Oh man, Thanksgiving was awesome this year!!
We really enjoyed our 4-day weekend!! It was great to relax, spend time with family and friends, and, of course, eat great food and drink awesome drinks.
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drinks
Red, White, and Bubbles
Ah, so here I am posting my last Sprint Cup Snacks recipe on the day the 2014 NASCAR season kicks off. Well, a little late there.
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Thirsty Thursday: Over The Rainbow Drinks
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!
Cinco De Mayo Round Up!
Tomorrow is Cinco De Mayo!!!!
These recipes might just help you celebrate some Mexican independence. I mean, pico de galo and margaritas are always good, but even better on the 5th of May. Oye!
Appetizers and Snacks
Main Courses
Spiced Black Bean, Grilled Avocado, and Goat Cheese Tacos
Desserts
Drinks
Layered Frozen Mango Raspberry Margaritas
Thirsty Thursday: Strawberry Fizz
It’s spring so it should be warm, right? Well, here in spring in Boston is confused. It has been all over the place with day time temps in the high 50’s and then right back down to the low 30’s with even colder wind chills. It’s a never ending roller coaster. I’d like it to just settle out but it’s New England … who am I kidding!?!?
I’d like it to get warm ASAP so we can continue to work in our little yard in back. Price kicked some major as back there this past weekend attacking a very invasive weed we have and I’d like to keep things going on the clean up and set up work. I just can’t wait to get some flowers and plants! I am looking forward to getting another blueberry bush this year and trying out some strawberry plants for the first time. Thinking all about these berries has resulted in me making this whole month’s Thirsty Thursday posts all about berries. First up… strawberries!
I was trying to come up with a drink that uses strawberries and that would be great to enjoy while gardening. I love Strawberry Daiquiri but they are not really great for sipping while pulling weeds. They are better suited for lazy beach days. I wanted something that would be really refreshing. Well, when I saw this Strawberry Fizz when I was browsing around Pinterest and I was smitten. check the site… get it? okay, good.
This is so refreshing that I just loved it so much. I love mojitos so it reminded me of a jazzed up mojito. Except virgin. Well you can fix that situation yourself with some vodka or light rum. Spiked or not you’ll be reaching for Strawberry Fizz.
Strawberry Fizz
Makes 4 drinks
Ingredients
- 1 liter sparkling seltzer water
- 1 pint strawberries, sliced
- 16 mint leaves
- 1 lemon, cut into 8 wedges
- 1 cup simple syrup
Process
- Put 1/4 cup of simple syrup in each glass and 4 mint leaves, muddle the leaves.
- Add 1/4 of the strawberries to each glass and muddle as well.
- Squeeze the juice of 2 lemon wedges and then toss the lemon into the glass as well.
- Add ice and about 8 ounces of seltzer to each glass. Stir and enjoy!
Adapted from Smitten Foodie
Thirsty Thursday: Samoa Cookie Cocktail
Samoa Cookie Cocktail – Now you can have your favorite Girl Scout Cookie in a fun adult drink! Enjoy!
Amanda picked the theme this week and it is the best yet!!!
I had just impulse bought a bottle of caramel vodka so when Amanda msg’d me that we should do a Girl Scout Cookie theme this week I immediently knew what cookie I would be recreating. A Samoa!
I needed to cover the chocolate, caramel, and coconut flavors in the cookies and I knew just how to do that with the bottles I have on hand (so proud of our random mix of boozes). Chocolate = chocolate liqueur. Caramel = caramel vodka. Coconut = Malibu rum. With those three you get a nice, sweet dessert cocktail that will packs a kick that no cookie can give you.
If you love Samoa cookies then you will love what we made this week! Be sure to check out Amanda’s Samoa Brownies… just try not to eat the whole batch yourself. I cracked this year and bought too many boxes of Girl Scout cookies, but once they are gone I’ll need to make these crazy, layered Samoa Brownies.
Samoa Cookie Cocktail
Makes 1 drink
Ingredients
Glass Garnishes
- chocolate syrup
- shredded coconut
- 1 Samoa Girl Scout cookie
- caramel syrup
Drink
- 2 oz chocolate liqueur
- 1 1/2 oz caramel vodka
- 1 1/2 oz Malibu rum
- 1 oz half and half
Process
- Put some chocolate syrup on a plate. Twist the edge of the glass into the syrup coating the entire rim. Then sprinkle coconut onto the glass into the syrup.
- In a chilled cocktail shaker, combine all of the drink ingredients and then shake vigorously.
- Pour into the glass and then drizzle some caramel syrup on top of the cocktail and on the rim. Garnish with a cookie.
Thirsty Thursday: Raspberry Honey Bellini
What are your New Year’s plans? We are planning on enjoying a dinner out and Boston’s First Night Activities. We typically stay in to relax and enjoy some fondue or sushi but are hoping to go if the weather holds up. I’m hoping we can get some tacos at The Rattlesnake or some dim sum in Chinatown. Plus, looking forward to checking out the ice sculptures along Boylston and the fireworks on Boston Harbor.
Discoll’s reached out to me so I could have some fun using their berries to create something to celebrate the holidays. They have the freshest berries that are enjoyable on their own or incorporated into recipes. I knew immediately that I wanted to use their raspberries since they are always so fresh. Plus after we once went raspberry picking I’ve had great appreciation for just how hard it is to pick and transport raspberries as they are just so very delicate. So I started to brainstorm how to use their raspberries in a fun celebration drink to ring the new year, or just drink at any time.
A bellini is a cocktail of Italian heritage that was created by Giuseppe Cipriani, founder of Harry’s Bar in Venice, Italy. The hue reminded him of a piece of artwork from Giovanni Bellini, which is how it got the name Bellini. While a classic bellini uses Persecco and peach puree, I decided that swapping out the peach for raspberry. Then I added some honey to sweeten up the raspberries and the dry Persecco. Refreshing to sip on to ring in the new year or to enjoy the day while making a great homemade brunch.
What are your plans for New Year’s Eve? Staying in or going out?
Raspberry Honey Bellini
Makes 6 cocktails
Ingredients
- 12 oz fresh raspberries, 12 raspberries reserved
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 bottle (750-ml) chilled Prosecco
Process
- To make the puree: blend the washed raspberries with the honey. Strain the puree through a sieve to remove the seeds.
- To make the cocktail: pour 2 tablespoons of the raspberries puree into the champagne flute then fill with Prosecco. Float 2 raspberries in the glass prior to serving.
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