Tag: summer drinks

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Elderflower

From cocktails to royal cake, Elderflower is all the flavor rage these days. The creamy, white-colored blossom of the Elder plant, a tree like shrub of the Sambucus genus, is found in abundance during the summer months in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Medicinally, it is rich in bioflavonoids and is known for its anti-septic and anti-inflammatory properties. But its more widespread use, is less as an herbal supplement and more as a sweetened, food/drink additive. Known for the delicate floral flavor that it brings to the pallet; it is commonly used in many British drinks and desserts (ahem…Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s wedding cake). And it is making its way around the world, especially here in The States.

Elderflower is said to pair well with lemon flavors as well as with certain liquors.

The most common Elderflower cocktail ingredient you will find is St.Germain. St.Germain is an Elderflower liqueur and it’s popping up in many a cocktail recipe these days. It is most often paired with champagne; but as a traditionally British ingredient, I’ve also seen it paired with Pimms. A more recent pairing trend that has me excited, however, is complementing the floral notes of the Elderflower with the earthy notes of the juniper berries that are noted in Gin, (my favorite of course!) Some lovely recipes that I’ve come across recently, combine St.Germain with vodka and lemonade, Prosecco, Pimms and fruit and as a simple additive to the classic Gin and Tonic.

Other Elderflower products you’ll find are Elderflower syrup – a simple syrup infused with the flower, to add the flavor but not alcohol – a great alternative for non-or-light-drinkers (also cheaper than alcohol). And some companies have recently released some Elderflower flavored tonics and sodas which are lovely. Fever Tree is one such company. If you’re not a tonic drinker, Trader Joes has a seasonal elderflower-lemon soda that is light and mildly sweet and lovely when paired with vodka or gin.

Today I made an Elderflower-Gin spritzer. It was cool and light and perfect for these hot July days.

The gin I used came from Watershed Distillery. I discovered Watershed Distillery in Columbus, Ohio during my last road trip. When I heard they made a gin that was getting quite a bit of notoriety, I knew I had to stop. Don’t judge, we took the kids to Jeni’s ice cream first! Watershed Distillery’s Four Peel Gin is a citrus-forward gin made with various citrus peels, cassia, Jamaica pepper, coriander and of course, juniper berries. I chose this gin knowing that Elderflower pairs well with citrus.

I combined the gin with elderflower syrup, seltzer water, a few drops of lemon juice, a twist of orange peel and ice.


But don’t take my word for it! Play around with it! Let your pallet be the judge! Whether you’re a champagne drinker, a vodka loyalist or a gin-lover like myself – Be royal for the day and expand your taste pallet with floral botanicals in your cocktails (or mocktails) this summer!

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Strawberry Wine

“I was caught somewhere between a woman and a child   

When one restless summer, we found love growing wild   

On the banks of the river on a well beaten path  

It’s funny how those memories they last 

Like strawberry wine and seventeen …

I still remember when thirty was old … “

Deana Carter’s “Strawberry Wine,” was a country favorite of mine when I was a teenager. Back then, it was the love story attached to it that I enjoyed. I remember belting out the lyrics in my room, in my mother’s home. I remember wondering if Boone’s Farm counted as strawberry wine. And I remember thinking “Well, thirty IS old.”

And then I got caught up in college. My musical tastes changed a bit. I no longer lived with my mother. And my free time for singing in my room, was taken up with four jobs and 18 credits/semester and boyfriends who distracted me. Love was less of ‘a fantasy’ and more ‘real life’ than it had ever been before. And strawberry wine wasn’t even a thought. Beer pong, shots and rum and coke were the tastes of my college days.

But before I could graduate, before I could even make-up my mind about life and love, I found myself, quite surprisingly, a “Momma” at twenty-one. Love was complicated and so was life. Walking the stage with a one-year-old, working nights, I was too exhausted to drink or sing or even think about how old I was or what music I liked, or what anything I liked. I liked sleep-something I never got enough of.

By my mid-twenties, life and love were starting to make a little more sense and we added number two to the brood. Within two months of becoming a family of four, we bought a house and got married. And then we got a puppy. I was chasing two tots now, plus a pup and still working nights. I was painting the new house and signing up for preschool. The only music that played back then was nursery rhymes and Nickelodeon tunes and the screams of my two small children. Every night I flopped into bed, again exhausted. And wine and age still didn’t matter.

At twenty nine, I started to find myself again. My husband and I had our first getaway, eight years after becoming parents, to Chile, to meet his family. Everyone told me how “young” I was, surprised I guess, at how settled I was for my age. And in the country where wine is cheaper than water, I fell in love with the fermented fruit beverage. We even found a winery in our home state that made wonderfully sweet fruit wine. Our favorite, was of course, Strawberry.

And now, in the later half of my thirties, somewhere amongst the busyness of career and family building, I passed that mile marker that I so often sang about. I passed thirty. And I know I’m not old. Yet, somehow I’m the mother of a high-schooler and a middle-schooler. And gray hair is beginning to replace my mousey brown. I’m back to four jobs again; but this time, each one addresses a talent or identifies a component of myself, instead of just serving monetary means-though that certainly matters as well! My body is slightly less tired than when my children were tots but my mind is overwhelmingly so. I like many genres of music. I have a few close friends. My family means the world to me. I don’t have time for bull shit and I don’t apologize for who I am. Fighting for the greater good is always important to me. And my vacations are just as fulfilling as my careers.

Love and life, I’ve learned is never mastered, ’cause it changes as we age; but I’m thankful that I have both lived and loved well.

I love wine, but I’m more of a Cabernet girl now-dark and bold and just dry enough to make you smack your mouth without tasting oaky. But sometimes my husband sweetens it up by adding diced strawberries and a sprinkle of sugar and turning it into Chilean Borgoñia (recipe post below).

A lot has changed in the last 20+ years, since I first sang those words. Life, love and motherhood have taken many twists and turns. Most of which, I could have never predicted. No longer a child in my mother’s home, but a mother myself in a home that is my own, with a husband that sustains me, the meaning of the words hold a different weight now. And the love story is less significant than the theme of loss and remembrance.

My husband will hear the tune come on and say “Go ahead babe, take it away….” He’ll turn up the volume and the kids will roll their eyes. And I will once again belt out the lyrics of “Strawberry Wine.” For those few minutes, I’ll remember what it was like when I was seventeen, “caught between a woman and a child.” I’ll remember those “restless summers” and the ‘bittersweet taste’ of life and love and the ‘loss of innocence’. And I can never decide if I feel closer to seventeen or thirty or eighty.

Whatever your stage of life, love, or motherhood, I hope you find yourself on your journey. I hope you take time to belt out lyrics. And I hope, just once, you taste the sweetness of Strawberry Wine.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Strawberry Wine Fizz

  • 2 cups strawberries
  • 2 cups lemonade
  • 1 TBS sugar
  • white wine, chilled
  • sprite, seltzer or tonic water for fizz

Blend strawberries, lemonade and sugar in a blender and pour the mixture into ice-cube trays. Freeze. Once frozen add a few ice cubes to a glass, top with wine and a splash of your choice of sprite/seltzer/tonic for fizz. Drink as is, or blend. I used tonic and I blended it.

This is light and easy for anyone to drink. What’s even better, is that ice cubes are non-alcoholic, so kids and non-drinkers can easily make the virgin version by simply leaving out the wine.

And as referenced above, a Chilean version of borgoñia using fresh strawberries and wine:

It’s Strawberry Season! Let’s drink!

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Grapefruit … the strangely large citrus taking over summer drink recipes

Grapefruit … it’s the big, awkward yellow ball in the fruit isle. Too big really to sit next to its other fruit counterparts; like a 3rd grader, in the Kindergarten classroom. It’s peel is an illusion to the fruit it hides inside – either pale like a lemon or bright pink. And unlike many others, it’s not a grab and go fruit. It takes preparation before consuming. A slightly tedious job, cutting out each individual segment of the separated halves, it’s almost ceremonial. The flavor is sour and bitter at the same time; but add a little sugar and I find it to be amongst my favorite flavors. It’s been a love of mine since I was a child and nowadays, I rarely take the time, but when I do, I always wish I bought them more often.

Famed for a diet named after it in the 80s, its been less thought of in the last 2+ decades. But this summer it’s big again and it’s making its mark in the drink world!

Deep Eddy’s Ruby Red Vodka is on fire right now! A sweetened and deliciously flavored vodka, it pairs well with tonic, sprite, and club soda or quite frankly, could be sipped over ice all alone! Throw some juice at it – like pomegranate or a berry lemonade for a fruity spritzer, use it to flavor a margarita, or even turn it into a mule by combining it with ginger beer. It really is a versatile liquor.

Grapefruit beers and radlers (a beer: juice/soda combo) are also quite the thing right now! I stumbled upon Shock Top’s Ruby Fresh and it reminded me very much of a grapefruit hefeweizen I drank in Epcot’s Germany pavilion. It was delicious and it had me wishing I could buy a 12 pack of just that flavor instead of the variety pack-but the other flavors were good enough too.

Then, I discovered that that German grapefruit hefeweizen I was referring to is made by Schöfferhofer and is now being sold in bottled 6 packs! So, I ran out to buy it as well. I love them and want to stock up in case they pull them after the season!

And while all of these are excellent and easy choices. I decided that I also needed an actual cocktail.img_4568

Here goes my version of :

The Charleston Fizz

  • 3 oz Red Grapefruit Juice (I used Trader Joes)
  • 2 oz of Gin (Tangueray is my go-to)
  • 1/2 oz Elderflower syrup
  • mix and top with ice and seltzer to taste

I enjoyed this cocktail for a few reasons. Mostly, it is my new preferred breakfast drink. As a grapefruit lover, I’d much prefer this over a mimosa. It’s not overly heavy or sweet. The elderflower syrup complements the grapefruit nicely without over-powering it. And for me, Gin is better than Champagne any day! The original recipe calls for fresh tarragon, which I didn’t have – not sure how that would change my opinion of the drink.

And for those who are looking for a simpler-to-make but worthy cocktail:

The Petite Fleur

  • 1 1/2 oz white rum
  • 3/4 oz triple sec
  • 3/4 grapefruit juice

This cocktail has been dubbed “an award-winning pre-dinner cocktail”. I find it lovely; but true to a good martini, it does pack a good punch. If you’re not a drinker … stick with Deep Eddy’s and a mixer.

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Watermelon Crush … get Greedy with Summer!

August is upon us!!! My beloved summer is more than half over…. No!!!! (Kicking and screaming) !!!! Why must the summers always go so fast! Well you know what they say about ‘all good things’…. I really need to see about moving somewhere more tropical!

While I can’t change my current state of residency (just yet) and I certainly can’t change the global calendar, I can make the best use of every last day of summer. I can soak in every last drop of warmth and sunshine that I can get myself outside for. I can appreciate the ease that comes with each passing day that I’m not assisting someone with their homework. I can count my blessings for the days that hold no piles of school uniforms to wash. And I can revel in each moment that my wardrobe is smaller and lighter than in any other season.

Soon flip-flops and tank tops will be exchanged for bulky coats and thick boots. And the fresh fruits and veggies we find a-plenty will begin to be replaced by frozen or canned varieties. Schools will resume and the busyness of fall and winter schedules will rob us of our leisurely afternoons on the porch when we can afford to just chit-chat and sip a refreshing beverage with our neighbors.

In the spirit of making the most of the time we have, I suggest you look-up your local county fair schedule, fire up the grill, hop in the pool and indulge yourself in all the yummy summer varietals you can. Before it’s all gone, I hope you get greedy with summer 🙂

And what says summer more than watermelon?!

I tried this cocktail first at an Out-of-the-Darkness charity event and I loved it! This super-easy and yummy cocktail has only 3 ingredients and is the perfect choice for a backyard BBQ or just a day at home with the fam. The kids and non-drinkers can easily make this a mocktail by leaving out the vodka and the whole crowd can enjoy eating the watermelon that’s left over, you’ll have plenty!

Watermelon Crushes

  • Sprite or lemon lime soda
  • Watermelon vodka
  • Watermelon

Fill glass about half way with chunks of watermelon. Muddle the pieces in the glass. Watermelon should now fill about 1/3 the glass.

Add 1/3 cup watermelon vodka.

Top with ice and Sprite.

Done! Easy peasy watermelon squeezy! Enjoy! And happy summer to you all!

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Mango Mojitos…add an element of fun to your every day!

Mary Poppins, my favorite character of all time says, “With every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. Find the fun … and snap … the job’s a game.” This saying is painted on a sign that sits on my desk.

When the kids started fighting and I looked around to see myself surrounded by a messy house and laundry mountains that reached my waist … I was faced with two choices … I could lose my shit, scream at everybody and make everyone’s day hell with a list of chores that they’d hate and I’d hate following-up on –or– I could find a way to salvage the day. I decided to go for the later. I sent one child outside to run a couple of laps around the yard and told him to pick me a couple of sprigs of mint while he was out there. I told my other child that she had 30 more minutes of free time and then we were going to start family laundry time. Advanced warning on chores always works better than “right now!”

Despite a couple of eye rolls, miraculously, it worked! While the littlest one ran around, I ran to the fruit bowl and the bar and began chopping mangos. By the time he returned with my mint, I was ready to complete my cocktail. They finished their free-time while I sat outside and had a mini-vacay, soaking in the fresh air and the sun while I sipped rum infused mango and mint. I felt like I was on a tropical island instead of in the suburbs. It was delicious!

Because motherhood can’t be all play …. I poured a second one to accompany my laundry-folding extravaganza. By then, the kids knew the expectation. We took over the living room with a laundry sorting game and they used team work to carry each load downstairs. Teaching them how to sort not just colors but also fabric weights and showing them how enormously annoying it is to inside-out everyone’s dirty socks are also life lessons, LOL. I let them go back outside while the first two loads washed and dried and then we put on a movie while we folded and rotated the remaining loads. They sipped smoothies while I sipped mojitos. We finished all of the laundry and no one managed to die 🙂 They carried all their laundry to their rooms on their way to bed.

Some days parenting is just surviving …. but other days, if we’re lucky and we play our cards right …. it’s a task well done, it’s a game well-played and it’s a cocktail mixed just right!

Mango Mojitos

Ingredients:

  • 1 whole fresh mango
  • 2 limes
  • 3 sprigs mint
  • 1 TBS agave
  • 3 oz white rum
  • seltzer water

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  • Peal and chop mango into a tall container or blender

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  • Squeeze two limes into the chopped mango
  • Add the leaves of two mint sprigs 
  • Add 1 TBS agave
  • Blend with an immersion blender or traditional blender

Blend well for a smooth drink with minced mint or blend lightly to be left with chunks of mango and a few mint leaves to chew on. Your choice, your life, Live it!

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  • Mix 3 oz white rum into the mango, mint, lime purée
  • Divide the purée into two tall glasses and top with seltzer

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  • Add ice and garnish with a sprig of mint
  • Enjoy!
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Out-of-the-box Frozen Drinks to help cool-off on these hot summer days

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It is Hot Hot Hot outside!

While I hate being stuck inside the hospital with no exposure to the outside world – no sunshine, no warmth, no fresh air … my days off, in the muggy 90 degree heat often feel like a shock to my system, like walking into an inferno. While bodies of water and good ol’ a/c do a lovely job keeping us cool on these hot summer days, a nice frozen libation is always a refreshing accompaniment!

I’m not going to bore you with the usual suspects like Strawberry Daquiries or Piña Coladas … nor would I ever suggest you use a mix 😉 Instead, here are some less common, made from scratch, out-of- the-box recipes, to help quench your thirst and cool down on these hot summer days. Obviously, you’ll need a blender. Enjoy!

All recipes make aprox. 2 servings

Frosé

  • fill an ice cube tray with rosé wine and freeze
  • sprinkle 2 cups of strawberries with 1/2 cup sugar let sit
  • blend the rosé ice cubes and sweetened strawberries with 1/2 cup vodka and a splash of grenadine

Watermelon Margaritas

  • 2 cups frozen watermelon
  • 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
  • 1/4 cup Cointreau
  •  3/4 cup tequila
  • blend

Snowball

  • 1/4 cup Godiva white chocolate liquor
  • 1/4 cup Baileys
  • 3 tablespoons crème de cacao
  • 3 cups vanilla ice cream
  • blend

Brandy Shakes

  • quart of good vanilla ice cream
  • blend with 1 cup Brandy

Blueberry Mint Gimlet

  • 1 cup fresh blueberries
  • 2 shots of gin
  • 1 shot simple syrup
  • 1 1/2 shots fresh lime juice
  • handful of mint leaves
  • blend with a large cup of  ice

Tropical Frozen Lemonade

  • 1/4 cup frozen lemonade
  •  4 Tbs Malibu
  • 2 cups crushed ice
  • blend and garnish with a lime slice

Pineapple Gin Freeze

  • 3 cups frozen pineapple
  • 6 oz gin
  • 2 oz simple syrup
  • 1 oz fresh lime juice
  • 1 oz pineapple juice
  • blend and garnish with mint sprig

 

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Pineapple Mojitos

Like most nurses, I work 12 hour shifts and I usually work my shifts back-to-back. Working those long shifts in the hospital keeps me removed from the weather outside. In the winter, it’s not so bad. But in the summer, I miss the sunshine and fresh air and my body starts craving vitamin D. This weekend was one of those stretches where I worked 48 hours in 4 days. I ended my stretch of days with a particularly difficult shift that reminded me of the fragility of life and the blessing that my children are, regardless of how difficult they may sometimes be.

Yesterday was my night off and with the weather warming-up now, you can bet I was ready to be outside! My husband loves mojitos and we had a pineapple sitting on the counter that needed to be used. 15 minutes of prep and 20 min to make some syrup and ..

… Voila!!!  Pineapple mojitos to celebrate a night at home, together! Delicious!

I ordered some carry-out, left my phone and the screens in the house and brought the speakers outside to listen to some Beatles music. The kids played with the neighbors while my husband and I sat outside and chatted. We even ate our dinner outside. Those are the moments that make life worth living …. the moments that we slow down and just enjoy where we are and who we have in our lives. This fresh summer cocktail was the perfect accompaniment to have in our hands while soaking in the last rays of sun for the day and appreciating the life that we have.

A couple suggestions:

If you like mojitos or mint juleps and you’re not growing your own mint … start! You can pick up a pot at any nursery or Home Depot/Lowes for a couple bucks. Plant it in an inconspicuous spot in the yard because it grows like a weed or in a pot on your porch. You’ll have fresh mint for the rest of your life! It comes back every year, the bugs never bother it and you can use it for a variety of food and drink recipes.

Also, if you’re unsure about this mojito recipe or you are counting your sugar intake … consider ladling the rum mixture into your glass first and then adding the pineapple syrup one tablespoon at a time, for each drink (rather than to mix the whole batch). You can control the sweetness that way. And, if this recipe is not your favorite … you can strain the pineapple out of the syrup and you have pineapple infused simple syrup to use for another cocktail like a pineapple martini 🙂

Lastly, if your kids are around and they like pineapple, you’d better buy two! This recipe uses 3/4 of a whole pineapple and it’s possible that you might just hear some complaints that you’re using “All that pineapple to make a drink!!!!” LOL

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  • 1 fresh, ripe pineapple, skinned and chopped
  • 2 Tbs brown sugar
  • large handful of fresh mint
  • 1 1/4 cup white rum
  • 4 oz lime juice (about 6 limes-squeezed)
  • Seltzer

Makes 4 drinks

  1. Cut the rind off of the pineapple and cut the flesh into chunks
  2. In a pan, add half of the chopped pineapple, 2 cups of water and 2 Tbs brown sugar. Stirring occasionally, simmer over medium-low heat until the liquid is reduced by half-takes about 20-30 min. This will become your pineapple syrup.

IMG_35733.  While the pineapple syrup is simmering, muddle another 1/4 of the fresh chopped pineapple and all but 4 sprigs of mint. I used a mortar and pestle but any pot and mashing tool would suffice.

IMG_35744.  Once the pineapple and mint are mashed, add the rum and lime juice. Muddle some more.

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  1.  Once the pineapple syrup is done and has cooled a bit, add the pineapple syrup with the soft, cooked pineapple to the rum mixture. Mash a bit more. -OR- if you want to control the sugar, add the rum mixture to your glass and add syrup a little at a time.

  2.  Ladle over ice and top with seltzer. Garnish with a sprig of mint.

 

(I found the original recipe on the Food and Wine website and then modified it to meet my tastes. This is my modified version.)