CUCUMBER CHILL

After making my dill cucumber relish I had some leftover cucumber juice to use.  I decided a mixed drink was in order.  A super refreshing drink!

I am not sure what you would call it.  It isn't quite a mojito because we used vodka.  I am not exactly an expert on mixed drinks.  If there are any bartenders out there that know if this drink is called anything, let me know.  For now, I am going to name it a "Cucumber Chill".

No matter what it is called, it went down smooth.

Hamlin Beach State Park, newly renovated beach house to the right, new landscaping and walk.  Looks great.

CUCUMBER CHILL

2 cup cucumber juice
1 cup vodka
1/2 cup mint simple syrup*
1/2 cup lime juice
fresh mint leaves
lots of ice

Shake it all together. Pour and enjoy.

*Lots of mint, like 2 cups, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water.  Bring to a boil.  Boil for two minutes. Turn off heat, cover and let steep.  Chill in refrigerator and you are ready for any mojito or "cucumber chill" urge that comes your way.

Limeade

I planted my garden last weekend.  I put in a new garden bed.  I used cinder blocks all around instead of the wood this time.  I planted my marigolds in the holes that are in the cinder blocks.  I really like it.  Next year, I will make it longer.  After hauling cinder blocks back and forth from the Home Improvement store, I was at my limit.  Those blocks are heavy.  I could only transport so many at a time since they are so heavy and really weigh down the car.  Its been such a good work out though! Just in case you were wondering like me, a cinder blocks weighs 28 pounds.

Limes Away!  I love limes.  And usually the only time I drink lime juice is when I am having a margarita.  Why just in margaritas?  Of course, juice.  Enter Serious Eats.  Have I mentioned I love Serious Eats?

Limeade
Recipe from Serious Eats, adapted to my taste. You can also use this as your base for margaritas or use it in mojitos. 

14 limes
1 cup sugar

water

1.  Cut and squeeze juices out of limes, reserving the rinds.
2.  Refrigerate juice.
3.  Cut lime rinds into smaller pieces, pour sugar over limes.  Stir a few times over the next hour.
4.  Let rinds and sugar sit for 12 hours unrefrigerated with a cover on top.
5.  Pour juice over the rinds and drain off into storage container.  This is your concentrate.
6.  Put water in bowl with rinds and mix up trying to get any remaining juice and sugar off rinds.
7.  Drain into juice pitcher.
8.  Add more concentrate if needed.

Margarita

I am one spoiled margarita drinker.  Ask any of my family or friends who I have made margaritas for- they love them.  I am not saying this because I am boasting.  I say this because with the right ingredients, anyone can make a stellar margarita.  It takes some time and dedication to do it right.  Here are the keys to your margarita-licious success: limes (real limes), simple syrup, good tequila and Grand Marnier or Cointreau, salt on the rim and lots of ice. 

I can no longer order a Margarita from a restaurant anymore without first asking some questions about its origins.  If its sweet and sour mix- made-margarita, ick, yuck! I would rather have a beer.  Sweet and sour mix givens me a wicked sore throat.  Am I alone in this?  Does anyone else get a sore throat from sweet and sour mix?

Whenever you have extra limes and dont want to use them for whatever reason, juice them and freeze them in ice cube trays, this will make a very handy Margarita starter.

Margarita

1 cup lime juice, freshly squeezed, not bottled
3 ounces tequila
1 ounce Grand Marnier
1 cup simple syrup
Ice
Kosher salt

Rub a lime around the rim of a Margarita glass.  Place a couple tablespoons of Kosher salt on a plate.  Dab the rim in the salt, circling the glass so that you coat the entire rim with salt.  Alternately, if you have frozen lime juice, like I did here- use a dab of simple syrup around the perimeter of the glass.  Set glasses aside.

In a blender, mix the remainder of the ingredients together. Add the ice as desired. If you don't want it frozen just do it the usual way, shaking it up. Pour into prepared glasses.

Banana Matcha Milkshake

Note how the straw stands on its own.

This is delish.  My kids were a bit skeptical about that green stuff I was throwing in there.  Goodness gracious, not the dreaded green stuff!  But then I told them it is like their beloved Green Tea Mints from Trader Joes and then all was right with the world again.

The smoothies, milkshakes, whatever you want to call them, were gone in like 30 seconds flat.  Okay, honestly... five minutes max.  Mine was the one finished in 30 seconds, ahem.

The idea for this smoothie came from this site called, Kleinworth and Company.  I changed it up a bit because it way too thick- thick, as in I would never get it smooth because of my blender.
 

Banana Matcha Milkshake

2 1/2 cups of 2% milk
3 frozen bananas
2 teaspoons Matcha
3/4 cup chopped pineapple

Slice 3 bananas and freeze them at least 30 minutes.

Blend all ingredients together.  If you are like me and have a 25 dollar blender, you will have to keep sticking the handle of a wooden spoon down in there and mix it around from time to time (of course, with the motor stopped).  This is one thick shake. Don't be annoyed by this, it is totally worth it. 

Cocoa Shake

Seems like a lifetime ago but I use to be in Diet Workshop.  I remember drinking lots of Alba shakes to get past my sugar cravings.  I kind of liked them.   Do they even still sell these?  Hmmmm.  Well, yes, I guess they do.  Click here to order it. Wonder how I would feel about it today?

Seeing this recipe on Pinterest and the claim that it tastes like Wendy's Frosty, I knew I had to try it.  Well, I don't know what the people were sipping before they had one of these but I am sorry, it doesn't remotely taste like a Frosty to me.  Having said that, I would so make this again.  It is a light, chocolatey cold drink that goes down real nice on a hot day.  Kind of reminds me of the Alba shake.

Frosty Chocolate Drink

but not a Frosty

3 tablespoons cocoa
15 ice cubes
1 banana
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups almond milk

Whirl all the ingreidents in a blender.  You can add sugar but really it is fine without it.

Serves 3- a nice tall cool one!

POM-a-licious

The good people of Pom sent me a note and asked if I would like to review their product. I so willingly agreed. Why? Because I already liked POM. I can easily sing it's praises. It would also mean that they would be sending me a little stash of their liquid loveliness and I could create some POM recipes.

I already have made a few things and want to make a few more. So there will be more POM recipes coming next week.

The first thing that I made because I have been wanting to make it for some time now is a Pomegranate Martini. My inspiration came from Oprah's recipe but I will call this one my own because it is quite a bit differenet.

Now, you may be asking why I would take a healthy product (shown to be good for cardiovascular health, erectile function *yup* and prostate health) and add unhealthy alcohol to it. And I would like to say in reply, "cause I can, this is my blog". But no, what I will say is that an occassional moderate drink is actually good for you, I think, anyhow. It relaxes you and relaxing is very good for your body. Relying on drinks to relax all the time is probably not a very good idea but once in a while, why not?

Lori's Pom-etini
Lori's Lipsmacking Goodness

1 cup Pom juice
3 ounces vodka
2 ounces Grand Marnier
2 ounces simple syrup
spritz of lemon

Shake all ingredients together in a shaker with ice. Pour into 4 glasses- if you are really feeling indulgent, pour into two glasses.

Now, here is the redemption for my wicked ways - stuffed delicata squash.

Delicata Stuffed with Thai Sticky Rice, drizzled with Pomegranate Syrup
Lori's Lipsmacking Goodness

1 cup uncooked Thai Sticky Rice
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ginger
2 cups water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 Delicata squash, cut in half length wise with seeds scraped out and discarded
1/4 cup dried golden currants
1/4 cup walnuts chopped
salt and pepper to taste

In a heavy bottomed sauce pan saute dry rice in the vegetable oil. When the rice becomes slightly fragrant add spices, stir one minute more. Add water, place cover on pot quickly because it will spit and sputter violently. Remove lid and bring to a boil. Replace lid and reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Rice will take approximately 45 minutes.

While rice is cooking, place delicata squash cut side down on a cookie sheet and roast in a 425 F oven.

When rice is done combine 1 1/2 cups of it with the walnuts, s and p and dried currants. Turn delicata over, cut side up and spoon rice mixture into squash and return the squash to the oven. Bake for another five minutes or so.

Drizzle with Pomegranate syrup* and serve.

*Pomegranate syrup: combine 2 cups POM juice with 2 tablespoons lemon juice and 1/3 cup sugar. Boil and reduce to half.

If you want get really crazy I have to say that POM is wonderful in icing. It balances out the sugar with its nice twang. I did that here with Pomegranate Petit Fours. Since then I have become quite adept at cleaning them.

If you would like to find out more about the potential health benefits of Pom, check it out here.

MIX SHAKE STIR

The following article I wrote for Daring Bakers. Click here to see the Daring Bakers site and article.

Mix Shake Stir: Recipes from Danny Meyer's Acclaimed New York City Restaurants is the perfect book for me. I have been wanting to try different drinks instead of the usual Margarita or Gin 'n' Tonic. Not that I would ever give those drinks up.

I guess because I am a foodie who is always curious about new foods, then it would only follow that I would be curious about new cocktails. I'm not a big drinker but a tasty little treat of a drink is just the thing I want to help me relax on a Saturday night. Mix Shake Stir has just the types of drinks I want to try.

The bartenders that whirl the drinks together in Mix Shake Stir use fresh ingredients that are in season and encourage local produce as well. “Our menus are seasonal so we use plenty of fresh fruits and herbs, like lavender, in our cocktails during the spring and summer. In the fall and winter we might incorporate pumpkin, quince, pear, and apple flavors.” Eleven Madison Park bartender. They combine flavors so that when you sip a drink you get layers of flavor, rather than just the taste of alcohol.

The first drink I tried was the Cucumber Caipiroska (see pic above). It's made with cucumbers, lemon and vodka. I would have never thought to put that in my drink or even think to order it at a bar. The flavor was amazingly refreshing. I can so see a tall one in my hand this summer.

The next drink I tried was a Jack Rose. A mixture of Applejack, grenadine and lime juice. A little strong for me but I did like the flavor quite a bit. I added a splash of club soda to lighten it up a bit. It will definitely warm you up on a cool autumn night.

For a large party I made Sangria. I doubled the recipe believing that it would be amazingly delicious and would disappear real fast. Indeed it did. Very tasty. I used fresh pineapple in mine as it calls for 3 1/2 cups of fresh fruit.

While the book had many good features to it, there was only one downfall for me. The book recommends different brands of liquors for different drinks. While I do not have that type of money to have three different types of gin or vodka, it is interesting to know that they lend themselves better to certain flavors.

The nice thing about having a lot of alcohol available for different drinks is that it can often be used in many food recipes: Vodka for Vodka Penne Sauce, Sweet liquors such as Grand Marnier for a whole host of desserts and Rum for Rum Cake, just to name a few.

If cocktails are calling you like they have been calling me then I highly recommend this book. It suggests unique flavors to make classic, casual and fancy drinks. There is also a section for bar snacks. This book is sure to please the typical foodie who is interested in venturing out into the mixed drinks arena.

Summer Sangria
Adapted from Mix Shake Stir, Little, Brown and Company

6 cups Merlot
2 cups simple syrup
1 cup fresh orange juice
1 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
3 oz rum
3 oz gin
1 oz triple sec
1 oz brandy
3 1/2 cups chopped pineapple
1 orange segmented

Mix and use lots of ice.

Now, excuse me while I go try a strawberry ginger mojito...

MAD for MANGO LASSI

Mangoes are an amazing fruit. They are high in vitamin A and have good amounts of vitamins B and C as well as Potassium, Calcium and Iron. But all that doesnt matter to me as I am sipping this Lassi. All I know is it tastes amazing and the kids are loving it.

Speaking of kids. Never leave a 3 year old alone with a marker, even if you just have your back turned for a minute because they could develop marker-atitis. This condition is temporary but rather unsightly. It is characterized by strange and unusal drawings occuring anywhere in the body. Not excluding the scalp. Oh yes, we personally have seen it on the scalp. Guess who has a time out from markers. (maybe she has a future in pointilism).

MANGO LASSI

3 cup plain yogurt
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1 cup mango pulp
1/2 cup sugar
1 oz pistachios, ground


Whirl the first five ingredients in a blender. If you want it really cold, go ahead, add a few ice cubes. Sprinkle a little of the pistachios on top of each glass. This makes about 4 servings.