Mistletoe Martini – A holiday favorite!

One of my colleagues, Michelle Reynolds, shared this delicious holiday martini recipe.

3 ounces Finlandia Tangerine Vodka

6 ounces of your favorite Lemonade

1 1/2 ounces Cranberry Juice

Squeeze of Lemon

Shake well over ice and serve in a sugar rimmed chilled martini glass.  For a pitcher of martinis:  use 1, 2, 1/2 ration and a few ounces of water.  You can play with the lemonade and cranberry if you prefer more of one over the other.  Delicious!

Licuado de Melon – Refreshing Watermelon Drink

It’s summer and time to enjoy the delicious taste of watermelon.  Looks like this summer is going to be a super hot one.  This watermelon drink is super refreshing and so easy to make.  You can make it the day before.  Serve chilled.  Thanks Céire!

• 1 small watermelon or half of a large one
• juice of 2-3 limes or more to taste, make sure to have some of the lime pulp
• about 1/4 cup honey, to sweeten
• up to 4 cups of chilled water

Cut the watermelon into chunks, discarding seeds.  Place chunks in a large sieve, over a bowl, and use a wooden spoon to press/mash fruit, extracting the juice.  Stir in the lime juice and sweeten with honey.  Serve chilled.

Mama’s Homemade Lemonade

I remember the first time I helped my Mama make lemonade.  First you should know, my Mama prepared 3 meals a day, set the table for each meal and the family ate together at the table.  She also squeezed fresh orange juice for our breakfast.  Need I say………Awesome Mom!  So, one hot Louisiana summer day were going to make homemade lemonade.  I remember saying, “That’s going to take a lot of lemons!”  I thought you would make it like orange juice….wouldn’t that have been tart!  We laughed and laughed  that day.  Those are the sweet memories you keep forever.  So on this Mother’s day weekend, I’m making homemade lemonade and thinking of my sweet Mama. 

1 cup sugar and 1 cup water:  Prepare a simple sugar syrup by heating sugar and water in a small pan. Continue to heat, till the sugar is dissolved completely. 

4 – 6  Lemons – (about 1 cup of juice)

4 cups cold water

While the sugar dissolves, extract lemon juice from 4 to 6 lemons.  You can use a juicer, but I use a use a wooden citrus reamer. Now mix the lemon juice and the simple syrup in a jar or pitcher. Add 4 cups of cold water. 

That’s it – very simple.   This makes a little over 1 quart of lemonade.  You could double the recipe easily.  I usually pour my lemonade into an old mason jar with a clamp closure – it looks vintage, keeps the lemonade very cold, and fits well in the refrigerator door.  A really neat idea – if you are having a few people over for a crawfish boil, cookout, etc., you could put your lemonade in individual mason jars with lids and keep them in a bucket of ice. 

Sweet Iced Tea with Mint

One of summer’s standard beverages is sweet iced tea, especially in the South.  My grandmother used to add mint to her ice tea – it’s so refreshing!

Brew 12 cups of water and 6 individual (not family size) tea bags.  To the hot tea add 6-8 mint leaves. Stir and let it sit about 5 minutes.  Then add 1-1/4 cup sugar, juice of 1 orange and 1-1/2 tablespoon lemon juice or 1/2 lemon.  This is especially good if you chill your glasses.  Remove the mint leaves before you refrigerate.

Bloody Mary – Homemade – just plain delicious!

It’s hard to beat the spicy bite of a good bloody mary on warm summer mornings.  My husband loves bloody marys and he likes his SPICY.  A proper bloody mary is garnished with a celery stalk; a skewer of olives, pickles, carrots, mushrooms, or other vegetables; or even meat or fish (salami, shrimp, etc.) and cheese. Occasionally, pickled asparagus spears, beans or okra and perhaps celery salt around the rim. There is no denying that this is the classic cure for a hangover!

For those of you who like to make your Blood Marys from scratch, this recipe is from the New York School of Bartending. 

1 oz. to 1 1/2 oz.vodka in a Highball glass filled with ice.
Fill glass with tomato juice
1 dash celery salt
1 dash ground black pepper
1 dash Tabasco
2-4 dashes of Lea & Perrin’s Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp. horseradish (pure, never creamed)
Dash of lemon or lime juice
Garnish

May be shaken vigorously or stirred lazily, as desired.

Fresh Peach Bellinis – My favorite!

It’s peach season and what do you do with all those juicy, ripe peaches? 

Nothing is quite as refreshing and thirst quenching in the summer as a Bellini. Created in Venice, Italy at Harry’s Bar, a place frequented by Ernest Hemingway and Orson Welles, the Bellini is perfect for the summer months when peaches are in season. Peaches paired with Prosecco make this summer cocktail an easy one for entertaining.  Use sparkling juice or seltzer for a non-alcoholic cocktail.

2 ripe peaches, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
1 bottle chilled Prosecco sparkling wine or Champagne

Puree:  Place the peaches, lemon juice, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor or blender and process until smooth. Press the mixture through a sieve and discard the peach solids in the sieve.

Place 2 tablespoons of the peach puree into each Champagne glass and fill with cold Prosecco or Champagne. Serve immediately.  Garnish with a peach slice and mint sprig.

Prosecco:  dry, lemony, and bubbling – Italy’s answer to refreshing, well-made, sparking wine.

Almond Iced Tea

This tea is so delicious and refreshing!  Everyone will love it.  You can make it ahead of time too.

 4 family size tea bags

10 cups water

Brew this in your coffee maker.

Mix the following ingredients together:

1 – 2 cups sugar (I use Spenda and it does take about 2 cups sugar.)

1 large can frozen lemonade mix or limeade mix (concentrate)

2 cups water

2 tablespoons almond extract

 Add brewed tea and pour in a large container and float sliced oranges, lemons or limes in tea.