Thirsty Thursday: Wendy's Frosties!

 Here's a low fat (but not low calorie) easy copycat recipe for Wendy's Frosties.  The best part about this is that it's three ingredients, you can use anything generic, and within about a half hour (with a good ice cream machine) you can enjoy Frosties with your besties in no time.

Ingredients:
1 tub whipped topping
1 can sweetened, condensed milk
1/2 gallon of chocolate milk

Add all ingredients to a large bowl.

Blend.

Add to your cold ice cream maker (or follow whatever instructions that have come with your maker).

When you hit the right consistency, remove, pour, and serve.

My machine could only hold 1/2 batch at a time, but I do have two drums, so I just did them back to back and froze the second batch for later.

Super simple, and super amazing!

Thirsty Thursday: Blue Lagoon Margarita

secret ingredient!

Over ice, with diving fish

I love fresh margaritas.  Freshly squeezed lime juice and tequila can pretty much make my day.  However, when I was told the family was going to host a "Margarita-Off" competition, I wanted to go a little off center from the norm.  I wanted blue with fish.  The rest is just made up.
Ingredients:
2 oz pineapple juice
1 oz blue curacao
1 oz tequila
1 oz lime juice - I love the Key Lime juice, but fresh is always amazing.
about 4-6 Sweedish fish

Blended.  To achieve the swimming effect, pour half, place fish, blend more, add to top off.

Thirsty Thursday: Strawberry Lemonade

 I think one of the BEST parts about living in Southern California is the strawberry season.  You can start getting (semi) local strawberries by the end of January, and you can milk that season through when everyone else in the country eats them.

It seems as though the local stands sell them for about 8 straight months.

Consequently, I can't always make the same strawberry shortcakes, strawberry jams, and strawberries with cream every day.  Even though I would love to eat strawberries every day of my life, my husband doesn't quite align with my sentiment.

So?  I found a recipe for a lemonade concentrate.  So "easy," and simple, plus you don't have to worry about any added preservatives or gross-ness.

Ingredients:
6 cups of strawberry puree (about 2-3lbs whole fruit)
4 cups of fresh lemon juice (about 3-4lbs whole fruit)
1/4 cup of sugar - 6 cups of sugar depending on the sweetness.  Original recipe called for 6, I used 1/4 cup.  You're call, obviously.
5+ freezable containers.
Liquid to un-concentrate later (Sprite, Ginger Ale, Water, Seltzer Water, or whatever you'd like).

Directions:
1. Stem and hull strawberries.  Throw into your food processor and blend until smooth.
2. Juice a lot of lemons.  Add to strawberry puree.
3. Add sugar to taste.
4.  Place into freezable containers.  After the concentrate freezes, you can pop the cubes out and place them in a zip-lock bag.
5. When you're ready to enjoy the beverage, thaw your concentrate and use an equal proportion (or more) of the liquid (I used about 3/4 C Diet Sprite to 1/2 C concentrate, and loved it).

* You can also process the concentrate through a water boil method for canning, but I didn't want to waste the jars on something so easily frozen.
** These would also make a good smoothie base.

Thirsty Thursday: Strawberry Mint Julep

 Today's drink actually takes some planning.

I apologize for that, but I do promise that your outcome will be amazing.  I picked up the original recipe from Cookie and Kate, but I thought it was a little vague.

As I made it, it turns out that mine will be a bit vague as well.

I made 8 (16oz) drinks, plus 2 non-alcoholic drinks.  My measurements will reflect as such.

 First off, the strawberry infused bourbon.

I had Jack Daniels in the house, so it was whiskey instead.

Rough estimate of ingredient ratio:
1 cup of whiskey
1/2 pound of strawberries

I started with about 2 cups (JD) and around 1 pound of strawberries.  I basically quartered my strawberries (cut off the stems), and kept throwing them into the bottle until the liquor was completely filled with strawberries.

From there, you put the bottle in a dark space (I chose my pantry) for 3-7 days.  Every day, give the bottle a bottom over top rotation to readjust the strawberries and mix up the liquor.  You don't have to shake it, just one spin will help the infusion process.

Mint Julep Ingredients for one 16oz jar:
7 mint leaves
1-2 tables spoons of honey
1/4 c of strawberry infused whiskey/bourbon (more if you don't want to add Sprite)
ice (to fill the entire glass)
about 1/2 c of Sprite (or not if you're more of a straight up person)

* For my jars, I used both wide mouth and regular jars.  I just used everything I had in stock.

 Directions (*skip to the very bottom for a non-alcoholic idea):
1. Add mint leaves to your glasses.  For my glasses, I had a variety of mint leaf sizes, so I added the biggest leaves first, then the mediums, then the small leaves last.  Not because I'm weird, but I wanted to make sure that the quality and quantity of the mint was the same across all the glasses.
2. Cover mint with honey.  I just poured it in, but I basically aimed to cover the entire bottom of the jar and all the leaves with honey.
3. Muddle the mint in the honey.  If you have fancy contraptions, go ahead and use them.  I had a hand held mixer's beater.  I just used that, muddling the mint until it was slightly broken down in the honey.
4. Strain the strawberries from the liquor.  I used a cheese cloth, but you can use any strainer that will keep out the strawberry particles.
5. Measure out the appropriate level of liquor and add to your glasses.
6. Stir the liquor, mint, and honey together.  This will sweeten the beverage and also insure you don't have a huge clump of honey at the bottom of your glass.

7. Now, fill up your glass with ice.  I wanted a nice cold beverage, so I filled it as high as possible.  Use your own discretion.
8. Top off glass with Sprite, and give it a final stir.

Since I was using mason jars, I then covered the glass with a cupcake liner and screwed on the lid.  This keeps the bugs out, and also will hold your straw in place. I pre-poke a little hole in the cupcake liner with a pen tip (skewer, ice pick, whatever is handy) and then place the straw in.

To re-mix the drink, my brother in law recommends blowing a light bubble in through your straw.  That will help in the process.

Finally, clink in cheers and good health, and enjoy!

Non-alcoholic Idea:

For the tween at the party, I made this version of the drink:

1. Follow steps 1-3 above, muddling the mint in the honey.

2. Quarter (or more) 4 fresh strawberries, and add them to the glass.

3. Mix together the honey, mint, and strawberries.

4. Fill up glass with ice.

5. Top with Sprite, cover and enjoy.

While this is not nearly as fun as the alcoholic version (in my opinion), it is still a fun mocktail that anyone can enjoy.  I though it might turn out too sweet, but I had one after the rest had run out and I was excited about how good it was.

Thirsty Thursday: Sherbet Punch

I think at one point, everyone has had a sherbet punch.

Or at least anyone from the Midwest.

Or anyone who went to bridal or baby showers in the 80's/90's that were located in a church hall or basement.

Or maybe it's just me...

Keeping this in mind, I did an old fashioned Google search.  Somewhere online, I found a recipe that included the following ingredients:

4 liters of ginger ale
1 qt. lime sherbet
1 lemonade concentrate
1 lime concentrate

There was more to it, but these were the ingredients I had on my shopping list.  I honestly don't remember the rest, and I forgot to pin it to my boards, but it's sherbet punch.  How hard could it be?

 So, I started by serving up the sherbet into the pitchers I was planning on using.  Then I threw them back into the freezer to stay fairly firm.

Then I just threw the two concentrates (thawed) and all of the ginger ale in a large bowl (pot).  When it came time to serve it, I just poured the liquid over the sherbet.

Simple as punch, and for those wanting an alcoholic based punch, I served the old standby, my Sarasota Lemonade with Moscato.

This punch would also be great with a rum.  Parrot Bay, perhaps?

Thirsty Thursday: Whiskey Cranberry Slushies!

It's safe to say that it's officially the "Holiday" season.  We just passed Halloween, Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and then the whole December fiasco follows right up on its heels.  There a more holidays in the last quarter of the year than we quite know what to do with.

I know, however, what makes those holidays go down a little easier - ALCOHOL!  That's right, kids, I'm endorsing imbibing to help keep those holidays bright.  It's with that in mind that when I saw Food Network Magazine's recipe for Whiskey-Cranberry Slushies, I knew we had to jump right in.  It's November 3rd, and there's no time like the present, right??

Super simple, just grab your ingredients...

Mix all the liquids (only 3 cups of cranberry juice) together, including your juice from the limes, and put in a large, shallow tuperware container.

Take out some cranberries and chop them up.  Do you know I've never tasted a fresh from the store cranberry before??  Wow, are they bitter!  I cringe to think how much sugar is added to make these even palatable!!

Then, shove it in the freezer, taking it out to stir evey half hour or so to keep it from truly solidifying. Give it a good five hours, depending (I suppose) on how potent your freezer is vs. how much whiskey you added.  This step seemed to take forever.  The slush took a long time to form, but then BAM!!!  It was ready right on schedule.  Who knew, right?

Once you have a nice slushie formed, fill up your glasses, top up with chopped cranberries, and a sprig o' mint go garnish.  Now, because I was having slush issues, and was concerned about having enough, I did some chopped ice too.  Couldn't hurt, maybe helped?  Doesn't matter.  The drinks were delicious!  I didn't add the remaining cranberry juice as the recipe called for, just filled with the slush and these drinks were amazing!  So much so that I'll be making them again for a big party.  The honey whiskey really helped, too.  I think that was Thomas' favorite part!

After a few, I'm sure you'll be racing the angel to the top of that Christmas tree!

On a PS note, remember how bummed I was about my mini caramel apples?  Well, we tried them again for our fancy dinner, and served them straight out of the pot.  Result?  Caramel still fell off the apple and more stuck to the plate than was actually eaten.  At least they looked cute, right??

Thirsty Thursday: Rosemary-Citrus Champagne Cocktails!

Here's another sneak peak recipe - last one for a while, I swear, I just couldn't wait to test it out!

Ingredients:
6, 4" fresh rosemary sprigs
1 can (12 oz) of frozen citrus blend juice concentrate - like Five Alive.  (really?  I haven't seen that in a while, and there wasn't much comperable at the store, so I just got a margarita mix concentrate)
2 C chilled club soda
1 bottle chilled champagne

How to: place rosemary spriungs and juice concentrate into a bowl and microwave, uncovered, for 7-9 minutes on high to simmer.

Strain out the rosemary and add all ingredients together in a pitcher.  Serve and enjoy!

Cheers!

Thirsty Thursday: Cran-Raspberry Fizz

This drink is so ridiculously easy (and delicious), that I suggest you run to the store during lunch today and pick up the (short list of) ingredients!

I got to use my mandoline on this, which always makes me happy, but (more importantly), there's a raspberry sorbet in here, so it's crisp AND refreshing!  We also added some Malibu and some citrus rum, to make it more adult, but this would be great for a party of all ages as a punch.

Go get some fun cups while you're out, too.  These definitely deserve pretty glasses, or crazy straws.  Either way, this one's a winner!!

Thirsty Thursday: Quick and Sleazy Edition

The Horny Goat!

This week is just as quick and sleazy as one could hope - a Horny Goat.  I don't name them, I just share them.  This is another recipe(*ish) from my (bloody) Aunt Mary.  See why we love when she comes to visit??  The information she departs is truly invaluable!

Today, we are taking equal parts of a "lemon lime" carbonated beverage (Sprite Zero) and cranberry juice (Diet Ocean Spray).  I filled half the glass with ice, then about two-thirds with this concoction, and then I topped it off with a citrus rum and Caribbean rum (equal parts).  The first time I made it, I did half alcohol and half non-alcohol and Thomas claimed it was too strong.  The original recipe also didn't ask for Malibu, just Limon, but when you have both, why not try it?!

Well, ladies and gents, it's five o'clock in the East Coast, so here's a cheers to you, and to the rest of you as you make your way home from work and on to the couch to kick off the mini-weekend.  For those of you on Summer Break (lucky ducks), start drinking now, and save a little for us to join in on the weekend!

Cheers!!



Thirsty Thursday: Bloody Aunt Marys!

Well, friends, it's finally happened...  The inspiration for Thirsty Thursday has returned!  My Aunt Mary is back and is ready to "share" her world famous Bloody (Aunt) Mary recipe!  Now, you'll have to be patient with me, because I learned of this while watching, and she didn't seem to have any set measurements in her head, it was just a splash of this and a tad of that.  With that being said, kick back, relax, and let's start the pre-weekend off right with a sip off the top!

It started with equal parts tomato juice and Bloody Mary mix.  Then, add a half of a bottle of tequila.  (She started with about a third of the bottle, but added more later.)

Juice about a lemon and a half, maybe some lime, too.
Add about a half a scant teaspoon of horseradish.
Add some Worcestershire sauce (she said soy sauce is even better)
Salt and pepper heavily, or to your own taste

The only thing we were missing was the celery salt, but I know you won't forget to have it on hand when you make this absolute yumminess!

Now, for the show of it all...
Put some Kosher salt and pepper in a dish for your glass rims.

Fill those glasses high, and bottoms up!  You're sure to want seconds (or thirds and fourths), so make sure you make a pitcher! You won't regret it for your Thirsty Thursday, or any other day of the week: look ma, I'm having my vegetables!

Sign at the Haunted Head Saloon, Oceanside

Thirsty Thursday, just add caffeine!

Today, we'll try something a little different.  Seeing as we are thoroughly ensconced in the Summer months, I thought that now would be a good time to chill out, but first, a little back story.  Back in the day (think the later half of the 90's), my best girl, Heidi, and I used to work at a coffee shop.  Never together in the same place at the same time, no one trusted two teenagers enough for that, but for the same franchise owner in the same mall, and occasionally for the same shifts.

 I'll admit, we raised some shenanigans back in our day, but we lived across one backyard from each other, and I'm sure such things are expected of best friends that stretch back for more than half of your life time.  

Fast forward more than a decade, and I still remember that job fondly.  I think of the people I met, the fun we had, the different locations we branched out into.  It was always a blast, and the only thing that lasted from the job, aside from the fond memories, is my hatred of coffee.

Yes, moms, I know that HATE is a strong word.  I suppose I don't hate coffee as much as I strongly dislike it.  I will drink beverages with coffee in them, but when it comes to straight coffee, I'm pretty much spent.  However, when I saw the recipe for the Cappuccino Freeze, I thought back on my late teens and remembered the fun we used to have making mocha chillers for the masses. Call me nostalgic, call me thirsty, call me what you will, really, but when it comes down to it, I was so psyched to make this drink, that I made it on a 62 degree day (as you find in summer in Southern California), with little to no need for any personal caffeine.

So, I pulled out my ingredients for the drink and then looked at the recipe.  What?!  Freeze it, shave it, then serve it?  Mock indignation!  I can't put that much effort into a drink that I want now. (Have I told you that I'm an only child?)  That's just more than most could hope for.  What's a Thirsty Thursday-er to do?  Well, my friends, that's why we have a handy dandy blender in our household, so here are the modifications that I made...

First, I boiled 1/4C of water in the microwave, and added the instant coffee.  Then, I added 1/4 C of cold water to dilute it a bit.  From there, I added the sweetened, condensed milk and whipped it up.



Tip: I would probably add 3/4 C of cold water to dilute the sweetness a bit more.  I always forget how sweet that milk can be!


From there, I poured about half of my milk/coffee mixture into the blender with ice.  I blended well, poured it into our mugs, added the Cool Whip, and shaved the chocolate to place on top.


You can use any whipped topping, I probably should have just gone for the Reddi-Whip, since that's always a winner in our house.

Please note how the chocolate shavings went EVERYWHERE.  It was all I could do to beat the ants back with a toothpick while I cleaned it all up.  I think more chocolate ended up on the counter than on our drinks. It was fun to "zest" chocolate, though.  I can't believe it's taken me 31 years to try that out.

We made three overflowing 16oz drinks from one batch of this, and could have probably made more if I had diluted the coffee mixture with a bit more water.  It was sweet in a large quantity, but it was SO GOOD.  We will definitely repeat this recipe again since we loved it so, and hope you will, too.

Cheers!

Thirsty Thursday, call a cab edition!



Yeah, don't take it in the face!

I know, I've been going back and forth with drink recipes that may or may not contain alcohol, that way all of my friends and colleagues who may not want to partake (for any reason from preference to pregnancy) can feel included.  Well, sorry guys and gals, but this week is probably not going to be the best week for you.  You can fake out some of these ingredients, but I can't imagine the essence of goodness that is this beverage can really be enjoyed without some of the fully leaded liquids!

Behold - the Raspberry Tequila Sangria! Okay, you know how it goes, at least it's the ingredients for it.

Do you see that Ultimate Mandolin in the shot? Oh yeah, I totally busted it out for some uber-thin slices.  I'll admit, my orange was almost too big to use easily, but it fit and I totally made it work.

Check the difference between when I used a knife to thinly slice my lime, and when I used the mandolin.  Freaky, right?

In the spirit of a real sangria, I put all of the ingredients (minus the "champagne" and Sprite) in the pitcher to soak up some of the alcohol.  I had this sitting about an hour as I waited for Thomas to come home for the day, and as soon as he walked in, I added the bubbly ingredients.

It only took two glasses a piece and we were out for the count.  We were so sleepy after dinner that we retired at a ridiculously early hour.  It was totally worth it, however, and was a great way to spend an evening after a long day of work.  Oh, and it was the day I learned that I was being laid off, so in the long run, completely necessary!

Drink up, kids, it's almost Friday.  Cheers!

Thirsty Thursday, multiple liquor edition!

It's been that kind of week where we need a drink.  Or two.  In fact, we're having such a versatile drink this week, that you can serve it with a multitude of liquors, and it's great with every one...

Behold, the ingredients for a Sparkling Citrus Cooler!

Once again, I can't follow a recipe to save my soul. Well, maybe I can, but I have this thing about left over ingredients.  If I can't throw in a whole can, or find the right amount, I don't like saving the leftovers.  They usually go bad before I get a chance to use them again.  This generally stems from me not knowing how to throw random ingredients together to "create" a recipe, but I can admit my weaknesses, and therefore don't feel too bad if I fudge a current recipe to save me from the excess waste.  Long story short (too late!), I doubled up on the frozen orange juice because that was the only sized can I could find.

This drink is so easy to make, and it's quite versatile.  I tried it with tequila, with vodka, and with no booze at all (gasp!).  All three were winners, plus I think if there had been any Malibu or Parrot Bay on hand, rum would have been a great addition as well.  And, unlike the Sangria, I wasn't afraid to have leftovers for the next day, or the day after that.  The sparkling water added to it, but didn't leave a "flat" taste, like I was worried about with the Sprite Zero.

The only downfall, if you let it be one, was the fruit cocktail left over in the bottom of the pitcher.  Unlike Sangria (although this doesn't have to be the case), you don't soak the fruit in the alcohol before serving it up, so there's no "bonus" benefit from chomping down on the lemons or limes.  So, make a plan.  Serve up your drinks with the fruit mixed in, or leave them in the pitcher and have a sweetened dessert after your meal.  Either way, drink up, and enjoy the extra dose of vitamin C!

God Bless the Safe House!

Cheers!

Happy Thirsty Thursday, everyone!

Work week got you down?  Thinking that the three day weekend we had only three days ago is now just a figment of your imagination?  Ready to kick off the weekend grad school style?  (I have to say grad school instead of college, since I think the college weekend began on Wednesday.)

Well, have no fear: Thirsty Thursday is here!!  It's almost time to kick off from work for the day (although you lucky East Coasters may already be on your way), so let's have a virtual sip with an awesome summer beverage that is easy to make, and quite simply refreshing...

The Sparkling Sangria!

Ingredients for fun!

I have to admit, this recipe took me a little longer to make than necessary, because I was trying to preserve my manicure, which made peeling the fruits difficult.  However, the fruits of my labor (haha) were well worth it.

The recipe calls for non-alcoholic red wine.  I went fully loaded (the Barefoot Sweet Red is on sale at the Jewels/Albertsons), and threw in an extra orange for good measure.  I also used the Splenda Sugar Blend equivalent (2 TBS) instead of sugar (1/4 C), and Sprite Zero.  This doesn't make this a diet drink by any stretch of the imagination, especially when two people drink the whole batch, but I have to imagine that it helps a little.

Also, you're supposed to let the fruit sit in the alcohol for 3-4 hours, but dinner only took an hour to create.  I'm sure it would be even more impressive if I didn't have the patience of a two year old crack baby.

That's all I have for this week, but I have a few other drink recipes I'm dying to try out.  Until then,

Cheers!

Introducing... Thirsty Thursday!

Sorry for the absence, I was a bit waylaid by some out-of-town guests and then a vicious head cold.  However, one of my visitors, my Aunt Mary, inspired me for a (semi) regular segment around here – Thirsty Thursday!   Here was the combined inspiration of last weekend…

I love Marieta’s, the best Mexican restaurant within two miles of my house!  Actually, it’s one of my favorite restaurants that I’ve found while living here (so far), be it Mexican or otherwise.  And their margaritas, well, they’re the freshest, least hangover-est margaritas I’ve ever had…bonus!

Since I’ve alluded to one beverage in this blog already (what?  We did??  Quick, scroll back if you don’t believe me), I figured out start there, and move on as I can.  Aunt Mary has already promised to teach me her world famous Bloody Mary recipe, so that’s a start.  Plus, I’m sure I’ll find at least one new recipe to try a month that we’ll love.

So, back to Mother’s Day/Father-in-Law’s birthday.  Remember this?  It was yummy.  In fact, the punch was a slightly tweaked Paula Deen recipe that Thomas found online.  Once we had realized that we had a lot more watermelon than we knew what to do with, Thomas started researching some recipes to make a refreshing punch.  We already had enough supplies for mimosas, so we needed something a little different.  (Still confused about what I’m referring to?  It’s in the watermelon in the top right corner of the picture.)

Und…Voila!



We connived convinced our best man, Manfred, to cut the lovely design in the top of the watermelon.  Thomas followed the recipe for the punch, MINUS the simple syrup.  The reviews online all said that the syrup made it too sweet, and then we ladled and enjoyed.

If it were up to me, we would have used this as a base for watermelon martinis, and maybe kicked up the tartness with more lemonade concentrate, but I love tart drinks, so that might just be me.  That being said, it’s summer, it’s refreshing, and any vehicle for alcohol is generally acceptable, and it’s even great without any booze.

Cheers!