summer…

What is your favorite drink to enjoy during the summer? Is it a beer? A glass of sangria? A glass of icy cold lemonade? Well, I love it all. I had such a hard time picking a drink to share for this week’s “Summer Time Favorites” themed Thirsty Thursday post. I wanted to share something that I find really refreshing and is simple to prepare because you don’t want to be stuck inside making a drink, you want to be outside enjoying it!

Watermelon Agua Fresca is a perfect summer time drink. I can’t get enough of it at this point. I’m really missing beer, chilled white wines, and sangria now but this Watermelon Agua Fresca is really hitting the spot right now.

I keep buying watermelons like they are going out of style. I don’t think I’ve ever eating so much watermelon in my life this summer. And now I’m drinking it. It’s just hard to resist it since it is at its peak freshness for such a short period of time.

Oh, and on the plus side I don’t have a watermelon sized bump… yet.

Watermelon Agua Fresca_00

And Amanda has shared a Sonic favorite because you just can’t resist Happy Hour in the summer. But if you miss Happy Hour don’t fret since you can now make your own Ocean Water at home. Soooo good!!!

Watermelon Agua Fresca

Serves: 4

Ingredients

5 cups fresh, seedless watermelon, cut into cubes
1/2 cup water
2 T. sugar or agave, or to taste (optional)
Juice of 2 fresh limes or to taste
Lime slices, for garnish
Optional add-ons: fresh mint or basil, sparkling water, champagne, or vodka

Instructions

Puree together the watermelon, water, sugar, and lime juice in a blender.
Pour into glasses and garnish with lime slices.

Sourced from Playing with my Food

Thirsty Thursday: Bloody Maria

August 1, 2013

This week’s Thirsty Thursday theme is TEQUILA!!!! Clearly, Amanda picked it 🙂 Well, I don’t mind at all, well Price doesn’t mind since he gets to enjoy whatever I mix up. And after thinking of several drinks I ‘settled’ on a Bloody Maria since one of our favorite drinks is a Bloody Mary.

About 5 years ago, Price spent a semester living in a trailer on a Salvation Army camp in Biloxi, MS a year after Hurricane Katrina helping design and rebuild homes. Since I was still up in Boston in school and he was in Biloxi we decided to meet up in New Orleans the one chance we had to see each other for his birthday in September. Well, it was such a great weekend together drinking Hurricanes on Bourbon Street, eating beignets, and enjoying the best Bloody Mary’s ever. EVER.

Price took the bus to NOLA a few more times for some weekends away from that lovely trailer next to the railroad tracks… seriously. Well, during his visits to New Orleans he would basically set up shop at The Old Absinthe House and drinks Bloody Mary’s from Dawn the bartender. Hands down the best Bloody Mary’s we have ever had so we constantly try to recreate them from the recipe that he got out of her.

In this case I made some adaptations from our favorite recipe to best go with a kick that comes from tequila. A spicy tomato juice base, some bite from the Dijon, and a spicy rim all do wonders for this Bloody Maria!

Amanda recently really hurt her finger so she soothed the pain with a few of these Guanabana Margaritas. I think it was a smart move… hold an icy glass filled up with a fruity margarita. Good strategy. Plus Guanabana sounds so interesting and yummy. Gotta try it!

Bloody Maria

Makes 2

Ingredients

4 ounces of tequila
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon dill pickle juice
3 dashes of Worcestershire Sauce
juice of half a lemon
16 ounces of spicy tomato juice
1 cup of crushed ice, divided

Rim Seasoning

Equal parts of black pepper, garlic salt, celery salt, chili powder.

Garnishes

2 celery spears
2 dill pickle spears
2 lemon wedges

Process

Mix together all of the ingredients for the rim seasoning in a bowl, set aside.
Combine the tequila, mustard, pickle juice, Worcestershire Sauce, and lemon juice, mix well.
Take the lemon wedge and run it around the rim of the glass. Flip the glass over dipping it into rim seasoning.
Pour in half of the ice, tomato juice, and tequila mixture into the rimmed glass. Stir to mix. Garnish with the celery, pickle, and lemon wedge.

Thirsty Thursday: Grilled Peach and Jalapeno Margarita

July 25, 2013

We have never gone through so much propane for our grill in such a short time as we have done this year. Just burnin’ through it. But I can’t complain since it just means we have been enjoying the most amazing grilled things. Plus, it’s nice to get out of the kitchen and enjoy the nice weather while we wait.

Since I pretty much always have grilling on my mind during the summer, we decided to go with a grilled recipe for this week’s Thirsty Thursday recipe. It would be so much fun to incorporate something grilled into a drink. Grilled fruit or herbs would be a fun way to add a lot of flavor to a drink. Love to elevate flavors in a unique way.

I had a big bowl of peaches so I decided to grill them up to bring out their natural sweetness into a drink. But then what? I was thinking of a drink with bourbon but decided on using tequila. Hmmm… a grilled peach margarita sounded great but what else? Well, I realized I had some jalapenos so I decided the margarita could use some heat and decided to that them as well. In the end the Grilled Peach and Jalapeno Margarita was the perfect combination of sweet and spicy. Loved it!!

Have you ever had a Smoky Margarita before? Well, I think you need have one. Amanda has made would that has my mouth watering. So get your grill going and enjoy. Yum!!!

Grilled Peach and Jalapeno Margarita

Makes 2 large margaritas

Ingredients

2 large peaches, quartered
1 jalapeno
3 cups of ice
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup tequila

Process

Place the peaches and jalapeno on a medium-high grill. Try not to move the peaches much to get nice grill marks on their surfaces. Rotate the jalapeno to darken and blister all the sides.
Remove the peaches and jalapeno from the grill and let cool 15 minutes. Peel some of the blistered skin from the jalapeno, then slice in half length-wise and remove the seeds inside.
Combine the ice, peaches, half of the jalapeno, ice, lime juice, and tequila to a blender. Blend for a minute, or until all ice is slushy and the ingredients are combined. Try the margarita for it’s level of spiciness and add more jalapeno if you prefer.

Thirsty Thursday: Banana Daiquiri

July 18, 2013

I wouldn’t be honest with you or myself if I didn’t say that making all these Thirsty Thursday posts was a tad bit difficult since I’m now not drinking. At least Price is enjoying them. He has become the designated taste tester when it comes to boozy drinks.

Banana Daiquiri_02

But with this Banana Daiquiri I had a really easy time making it virgin without really effecting the end result… just don’t add the rum in. Duh! So I was really excited for this recipe for this week’s Thirsty Thursday post. Amanda picked this week’s Daiquiri theme since tomorrow is National Daiquiri theme. Perfect.

This Banana Daiquiri is so simple and so good. Pefect for the heat wave that has been beating the crap out of the northeast this week. It is such an easy recipe to halve or multiply easily. You basically make 2 drinks every time since you are limited wha tyou can fit into the blender, that 3 cups of ice will do that! But it’s worth it since this icy bevie is so refreshing. 🙂

Banana Daiquiri_00

Amanda made a super refreshing Watermelon Daiquiri. I have a watermelon just waiting for me to cut into it. I think it wants to be turned into this daiquiri. If watermelons had feelings and thoughts I’m sure it would tell me to do just that…

Banana Daiquiri

Makes 4 drinks

Ingredients

2 large bananas, divided
1 cup coconut milk, divided
1 lime, juiced, divided
1/2 cup sugar, divided
6 cups ice, divided
4 ounces white rum, optional, divided

Process

Into a blender add half of each ingredient.
Blend until smooth, about 1 minute.
Pour into 2 tall glasses, and repeat for 2 more drinks.

Sourced from Sandra Lee via Food Network

Thirsty Thursday: Strawberry Daiquiri

July 11, 2013

I really love the heat of summer but this summer is kinda getting to me. Really, I hate to say that since summer is my favorite season. But this summer has been intense from chilly weeks of rain in June to the hot soupy humid weather now. But I’m gonna plan on blaming my distaste for this summer on The Bean. For example, I just feel extra gross and I can’t stay hydrated no mater how much water I drink (easily averaging 100+ ounces a day). Plus I can’t enjoy the fun drinks that are fantastic to sip on in the summer.

Case in point, the Strawberry Daiquiri!!! When we decided on our Frozen Drinks theme for our weekly Thirsty Thursday posts I thought of this since we enjoyed so many of them on our cruise last year.

I think I need to mix up a virgin (womp whomp) batch since Price had to do the dirty job of drinking up the half batch I made one morning. Such is the life. ha! But I really need to make these again since the sweet smell of strawberries filling our kitchen was intense and lovely. I used fresh strawberries that I cut up and froze since when I first read the recipe I quickly mixed up frozen with fresh so I just needed to give my berries a bit of a deep freeze before getting to making this frozen drink.

Amanda has made a Skinny Frozen Pina Colada that I wish I could dive into. It looks awesome plus it is a skinny version. The best for the summer… a refreshing pool side drink that doesn’t make you regret sipping on it in your bathing suit.

Strawberry Daiquiri_01

Strawberry Daiquiri

Makes 4 glasses

Ingredients

1 cup light rum
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup sprite or 7-up
1 (16 ounce) package frozen whole strawberries

Process

Pour rum, lime juice, sugar, and Sprite into blender container. Briefly blend to combine and dissolve the sugar.
Add the frozen strawberries into blender, a few at a time, blending until smooth. Pour into chilled glasses.

Slightly adapted from Empty Nest, Two Full Plates

Thirsty Thursdays: Fourth of July Drink Round Up

June 27, 2013

So, I had planned for a milkshake today to wrap up the month of milkshakes but… last week’s Alt NYC adventures/vacation (more on that later) and a work deadline due TODAY has sidelined me from getting much of anything done.

Well, that means instead of a milkshake from me you get a round up of Fourth of July drinks I’ve seen that have peaked my interest. They all look so good!!!

Layered Drink Tutorial from @katrinaskitchen