I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

seltzer

Thirsty Thursday: Strawberry Fizz

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

  1. Put 1/4 cup of simple syrup in each glass and 4 mint leaves, muddle the leaves. 
  2. Add 1/4 of the strawberries to each glass and muddle as well.
  3. Squeeze the juice of 2 lemon wedges and then toss the lemon into the glass as well.
  4. Add ice and about 8 ounces of seltzer to each glass. Stir and enjoy!

Adapted from Smitten Foodie

Thirsty Thursday: Slime Rickey

With just less than 2 weeks until Halloween Amanda and I decided to have 2 Thirsty Thursday posts with a spooktacular Halloween theme. We each will share one drink that is for great for trick-or-treaters of all ages (non-alcoholic) and one boo-zy one that you can enjoy at a party. This week I am sharing a fun drink that kids will just love and Amanda is sharing one that will put a smile across any grown ups’ face.

 

 

A Slime Rickey is perfect for kids as it is a lime rickey but there are some spooky eyes floating around in the glass! Just kidding! Those creepy eyes are just grapes and some maraschino cherries. Make and freeze the eyeballs in advance and you can whip up these drinks for the kids for a party or to refresh them after a long night of trick-or-treating. Perfect drink to sip on while sorting out all the candy!

Check out Amanda’s drink called a Bloody Tooth Cocktail! A reddevilish delight for parents after a long night of trick or treating! Sure to put a smile on your face!

Slime Rickey

Makes 4 drinks

Ingredients

  • 8 oz of lime juice (approximately 6 limes)
  • 4 oz of simple syrup
  • 16 oz of seltzer water
  • green grapes, round is preferred
  • maraschino cherries
  • crushed ice

Process

  1. To make the frozen eyeballs: chop maraschino cherries into tiny pieces. Score a ‘X’ at the end of the grape. Insert the piece of cherry into the grape. Arrange on the baking sheet and freeze.
  2. Combine 2 oz of fresh limes juice with 1oz of simple syrup in a glass. Add crushed ice and then seltzer. Put at least 5 frozen ‘eyeballs’ into each drink and enjoy!

Very Berry Sangria

Price and I recently had a party at our place for my birthday. It was centered around a Mexican theme so I’ll be posting a few recipes from that that works well for a fiesta or just a great gathering. Enjoy!

I love sangria so much because it works well year round and with so many different add in’s. You can do citrus, stone fruit, or berries, or an combination in between. I really prefer wine sangria but I have been enjoying red sangria more and more. Most of all I love to serve sangria when people are over. It works well for a crowd since you start with inexpensive wine, add fun fruit to it and it really transforms into a great drink.

 

This red sangria is packed with fruity flavor. All of the different types of berries add so much sweet, bright flavor.  Each of the 4 different types of berries provides a different flavor to the sangria. Then when you add the tequila you get a bit of a kick to it in the end. The seltzer adds a nice bubble to the the whole thing to finish it off.

 

Very Berry Sangria

Serves 12-16 people

Ingredients

  • 4 bottles of red wine
  • 1 pound of strawberries
  • 1 dry pint of blueberries
  • 1 dry pint of blackberries
  • 1 dry pint of raspberries
  • 1/4 cup agave, depending on the wine
  • 3 cups of tequila
  • 1 liter of seltzer, or ginger-ale

Process

  1. Divide the 4 bottles of wine into 2-3 pitchers, depending on the size of pitcher. Fill the pitcher about half way full.
  2. Wash all the fruit. Discard an bruised fruit.
  3. Slice the strawberries.
  4. Add all the fruit to the wine, divide evenly.
  5. Add the agave and tequila. Gently mix the wine to incorporate.
  6. Let chill for at least 2 hours before serving.
  7. Right before serving add the seltzer to the pitchers.