Fruit Loopy cocktail

A blast from the past, but now in adult form.

My hubby's friend brought this over a few months ago and is now one of my favorite go to drinks.

Stuff you need:
-1 or 2oz Three Olives Loopy vodka
-2oz OJ
-2oz Cranberry juice
-Ice

In a shaker with ice combine all the liquids and shake a couple of times. Strain into a cup over ice or pour into shot glasses and ENJOY!

Raspberry Thyme Moscato pops

Yes the title says thyme as in the herb, but don't let that scare you. These by far have been the popular pops at the BBQs.

Stuff you need:
-3 T Spenda (sugar will do)
-3 cups fresh raspberries
-3/4 cup pink moscato (or ginger ale)
-6 springs of fresh thyme
-6 herbal raspberry tea bags
-Ice Candy Bags (below post tells you where to get these)

In a bowl combine sugar, thyme and tea bags. Pour 2 cups of boiling water over them and let it set for 5-8 minutes. Remove the thyme and squeeze liquid out of tea bags.

Add raspberries to a blender and pour the liquid mixture over the fresh berries. Mix until smooth.

Strain the blended mixture thru a fine mesh colander or cheesecloth. This needs to be done so we can remove the seeds. Then add in moscato and stir mixture together.

Funnel into bags, tie off and freeze. I was able to make 5 large pops.


Trying out some new recipes and hopefully will be posting them soon. So ideas are messing around with are mango habanero and blackberry lemonade basil pops. YUMMY!

Honeydew Kiwi Moscato pops

I've been wanting to make homemade Otter Pops, but could never find any bags. Then coming across an article about the Philippines I discovered a poplar item there is called "Ice Candy Bags". They are basically Otter Pop bags but BIGGER (2 inches wide, 16 inches long).  But, of course you can cut them down to a smaller size.

I did a quick search and found them on ebay! Seller bonposh sells them in quantities of 100 for $9.99 and S/H is $1.99.  I received the package in 2 days and was ready to make me some pops!

THINGS YOU'LL NEED:
-4 kiwis
-3cups honeydew (chopped)
-1/2 Moscato (non-alcoholic 1/2 cup sprite or gnger ale)
-Ice Candy Bags
-Twist ties, string, ribbon

Combine in a blender all the ingredients and blend until smooth. Using a funnel cup pour mixture into bags. Fill them as much as you want. If was able to get 4 pops going up to probably a 14 inch mark. Tie them off and put them in the freezer.

My pops were frozen within 5 hours. I had a BBQ and wanted to try them ASAP.  Best suggestion make them at night and they'll be ready come lunch/dinner time the next day.

TIP- When cutting kiwis, cut off the ends and then take a large spoon around the kiwi skin. Cuts it perfect everytime. (view images)

Tea infused vodka

I have a hard time sleeping and although it sucks, some of my great and most random ideas come from these late nights in bed.

I wanted to try tea infused vodka. There are so many unique ideas and I was thinking these would make great cocktails. I found at my local store a tea sampler and decided to use the mix berry bags first.

I used a large mason jar and filled it full of vodka. I'm a big fan of flavor so I used 2 tea bags. I folded it over the lip of the glass and screwed on the lid. I let the bags sit in there for an hour and was happy with the results.

Here are a couple of drinks I made so far:

I used a can of ginger ale and a shot of this tea mixture over ice.

A glass of OJ and a shot of this with some fresh berries in the glass.

Ice tea, with a shot of this and some blackberry simple syrup.

All of them were DELISH!!

Raspberry and Lavender simple syrup

Here's a couple more ideas for simple syrups. Keep in mind simple syrups can be used for a lot of things, not just cocktails.  Other things I use them for is in my ice tea instead of sugar, lemonades and ginger ales. You have endless possibilities!

Things you'll need:

- 1 cup water

- 1 cup sugar

- 1 cup raspberries (fresh or frozen)

 

In a small saucepan, stir in the water, sugar and berries. Turn stove top on to medium-heat & bring to a boil. Once to a boil, reduce heat to low-medium until sugar is completely dissolved (about 5 minutes). During this time you want to gently crush the berries against the side of the pan.

 

Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool for 20 minutes.

 

Strain the raspberries thru a fine mesh strainer or use a cheesecloth into a clean container. Refrigerate and store for a week.

For the lavender simple syrup:
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup sugar
- 3 T lavender flowers (dried or fresh) or Lavender oil works as well- 1/2 t.


The instructions are the same as a above. When the simple syrup cooled after a couple hours, I added a few fresh sprigs into the jar for decoration.


NOTE- the Blackberry and Peach recipes are on the blog as well.

 

 

Blackberry Simple Syrup

Things you'll need:

- 1 cup water

- 1 cup sugar

- 1 cup blackberries

 

In a small saucepan, stir in the water, sugar and blackberries. Turn stove top on to medium-heat & bring to a boil. Once to a boil, reduce heat to low-medium until sugar is completely dissolved (about 5 minutes). During this time you want to gently crush the blackberries against the side of the pan.

 

Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool for 20 minutes.

 

Strain the berries thru a fine mesh strainer or use a cheesecloth into a clean container. Refrigerate and store for a week.

 

 

I strained it into a measuring cup, so it was easier to pour into the jars.

 

Peach simple syrup

I love mimosa's and it was my turn to host Fancy dinner this month, but instead of dinner I decided to do Fancy brunch and I was going to have a mimosa bar!

 

I made 4 different kinds of simple syrup and they were all a success with no leftovers. We went thru 8 bottles of champagne and the syrups paired well with Blush, Dry, Peach and a Sweet Red Champagne.

 

 

Things you'll need:

- 1 cup water

- 1 cup sugar

- 4 peaches (sliced)

 

 

In a small saucepan, stir in the water, sugar and sliced peaches. Turn stove top on to medium-heat & bring to a boil. Once to a boil, reduce heat to low-medium until sugar is completely dissolved (about 5 minutes). During this time you want to gently crush the peaches against the side of the pan.

 

Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool for 20 minutes.

 

Strain the peaches thru a fine mesh strainer or use a cheesecloth into a clean container. Refrigerate and store for a week.

 

Orange beer

I went to a BBQ a couple of weeks ago and as we stopped at the store to pick up some treats and beer I saw some orange soda and for some odd reason I thought that would be good with beer. 

Well guess what?  I was right!

The beer we got was Shocktop, which already has an lite orange flavor to it. 

For this post all I had was Blue Moon, which was still yummy. 

I did equal parts of beer and soda, but this is your drink so make it how you like. 

 

NOTE- if you want more of a foam add the beer first. I found if I did the soda and than the beer you won't get that much of a "head" as you can see in the images.

 

Jalapeño Vodka!

This summer I want to try some experiments and my main subject will be vodka!

I recently got back from a vacation and we went to this distillery and we were served a damn good Bloody Mary. The secret ingredient was jalapeño infused vodka. Now I've done infused vodka with pineapple but this intrigued me. 

I got some basic vodka and 3 peppers to practice with. 

Steps:

You'll want to empty some of the vodka out because it will over flow. I took out about 4 shots worth. 

Clean and slice all 3 peppers. Add into the bottle; the skin, membrane and seeds.  

Let infuse for at least 3 days before serving in drinks or as shots.  (My hubby did a shot and said it was like eating an actual jalapeño.)

Next time I think I'll add 1to 2 jalapeños and some other peppers.

Next up.....tea infused vodka.  

 

Pineapple vodka

When we were in San Francisco last year, we went to Little Italy. We came across this bar that had a huge jar of pineapple on the bar filled with vodka. We ordered a couple of shots and man was this stuff delicious. You couldn't even taste the vodka, which can get a person in trouble.

Well we have been wanting to throw a summer party, but time got away from us. So we are throwing a "End of summer, holy shit it's fall" party.

I decided to make the pineapple vodka and it's been marinating for a few weeks now. The little sips I sample are tasting rather good.

The bartender told me that the fruit can stay in there for about 2 months limit, before it should be changed. I can't wait for our friends to try this. I do recommend if you make this, have a 2 shot limit.