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Posts Tagged ‘drink’

Have you ever seen a recipe in a magazine and said, “Yes! I’m going to try that!” And then, you try it and say, “Did those people ever actually MAKE this because it doesn’t work/taste the way they said?!”

Well, this recipe started out that way, but let me assure you, I’ve made it twice and it DOES work and it is yummy. This is perfect recipe for a summer barbeque or any hot day. And since it’s made with seasonal fruit it makes the flavors extra special.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 seedless watermelon
• Vodka (chilled)
• Limes

The original recipe said to chunk the watermelon and then run it through a food processor. Don’t even bother! You get watermelon all over the kitchen. (Three weeks later and I’m STILL finding sticky pink spots on my counters and wall.) Don’t believe me? Try pouring watermelon pulp out of a food processor cylinder. There’s no lip for a spout (unlike a blender) so the pulp doesn’t pour; it plops. And splashes. And did I mention it gets EVERYWHERE?!

DO cut up the watermelon into tiny pieces and run through your blender. I used the “liquefy” setting. The watermelon bits need to be pretty tiny to get it to blend. If they’re too big, the blades just whirl with no liquefying action. If you cut the pieces too big (like I did) smash them deeper into the blender with a wooden spoon while the blender is off.

Strain the pulp through a colander to get just the juice. Now, here’s the trick: use a colander with HOLES as opposed to holes on the bottom and slits along the sides! You’ll need a pretty large bowl to catch all the juice. I ended up using two bowls the last time I made this.

You could also strain through a cheesecloth but you’ll be there all day! The trick is to pour a bit of the pulp into the colander and then stir with a wooden spoon. The juice trickles through and the pulp remains. Discard the pulp (or put it in your compost!).

When you’re done liquefying most of the watermelon, freeze the watermelon juice. You’ll want to reserve a few slices for a garnish. Now, I’ve done this three ways:

1. Freeze until chilled and just a BIT frozen.
2. Freeze until slushy — there’s mostly frozen and a bit of juice
3. Freeze until firm.

I prefer the firm. Then you “shred” the frozen juice with a fork to make it fluffy. I think the technical term is “granita.” It’s a bit of work, but the texture is out of this world!

No matter which freezing technique I’m using at the moment, I serve this in BIG glasses. So for my big glass, I squeeze in a quarter of a lime. Then add chilled vodka to taste. Garnish with a watermelon wedge.

If you’re not interested in a martini, this is good with just the lime. I also recommend a bit of sparkling water or even ice tea.

PS: The original recipe called for LEMON juice (a lot of it) and tequila. Frankly, I didn’t like it at all. And after all the work I went through to juice the watermelon using the stupid food processor technique it was heartbreaking not to like the drink. Once I hit upon the LIME and VODKA mix, the taste was perfect.

Between the impossible to pour pulp from the food processor and the way watermelon and lemon DON’T go together, I’m thinking the original publishers of this recipe thought it up but never actually TRIED it. Or maybe they just like tequila more than I do. Either way, I’ll save my tequila for margaritas and serve my watermelon with vodka!

Sometimes it’s nice to have a hot drink to hold onto when you’re sitting around a campfire. But the same-ol’, same-ol’ hot chocolate can get kind of boring! This is an easy, hot drink that is still sweet.

INGREDIENTS

• 10 cups apple cider or apple juice
• 1 (12-ounce) package frozen red raspberries (lightly sweetened)
• 5-inch stick of cinnamon

In a large saucepan combine apple cider or juice, raspberries, and cinnamon. Bring to boiling, then reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove mixture from heat.

Remove cinnamon stick. (You can fish out the berries or leave them!) Serve warm.

Makes 10 (8-ounce) servings.

This is a no-fuss, go-hiking-come-back-and-it’s-done drink. There are no fancy brewing techniques or equipment needed and it can be done with herbal, caffeinated or decaf tea. For a more flavorful tea, use 2 herbal teabags (same flavor) and 2-3 black tea teabags.

Sun tea brewing.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1-gallon jar (glass is best, but plastic works) with a lid
• 4-6 teabags, to taste
• Lemon
• Sugar

Fill the gallon jar 3/4 of the way full with clean, cold water. Hang the tea bags into the jar with the tags on the outside of the jar. Screw the lid on to keep the tea bags in place.

Place in a sunny location until tea is steeped to taste. If it isn’t very sunny out it will take longer for the water to heat and longer for the tea to brew. Sun tea can be made any time of year though!

Remove the tea bags when brewed since leaving them in can make the tea very bitter.

Serve over ice with lemon and or sugar.

When I’m camping, no matter the time of year, I always love to have something hot to drink. My morning favorite is, of course, my Earl Grey Tea. But in the evening, sometimes I want something a bit different!

Perfect drink for around the campfire.

This is a dry drink mix that can be made up at home and then added to hot water or hot tea in camp.

Ingredients

• 1 cup Tang powder
• 1 ½ cups lemonade powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cloves

Sweeten to taste!

Combine all ingredients and store in an airtight container. Add 2-3 rounded teaspoons directly to a mug of hot water OR to a mug of hot tea. I think it tastes best in unflavored black tea (as opposed to green tea).  Sweeten to taste.

I had a potluck at my house last Friday. We had a terrific pulled pork with green chili sauce (made it in the Crockpot so I’m still trying to figure out how to alter the recipe for camping or outdoor cooking…) but for drinks I served sangria.

Sangria is a traditional wine “punch” from Spain. And made right, it is NOTHING like the mix versions!

Ingredients
– 1 750ml bottle red wine (pick your favorite flavor/brand!)
– 1/4 cup brandy
– 1/2 cup triple sec
– 4 slices orange (or more!) cut into circles
– 2 cups orange juice
– 2 cups chilled ginger ale

Sangria with Orange Slices.

In a large pitcher mix red wine, brandy, triple sec, orange, and orange juice. Allow to sit in a fridge overnight or as long as possible.

The next day, add in the chilled ginger ale just before serving.

When I served this at my party, I actually had the chilled ginger ale so my guests could add it in to taste. Of all the sangria that I had in Spain, none of it was sweet; flavorful but not sweet. But, my guests at the party seemed to like the sweetness the ginger ale added.

Personally, I liked the bubbles of the ginger ale, but not really the sweetness.

When I had this in Spain, it was served either chilled or at room temperature. I never had it served over ice. That’s up to you — I don’t like the flavor wine takes after it’s had an ice cube melted in it!