I think the days following January 1st should have a disclaimer that reads “Don’t operate any heavy machinery today”. Ugh. The excitement level has dropped about 20 notches, our wallets are a lighter, our tummies heavier (or mine anyway) – back to work, back to reality, back to winter in New England (or in whatever area of the world you’re in – although summer’s just starting for you other side of the world’ers – jealous)
BUT on the bright side, it’s a brand new year! So many opportunities & new experiences to get excited about – so while the letdown is inevitable, my mind is turning to all the great new things that 2013 will bring. As Anne of Green Gables always used to say “Tomorrow is fresh, with no mistakes in it”, and a new year is just the same (minus the mistake already made of eating Five Guys for dinner last night – BAD idea – even my forgiving stretchy pants are feeling a little snug today)
I know NYE is already a thing of the past, but I have to share a delicious cocktail concoction that I made to ring in the new year. A combination of Pomegranate juice, Domaine de Canton (ginger liquor) and a few other goodies, topped with a splash of bubbly – the perfect libation to end a nearly perfect 2012!
Ginger Pomegranate Sparkler
INGREDIENTS
*yields about 8-10 6oz servings
1 cup Pomegranate Juice
(You could also use cranberry juice or a cran/pomegranate mixture)
1 cup Domaine de Canton (ginger liquor)
Juice of 1 large lime or 2 small ones
1 cup triple sec
1/2 cup brandy
Prosecco
1) In a glass pitcher, combine all ingredients except the Prosecco and let chill for at least 2 hours, up to overnight.
2) Once mixture has chilled to your liking, fill 1/2 a champagne flute with the Pom/Ginger mixture and top the rest off with Prosecco. Feel free to adjust the juice to prosecco ratio, putting more or less of each. But the 1/2 and 1/2 combination will yield about 10 servings (if served in champagne flutes, which usually hold about 6 ounces).
Yum. A bit on the boozy side yes, but New Year’s eve is special and deserves a stiff cocktail that’s pink and has bubbles 🙂
Mondays are bad enough, but when you have a food hangover, they’re even worse. But, the food hangover was well worth it! Thanksgiving dinner, part I went off without a hitch, and we now have enough left overs to feed an army – serioulsy. So many leftovers. OMG.
All the essentials – butter, sangria, turkey, and mustaches
But I’m anxious to share some recipes with you that I really think will add some zing to your t-day dinner!
In the last few years, I’ve come to realize that cocktails are equally as important as Turkey & Stuffing on T-day, so I tried to think of a festive signature bevvie to serve alongside the usual beer & wine. And let me tell you, this Cranberry Pomegranate Sangria was a HIT! I will say that it sat for over 24 hours, which I believe it what made it as tasty as it was. Sangria really is it’s best when it has time to chill and let all the flavors meld together.
So THAT means that you still have time to:
1) go get your ingredients
2) find a big old pitcher to put it in
3) give it at least 24 hours to chill to perfection
Cranberry Pomegranate Sangria
*Adapted from Food Network (Bobby Flay) & Deep South Dish
INGREDIENTS
2 bottles of red wine of your choice
(I used Shiraz)
2 cups cranberry juice
1 cup brandy
1/2 cup triple sec
1/2 cup simple syrup
1 cup OJ
1 bottle of sparkling pomegranate juice
(Trader Joe’s has a really nice one or you could use pomegranate flavored seltzer water or even just sprite if you can’t find either of those!)
1 bag of cranberries
3-4 oranges, sliced
1) Combine all ingredients except the sparkling juice in a large container. Let chill in the fridge for at least 4-6 hours, but as I said, overnight is best.
2) Just before ready to serve, add the sparkling juice to the container (or you can pour a little bit in each glass and then fill the rest of the glass with sangria)
*please note that I actually doubled the recipe for the large container pictured above
Such a fun and festive beverage, not just for Thanksgiving but Christmas too! Trust me, if there was any leftover, I’d totally be pouring myself a tall glass when I got home 🙂
It’s a big day in the U S of A today – Election Day.
Go vote, will ya?
In the mean time, drool over these patriotic dishes that are totally stolen from some of my favorite Food Bloggers 🙂
The Classic “American Flag Cake”, made every 4th of July by my very own cousin, KB Murphy – the recipe is really intricate – see below:
Krissy: its just a reg cake and strawberries and blueberries in a flag or funfetti
I love a chef that shares their secrets 🙂
“I pledge allegiance, to the flag, of blueberries and rasberries….”
This Cute as can be AND healthy Patriotic Fruit Trifle from the lovely Kelly at Eat Yourself Skinny
Easy, fun and frozen on a stick – Red White and Blue Ice pops from My Recipes – meant for kids, but could be made for adults by adding some booze!
Red, white and blue…and on a stick
And the best for last, naturally…
A slew of Red, White and Blue cocktails from Real Simple – because by the end of this day, we’ll surely need a cocktail 🙂
Cheers everyone 🙂
What a week (and a couple days) – lots of beer, lots of great new recipes to add to the list. Let’s check out what the beer scoop was:
Beer-Brined Pork Tenderloin with Beer-Mustard Sauce
And what better way to end beer week than with a cocktail made with beer? I’m pretty sure there is no better way. This is a play on those delicious Blueberry Beergaritas that we made a few months ago – oh boy were they good. But this Beergarita is straight and to the point – no frills – no fruits – just tequila and beer working together in perfect harmony, with a few other friends along to help 🙂
Beergaritas, plain and simple
INGREDIENTS
(yields 4 drinks)
3/4 cup (4 shots) of your favorite tequila
(da-da-da-da-DA-da-DA-da)
3/4 cup skinny limeade
(recipe below)
3/4 cup orange juice
2 – 12oz. bottles of light beer
(preferably a Corona style)
INGREDIENTS FOR LIMEADE
1/2 cup splenda (or truvia)
1.5 cups water
1 cup fresh lime juice
1) To make limeade: in a large saucepan, combine water and splenda until splenda is dissolved (won’t take long). Remove from heat and let cool before adding the lime juice in. You can freeze it for ‘frozen’ beergaritas – I personally like mine on the rocks 🙂
2) Combine tequila, limeade, OJ and a couple ice cubes in a cocktail shaker and shake a couple times until they’re completely mixed. Pour into a pitcher and then add the beer before serving. You can always adjust the beer taste as you see fit.
Hope you guys enjoyed beer week – and that you enjoy your weekend even more!
Too delish to wait for an official photo shoot – you get the idea though 🙂
I know, I know – it’s goat cheese week and I’m posting a recipe for Skinny Frozen Mudslides. But I had a REALLY good reason for cheating on goat cheese tonight: my cousin Krissy is in town from Atlanta and heading down to the cape tomorrow for a couple weeks of R&R (jealous).
When she’s not drinking mudslides, it’s Whiskey & Diet Coke
The Cape is a special place for us, filled with childhood mems of the summers we spent there. When we were little, fun at the Cape meant bike riding, spending so much time in the ocean that our skin pruned, and the occasional french braid fest (except Krissy was the only one with a bowl cut, so she could never get a braid in her hair – pretty sure she’s still bitter about it) Then we started to grow up, and once we all turned 21 we realized “MAN there are some tasty drinks that pair quite well with the smell of salt water and sand between your toes!”.
One drink in particular – frozen mudslides. It’s like dessert in a cup – drunk through a straw – and there’s vodka in it. Be still my heart. However, indulging in one or two of these cocktails will probably wipe out your entire caloric intake for a day – between the ice cream, the vodka, the baileys, the chocolate syrup, the kahlua (ohhhhh I’m getting the shakes, I want one right now!)
So to start Krissy’s vaca off right, I concocted what I believe to be a ‘skinny’ frozen mudslide – and not to throw rose petals at myself or anything, but damn. It was gooood.
Skinny Mudslides
INGREDIENTS
*yields 2 mudslides
1/2 cup fat free vanilla frozen yogurt
1 cup fat free milk
2 shots vodka
2 tbsp. sugar free chocolate syrup
2 tbsp. Bailey’s Irish Cream Flavored coffee creamer
(can be found in the refrigerated section at the grocery store – near the milk)
1/2 tbsp. MAXWELL HOUSE International Latte MOCHA powder
(powder only – can be found in your grocer’s coffee section)
ice
(about 1 full tray)
1) Take 2 – 160z. plastic cups (I think mudslides taste better in plastic cups – classy I know) and line them with the chocolate syrup (you could also just add the syrup to the mixture before you blend it, or at the top, but I think this just makes the cup look pretty 🙂
2) Combine all other ingredients in a blender and blend until all the ice is crushed. You can always add more ice too if it’s not your desired thickness.
There you have it – one of the best summer-time drinks of all time, without the all the guilt.
And If I have done my calculations correctly, each drink is only 7 weight watchers points, which I know still seems like a lot for just one drink, but compared to a whopping TWENTY NINE points for a ‘Non-skinny’ mudslide, well I’d say it’s quite an improvement!
So I hope you enjoyed the ‘skinny frozen mudslide’ sidetrack – back to goat cheese next time! Promise!
Yesterday, Dave and I celebrated our 4 month anniversary 🙂
Those of you out there who are married know how fast the big day goes by – you plan for weeks, months, years even, making sure every last detail is perfect. You lay awake at night (as your “not-stressed-about-the-details” fiance snores away next to you) wondering if it’s all going to go according to plan, playing it all out in your head over and over and over. Then the day finally comes and it’s a blur of aisle walking downage, photo taking, bite of cake eating, 2 bites of dinner eating, “thank-you for coming” repeating, dancing (if you’re lucky) and BOOM it’s over – like THAT!
For us, selecting the perfect signature drink for the night was a big deal. We did lots of brainstorming, and once we figured out what the perfect drink was, we did lots of research and experimentation – and the perfect drink was a Kiwi Mojito, a tribute to our honeymoon trip to New Zealand, a.k.a “kiwi land”. I remember at the wedding, seeing our perfectly planned out Kiwi Mojito in the hands of many guests, thinking “augh, man I gotta get my hands on one of those!” and then next day, as we reminisced over our wedding day, that we couldn’t believe had just come and gone, we both realized that we never got to try one of those damn mojitos! DOH!
So hey, better 4 months late than never, eh?
Kiwi Mojitos
INGREDIENTS
*yields 2 drinks – it is only Monday afterall!
2 kiwis, quartered
6 tbsp. kiwi/mint infused simple syrup
(recipe below)
2 shots of light rum
juice of 2 limes
10 mint leaves, chopped
seltzer water
(I used lime flavored)
FOR SIMPLE SYRUP
2 kiwis, quartered
6 splenda packets
1/2 cup water
10 mint leaves
1) To make the simple syrup: break up the 2 sliced kiwis with the bottom of a wooden spoon to release the juices, then add the 10 mint leaves, 1/2 cup water and splenda and boil over low heat until all the splenda dissolves. Drain the syrup through a mesh strainer and let cool.
2) Take the rest of the kiwi slices and blend in a food processor or blender.
3) In a cocktail shaker, combine the blended kiwi, 6 tbsp. of simple syrup, 2 shots of rum, juice of 2 limes and chopped mint leaves. Muddle with the end of a wooden spoon or muddler and then shake until fully combined.
4) Fill a tall glass with ice and fill half with the kiwi/rum mixture and top the remainder off w/ seltzer water.
Boy were these worth the 4 month wait! They tasted fresh and light, a great summer time drink that all in all, isn’t too bad for you either! Using the splenda in the simple syrup can really save some calories, but of course you can use sugar. It should also be noted that by mistake, I bought Gold Kiwis – which I didn’t even know existed! However, they tasted pretty much the same and made the drinks really pretty!
Gold Kiwis – who knew?
So Happy Monday, and cheers to 4 months!
Mojitos with umbrella straws on a Monday – oh and Dave wanted me to point out his mustache too
What a weekend!
Katie and Sarin’s wedding was fantastic – Katie looked beauuuuutiful, and despite the heat, everyone had a great time and loved their Chocolate covered pretzels! (even if they were a little on the melted side)
That’s a happy pretzel eater!
After all that dipping though, I needed a cocktail, big time. And it was a perfect weekend to try a new drink! I’ve had margaritas on the brain with all this beautiful weather, more specifically, though, Beergaritas. I’ve seen a few recipes for this delicious combo of tequila and beer and while it sounds dangerous, it also sounds delicious!
One of my favorite summer time drinks is a nice cold Blueberry beer, especially when it has nice, plump, beer soaked blueberries bobbing on the top of it! So I adapted this recipe from Eat Yourself Skinny, swapping out the regular beer for Blueberry beer, and infusing the limeade with fresh Blueberries! OMG.
Blueberry Beergaritas
Adapted from Eat Yourself Skinny
INGREDIENTS
*yields 4 Blueberry Beergaritas
1 cup Blueberry Limeade
(recipe below)
2 shots of your favorite Tequila
1 – 6oz package of fresh blueberries
2 – 12oz. bottles of your favorite Blueberry Beer
INGREDIENTS FOR LIMEADE
1 – 6 oz container of fresh blueberries
zest of 2 limes
1.5 cups of water
1/2 cup splenda (or sugar)
2/3 cup fresh lime juice
(juice of about 8-10 limes)
1) To make Blueberry Limeade: Dump the fresh blueberries in a medium saucepan. Take a fork or bottom of a wooden spoon to break the skin of the blueberries (this will help the juice from the berry to mix into the limeade). Add the lime zest, water and splenda and heat over medium heat until the splenda dissolves completely. Strain the blueberries and lime zest from the Limeade with a mesh strainer. Let mixture cool at room temperature and then stir the fresh lime juice in. Chill for about a 1/2 hour.
2) For Blueberry BeerGaritas: In a cocktail shaker, take 2 shots of tequilla and 1 cup of Blueberry Limeade and shake for a few seconds until fully combined.
3) Place a few blueberries at the bottom of 4 margharita glasses (and ice if you like). Distribute the tequilla/limeade mixture into the four glasses.
4) Top the rest of each glass off with the 2 bottles of Blueberry beer (you could also just pour the ingredients all into one pitcher as well – either way it yields about 4 Beergaritas.)
And to answer your question – yes, these are as good as they sound!!!!
I hope you all had a fantastic long weekend – bring on summer!
So I know, it’s Sunday – and I’m posting Thirsty Thursday’s cocktail – I’m a bad blogger! This weekend in Boston was AMMMMAZZZZZNG so I was trying to take advantage of the fabu weather (this is New England afterall – it could be snowing tomorrow).
BUT, I do have a delicious cocktail recipe for you guys, whether it’s for Thirsty Thursday or Friday or Saturday – or heck maybe even Sunday! Who said you can’t enjoy a cocktail on the Sabbath?
I had bought some herbs at a local farmers market, one of them being mint. I love the smell of fresh mint. It’s just so – minty. And this mint plant really seemed to take off all of a sudden! And I was afraid that if I didn’t start snipping it and doing something with it, it would die.
So what’s the first thing I think of when I think of great uses for fresh mint? MOJITOS, obvi! So I decided to make my own mint infused simple syrup. Most mojito recipes call for simple syrup and mint as well. So why not infuse the mint into the simple syrup?
The mint simple syrup was super easy to make – 3 ingredients (I swapped out the sugar with Splenda to save some calories) – splenda, water and mint leaves.
Mint Simple Syrup
Adapted from Epicurious.com
INGREDIENTS
1 cup water
1 cup splenda (24 mini packets – oof)
1.5 cups packed mint leaves
1) Chop mint. In a saucepan bring sugar, water and mint to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Simmer syrup, undisturbed, 2 minutes. Pour syrup through a fine sieve, pressing hard on solids, and cool.
You can use this right away, or let it sit for up to a week. It’s so yummy!
Skinny Strawberry Mojitos
INGREDIENTS
3 strawberries, sliced
10 mint leaves, chopped
Juice of 1/2 lime
1.5 oz rum
1 tsp. powdered strawberry drink mix, like Crystal Light
1 tbsp. mint simple syrup
Seltzer water or Club Soda
1) Take the strawberry slices, chopped mint leaves and the lime juice and muddle at the bottom of a cocktail shaker until combined.
2) To the muddled mixture, add the rum, strawberry drink mix and simple syrup to the cocktail shaker. Shake for about 10-15 seconds until the liquid is fully combined with the muddled fruit.
3) Fill a glass with ice – pour the mixture from the cocktail shaker into the glass and then fill the remainder of the glass with seltzer or club soda.
So, by the power vested in me, go – go now – make yourself one of these mojitos! I’ts Sunday, tomorrow’s Monday, so that means you need to live up these last few hours of the weekend as much as possible. And I would advise doing it with one of these in your hand (maybe in both hands! They’re skinny, so you can have two….or three…..or ten:))
Is this the easy and delicious week or what?
This recipe my friends, is again – easy – healthy – and delicious. Three ingredients. Three Weight Watchers Points. It’s my Cinco de Mayo gift to you!
Does anyone else love Bethenny? I feel like people either love her or hate her (Dave I hate to say is not in agreeance with me on her fabulousness – there’s been many a fight on Monday nights during Bethenny Ever After as to our conflicting opinions on her overall character) But for me personally, one of my favorite things about her is her Skinny Girl line of drinks, that allow us gals (and maybe guys) watching our figure to still indulge in our favorite cocktails without the guilt (and we still get the buzz!)
So when trying to figure out a fun Cinco de Mayo treat, I thought of popsicles – but Tequila doesn’t freeze! (or according to many a google search, you have to have a super freezer to get alcohol to freeze – we’re lucky if our freezer keeps a pint of Ben and Jerry’s frozen) So I turned to Bethenny’s Skinny Girl Margharita, the original liquid genius and came up with a plan B.
And here is plan B 🙂
Skinny Strawberry Margharita Pops
INGREDIENTS
(makes about 9 pops)
1 Bottle of SkinnyGirl Margharita
1 bag of frozen strawberries (or box of fresh)
1 – 2 individual Strawberry flavored drink mix (such as Crystal Light)
5 oz Dixie Cups
Popsicle Sticks
1) Place first three ingredients in a blender and blend until combined.
2) Take 1/2 cup of the mixture and pour it into each dixie cup (1/2 cup = 4oz)
3) Place in the freezer for about an hour. After an hour, the mix will have frozen a bit, and at this time you can put the popsicle sticks in and they will stand up on their own.
4) Let freeze a couple more hours or overnight (SGM freezes pretty fast!)
5) Remove from dixie cups – garnish with lime wedge and salt/sugar if desired (that will increase the WW points)
As a fair warning, these bad boys melt pretty fast, so while I don’t wish a brain freeze on anyone, try to make it speedy when eating these!
That’s it! Go crazy! Ay ay ay ay ay!!!!! Fiesta! Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Happy birthday Al!
Not only is it Thirsty Thursday, it’s Al’s birthday! In my group of gal pals from home, Al is the ‘baby’ of the group and on this Thirsty Thursday she is turning 28. Ahhh I remember 28 – it was a good year. The automobile was invented that year (haha just kidding – I’m not THAT old!)
To celebrate Al and the big 2-8, I’m havin’ the gals over for some food and drinks – it’s always nice to have a legitimate reason to have drinks on a Thursday night!
Now that it’s getting closer to summer time, I’m thinking of sangria. I absolutely love sangria – I love that you can make it a zillion different ways, and with a zillion different combinations and it always seems to be a crowd pleaser with any group. And these ladies are a great group that deserve a delicious Thursday night cocktail!
So tonight, I’m taking a stab at Peach Iced Tea Sangria – I feel as though this could turn out really well or really badly, since I can’t really picture the tea flavoring with sangria. Welp here goes nothing!
Peach Iced Tea Sangria
INGREDIENTS
1 Box of Fish EyePinot Grigio
*Or you could use 4 – 750ml. bottles of P.G., but nothing says classy like a box of wine
2 quart packets of Crystal Light Peach Iced Tea
8 cups of water
1 cup orange juice
1 cup Sweet Tea Vodka
1/3 cup simple syrup
*Cal friendly version – 8 packets splenda & 1/3 cup water)
Fruit of choice
*I used grapes and green apples, but peaches and rasberries would probably be best – apparently they’re not in season just yet (although I did get my hands on some after I had already made the sangria)
1) Cut fruit and place in the bottom of a large beverage container with a spout.
2) Add all ingredients and stir together.
A round of slap-the-bag anyone?
3) Place in the refrigerator and chill overnight (if possible – if not, for at least an hour or two – chilling is key in sangria making!)
4) Put some fruit in a glass and fill the remainder with the sangria. Enjoy!
As I said, I think when making sangria, the amount of time you chill it is key. When I first tested this before putting in the fridge, it tasted really boozey, and I was a little bit worried that it wasn’t going to taste good. But, almost 24 hours later, this sangria no joke tasted just like Peach Iced Tea – you could barely even taste the wine and vodka! Which is AWESOME but dangerous, so drink with caution 🙂
Obviously, this recipe is for a large serving – bascially a doubled recipe of regular sangria, so for a smaller crowd, you could just cut it in half.
So cheers to Al! And to birthdays! And to tomorrow being friday!
And They Cooked Happily Ever After 