Hot Buttered Cranberry Cider

 

Happy Thanksgiving,

    I have several big things this year to be thankful for but with all the craziness I tend to forget it all. I think what I am most thankful for is a day set aside just to remember what I am thankful for. A day to not be lost in life, a day to focus on my many blessings. Not everything in my life is a blessing but still there is so many blessings. I hope this is a day for you to remember all you have to be thankful for too.

    I have a fun drink for the holidays to share with you. One of the things about the holidays I love is there are certain foods that we only have durning Christmas and hot buttered rum is one of them. It is a spiced sweet butter you add to rum and hot water to. You can buy the batter but it is sooo easy to make.

     There two very good reasons to make it yourself is it is healthier and you can suit your palette. For instance I like cinnamon but in balance with other spices. So I encourage you to adjust the spices to your liking. Another reason to make this, is it make a wonderful hostess gift. You can keep little package wrapped in your freezer ready to give as a last minute gift. I provided a tag for you below.

    Now about this drink, I wanted something my girls could enjoy too, so I came up with a hot buttered cranberry. Half apple cider, half cranberry juice with a slice of the spiced butter. I like this because the tang of the cranberry balances well with the sweetness of the butter. But again play with the amounts to suit your palette. Enjoy xoxoxoxox

PS. the photo above is a hint of this years Christmas theme, more to come !!!

 

 

 

Hot Buttered Cranberry

Butter Rum Mix:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup  coconut sugar or brown sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg, ginger

pinch ground cloves and salt

In a mixing bowl cream all ingredients together. Store in fridge in the freezer, tightly wrapped in wax paper then in a freezer bag. Slice off pieces as needed.

 

Drink:

Heat 1/2 cup of cranberry juice and a 1/2 cup of cider. Add a generous TBL of butter to your cup and pour hot liquid over juice. If you like rum you can also add a jigger. Stir and enjoy!

 

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Chocolate-Covered Licorice Tea

Thank you everyone for all the kinds words, well wishes and prayers. David is doing well considering. He will not need surgery, just time to heal. He will be home anywhere between 2-6 weeks. He still can not use both hands, but the girls are really helping me a lot, thank you sweeties. My posting may be a bit erratic but I have LOTS to share, so bare with me xoxoxo

My mother was tell me about a book she had read Tea For You and was playing with making her own tea blends. I was fascinated with the idea. I took ideas from the book and came up with my own blend (of course, you know how I have to put my own print on everything I do). I loved the idea of a chocolate tea and thought a subtle back note of anise and vanilla would really highlight the chocolate and english breakfast tea.

I choose English breakfast tea because it is a strong tea but would not compete with the chocolate. What is really fun about this tea, is you grate some chocolate over the cup of tea. It is yummy and I think a bag of this tea, a microplane and some chocolate would make a creative gift. I am working on a second tea, if it is good I will post it xoxoxo

 
 
Chocolate-Covered Licorice Tea

1 cup English Breakfast loose tea

4 TBL coco-nibs

1 TBL. anise seeds

1 vanilla bean, cut with scissors in little pieces

piece of dark chocolate (if you like milk better that is fine) for grating

In a coffee grinder or spice grinder or food processor put coco-nibs, anise seeds and cut up vanilla beans. Pule a few times to chop up. You do NOT want a powder, just large pieces. Mix with tea and keep in a container with a tight lid.

Make tea as usual, then grate a bit of chocolate over you cup of tea. Enjoy xoxox

Mango Rum Slushy

I will confess, I am completely addicted to these mango rum slushy's. It all start when Angie told me how her mom keep in the freezer all summer this tea, brandy, lemonade concoction. Oh gosh it sounded sooo good. Because of the alcohol it never really freeze, it just gets all slushy. I look around and there are a zillion recipes. So I started playing and I came up with this. I adore it.

You could pour some bubble water (lime is good), wine, juice and so forth over the slushy, but I like it just scooped in a pretty glass and savor small spoonfuls. If you do not have mango, peach is a good substitute. But gosh I was thinking plum or nectarine would be good too. Play with the recipe, use what you have on-hand and enjoy.

I will need some today, it is suppose to be in the high 90s. It is almost never gets that hot here, so no air conditioning. I think it is hot when it is 75, I do not think I will handle this week well !!!!

Mango Rum Slushy

1 bottle of Tazo Mango tea or 2 cups mango (or peach) tea with 1/2 cup sweetener

I can (2 cups) mango juice

I very ripe mango (or 2 peaches), peeled and cubed

1 cup dark rum, you can use more or less to your liking

In a food processor or blender puree mango and tea. Mix tea, juice and rum together. Pour into a container (I use an old, but gorgeous ;-P large plastic yogurt container. Picture above) and set in freezer. Every couple of hours, give it a stir, till it is frozen. It will be flaky, not fully frozen. It needs 24 hours to freeze.

Birthday Goodies And Cheesecake Milkshake

 

Hello everyone, I hope you had a lovely week. Mine was a bit crazy but very yummy. On my birthday the girls and I went to my mother's and had lunch with her and my sister. My mother made fresh figs stuffed with brie, wrapped in prosciutto and grilled, heaven. My sister made the most interesting dessert (she says it is sooo hard to make me something I have not already made ;-) She made a Thia black rice pudding that she flavored with black licorice and lavender. I know it sounds weird  but you know it worked. It was subtle, not in your face, well done Laurie xoxox

We watched Confessions of a Shopaholic (which felt a bit like my youth flashing before my eyes, although I could not afford such high end stuff) I LOVED this movie. If you have not seen it you must. It is wonderful, fantastic fashion and so funny.

The rest of the week kind of got taken over by hauling free firewood. Which I am not complaining about, I mean what an answer to prayer !!! But not what I had been planning. David and I will make up for it in a couple of weeks. But the girls blessed and spoiled me, thank you girls. Auberne` made me the sweetest video on her new blog, I Talk in Movie Quotes. They made me breakfast in bed. Chocolate fill croissants, apple-wood smoked bacon, lavender/rosemary tea and homemade greek yogurt with fresh raspberries and lavender honey. As you can see it was a yummy week, the best thing by far was the cheesecake milkshake (recipe below)

I took a picture of some of my birthday goodies. There was also vintage pink pyrex, a pink tea cozy with rose tea spoons, pink tea and a Amazon gift card (thank you, both of you, you know who you are xoxox), books, crystal magnet, vintage hunting fabric for my library, a whole box of Sees candy, my hubby let me custom pick what I wanted, lavender caramel's wrapped in dark chocolate and more.

 Mostly though there was you wonderful readers, thank you for all the birthday wishes, gifts and love you showered me. Oh and I will wear the hat. You made me feel very special and that was the best gift of all. Thank you xoxo

 

Cheesecake Milkshake

makes 4 large glasses

4 slice of cheesecake or one small whole cheesecake, you want a vanilla cheesecake with a graham-cracker crust

Vanilla Ice cream

Milk

In a blender put the cheesecake, 5 large scoops of ice cream and some milk. Blend and add enough milk to get it all going. Taste and add more ice cream/milk as needed. Enjoy, it is veryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy rich, as it should be ;-)

Black Pearl Grog

Miss Donna at Ribbon Crown is having a A Swashbuckler Soiree today. I just do not have the time to craft something. When one is soo busy they do not have time to craft, a drink is appropate ;-P  I know nothing about pirate's but I live with to pirate-freak girls (whom I adore), so I asked them what do pirates eat. They said Barbossa always wanted apples and they drank lots of rum. Well I can do something with apples and rum. I created Black Pearl grog. I can just picture myself on a cold lonely black sea, covered in jewels, wrapped in my black rose shawl, waiting for my swashbuckler. With my Black Pearl grog to keep me warm !!!!!

Black Pearl Grog

1 cup apple cider

1-3 TBL. caramel sauce, depending on how sweet you like it

1 shot of dark rum

Heat cider, then stir in caramel sauce till melted and add rum !!!!!

 

Coco, Tea or Me !!

 

The NW is gray and drizzly a lot, but I find that February and March are really long, hard months. The holidays are over, there is much going on, it is too cold to go outside and the weather really can get to you. I am always looking for little ways to entertain and brighten these days. Since we drink so much tea and coco, I thought I would make it a bit more special. I set up a little tray in my kitchen, I got a fun, cheery cup-cake towel at Target. I added our coco mix, tea, strainer, a mini-tea pot, sweetener, mini-marshmallows, a scoop, spoons and cups.

We have over 15 different types of tea. So each morning I set out a new tea and have a little tag in the bowl saying what tea it is. All day I keep a thermos filled with hot watter and I plan once a week to change a treat for the coco. Maybe candy canes, chopped chocolate, cinnamon, ect. It is inviting to see everything all set out and ready to go. A cheery spot on these not so cheery days.

Hot Chocolate Mix

I have looked at a lot of coco mixes but the problem with a lot of them is they use produces like chocolate drink mix, pudding mix or non-dairy creamer. These items have a lot of things in them I do not want to give to my family. So I decided to just keep it simple. Dried milk, coco powder, sweetener and a pinch of salt. Salt always makes it taste sweeter. I wish I could afford organic dried milk, but at this point I am still looking for an affordable option.

1 cup dried powdered milk

1/4 cup coco powder

1/3-1/2 (depending on your taste) cup vanilla sugar or plain sugar, I use evaporated cane

good pinch of salt

Mix and store in a air-tight container, I make at lest 3 times this amount at a time.

To make coco, add 1/4 cup of mix to 1 cup of hot water.

Mango Margarita

      

At the risk of sounding like a lush, I am posting another cocktail recipe (at the request of a friend). One of the things I did on my break was have a birthday party for my dear friend Kristin. She is always saying she wishes she could spend time on a deserted beach drinking my margaritas. Unfortunately we did not have a hunky margarita boy, our butler had to do. Look at these pictures of the amazing doll Angie's needle-felted for Kristin. I am always blown away at Angie's dolls. I have to say it was a pretty amazing night, for an amazing woman. We love you Kristin xoxox

 

Mango margarita

1 ripe mango, cubed and squeeze juice from pit

1/2 can mango nectar

1 lime

1/2 cup tequila

1 cup Margarita mix 

ice

In a blender add mango, juice of 1/2 a lime, mango nectar, tequila, mix and ice. Blend and taste to see if you need more of lime or mango nectar.  Makes one pitcher.

To be honest I just throw everything in the blender and never measure. But I had to give you something to work with, so feel free to play with the amounts to your liking.

Violet Spritzer

         

Violet Spritzer

1 TBL. Violet Syrup

1/2 glass dry Gewurztraminer , I love Navarro gewurztraminer

1/2 glass bubble water

This is a wine spritzer with the violet syrup added. I choose a dry Gewurztraminer because of it fruity and floral character. I think it would go well with the violets. I posted a half wine, half bubble water ratio. But I have learned working at a winery that everyone taste things differently, so you need to play with the amounts to find what suits you. Also any fruity (which is different from sweet) white wine would work.

I sadly did not have any more violets to garnish my drink, so I use a pansy. But a floating sugared violet would be the perfect garnish. La-Tea-Da has the most interesting recipe for sugared flowers that does not use egg whites. Check it out.

Thank you La-Tea-Da and thank you again Joanne for sharing with all of us. I will be posting in a couple of weeks a rose syrup recipe and my all time favorite summer cocktail. So stay tuned !!

Fall Cocktail

 

 

Happy First Day Of Fall !!!! May this be just the beginning of many perfect fall days. Since sangria's are no no more I have a fall cocktail to share, Pear-Rosemary cocktail. Hopefully there will be no pear incidents :- P

 

 

Pear-Rosemary Cocktail

First make simple syrup that can last in the fridge for a month.

In a sauce pan put 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water and a large sprig of fresh rosemary. Set sauce pan over med-high heat and boil till sugar is melted. A minute or so. Set a side to cool. Then remover rosemary and refrigerate simple syrup.

 

 

Fill a shaker with ice. Add one jigger with vodka (I use less. I make a pretty weak cocktail or you could leave out the alcohol), I TBL. roasted pear sauce , 1 TBL. rosemary simple syrup, and 1/4 cup pear nectar. Shake, pour in glass and add 1/4 cup sparkling water.

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Summer Corner #2

I have been thinking all week how I can make each day this summer special. It does not have to be a big all day thing. But just one special thing a day. A treat. Really all it is, is appreciating the small things. Like what we drink! How can I make it different? So I decide to come up with different lemonades. My favorite of course is lavender. But just a simple little twist can make something feel new and special !!

 

Also do not forget how you serve it. Maybe pull out those special wine glasses. I always buy pretty ones at goodwill for the girls. So if they break no big deal. Or buy some fun cheap plastic ones. Fun straws or stirers. You can add fruit, colored sugar rim, coco rim, ect!!

 

 

I am very excited to hear everyone else's ideas for Summer Corner. My good friend Mary (who I have know since I was 20) sent a couple of pictures of their garden. If you could only have seen the dirt lot it was before. I do not even think there was weeds before. It is just amazing. Now people drive by just to look at their house. Maybe Mary can send more pictures (hint, hint).

                                                                        

 

And Jody sent some wonderful pictures of bouquets from her garden. Having flowers around the house is a great way to bring the outdoors in. Unfortunately I am allergic to most flowers (although not roses!!) and can not have bouquets sitting around. So I can enjoy Jody's !! 

 

                                                             

Lavender Lemonaid

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup dried lavender
• 2 cups sugar
• fresh lemon juice
• water

To make the Lavender Syrup, boil 1/2 cup dried lavender with 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water. Strain and save in a squeeze bottle.

Next, boil equal amounts of sugar and water (i.e., 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water) to create a simple syrup.

To  Lemonade, combine one part simple syrup, one part fresh lemon juice and four parts water. Stir thoroughly.

 

Minty Green Tea Lemonade

4 cups freshly brewed green tea
2 1/2 cups water
1 (12 ounce) can frozen lemonade concentrate (or fresh lemon aid)
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves, loosely packed

Combine all ingredients in a pitcher. Chill, strain and serve

 

Honey-Vanilla Lemonade

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup honey
2 cups water, plus more as needed
1 vanilla bean
2 1/2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about 24 lemons)
Lemon wheels or wedges, for garnish

In a large saucepan, combine the sugar, honey, and 2 cups water and place over medium-high heat. Cut the vanilla bean in 1/2 lengthwise, then, using the back of the knife, scrape the vanilla seeds from the pod and add to the saucepan, along with the pod. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook for 4 or 5 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Put the lemon juice into a gallon jug or pitcher. Pour the sugar syrup through a strainer into the pitcher and discard the pod. Add water to equal 1 gallon and stir well.

Serve over ice with lemon wheels or wedges

 

Blackberry Lemonade

6-8 lemons
water
sugar
1/2 cup blackberries (or any fruit really)

Juice the lemons into a pitcher and add water and sugar until it tastes right (depending on how many lemons you use and how much of a sweet tooth you have!). Chill, then add blackberries

 

Sangria Lemonade (for the adults)

Fill a pitcher half way with sliced ripe peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines. Add some fresh berries to. Then our in 1/2 cup simple syrup, juice form about 10 lemons, 1 cup water and a bottle of dry rose wine. Adjust from there to your taste.

The Sangria is best made a day or two before. it helps the fruit to macerate and give the sangria more flavor !!