Cucumber Cooooooler

So I came across this drink while flipping through a recent issue of SAVEUR magazine - which was all about Texas. (ah hem - hint to kyle) It's getting quite hot and sticky out here in Tennessee, so it was time for a nice, cool, refreshing beverage that would be a nice cocktail for warm nights on the porch.
I tend to go for the drinks heavy on the mint, but cucumbers - what fun! Especially now that prohibition drinks seem to be the hot item - I think its about time I explore some old drinks! though not sure if this is exactly anything old... but its fun to think so.







Cucumber Cooler

makes 1 cocktail

• 1 2" piece of cucumber, thinly sliced crosswise, plus one additional slice for garnish
• 1/8 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
• 1 1/2 oz. vodka
• 1/2 oz. simple syrup*

1. In a cocktail shaker, combine the cucumber slices, thyme, and 1⁄4 cup crushed ice. Using a muddler, crush ingredients until slushy. Add more ice, vodka, and simple syrup. Cover, shake vigorously to combine, and pour contents into a glass garnished with a slice of cucumber.

*to make simple syrup, heat 1 c water with 1 c sugar over medium heat. Stir until sugar is completely dissolved, do not boil. Remove from heat, cool completely. This will last in your fridge for months.

The Perfect Bloody Mary Mix

It's a "good thing". Hint - its a Martha Stewart recipe with some minor adjustments. For Easter brunch - what better accompaniment than a refreshing spring cocktail? Sure sure... mimosas are delicious, too - but come on.. those need no recipe. Orange juice and Champagne. But with family in town (one who would probably enjoy a drink at every meal), a boyfriend who loves bloody mary's, and a dad who loves tomato juice... I figured it'd be fun to start a new tradition of a brunch cocktail for the holidays!
I remembered watching an episode last fall of the Martha Stewart Show, where she was coming up with homemade gift ideas - one being a bloody mary mix. I thought - that's a great gift idea! But, at the same time - it's highly perishable. So if I were to make it as gifts, they'd have to get it the day I made it, and then use it within 4 or 5 days. No thanks! So instead, I tucked it away for future use... and it came to me this weekend. I like it because it doesn't come off a grocery store shelf, its made from ingredients you most likely have on hand, and you can adjust the heat level. Thats the big thing for me - I can't handle heat! So here is your recipe...

Bloody Mary Mix
adapted from Martha Stewart
serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 4 cups tomato juice
• Juice of 2 large lemons
• 1 to 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 heaping tablespoon prepared horseradish
• 1 1/2 cloves garlic, passed through a garlic press
• 2 teaspoons coarsely ground pepper
• Celery salt, to taste
  
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
• Unflavored vodka, to taste
• Lemon wedges, for serving
• Celery sticks, for serving and munching

Directions:

1. Place tomato juice in a large container with a tight-fitting lid. Add lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish, garlic, pepper, and Tabasco; shake vigorously. Taste, and adjust for seasoning; the mixture should be quite spicy.
2. Pour 1 part vodka and 3 parts Bloody Mary mix over ice in a shaker. Shake well. Pour into glasses. Squeeze a wedge of lemon over drink (do not subsequently stir or shake drink), discard used wedge. Garnish with a large stick of celery (reserve extra stalks for munching) and a large lemon wedge. Top with some fresh cracked pepper and celery salt.

So to adjust the heat - of course just adjust the tabasco amounts. The only things I changed from this recipe were the addition of the celery salt, the cracked pepper on top, and NOT squeezing fresh lemon juice on top of the drink... oh and I used maybe 1/4t tabasco - and let Brandon use an additional teaspoon in his glass alone. So really - this is a highly enjoyable drink. I never used to like them due to the heat factor, but always wanted to - and now I can. Thanks, homemade bloody mary mix!

enjoy!

submitted by Lauren!

Brandon & Lauren's Version of Sangria

Yeah - So I call it our "version" of sangria - because we basically searched through a few recipes and came up with an amalgamation of sorts.. and I don't know if there is one "true" recipe for Sangria or not... Everyone has their own way of doing it. So here's what we came up with:

Sangria
serves way more than 2 people

Ingredients:

• 1 bottle dry spanish red wine
• 1/2c white rum
• 2c orange juice
• 8oz strawberries
• 2 Lemons
• 2 Oranges (we used one blood orange & one navel orange)
• 1/2c simple syrup (Or you could just use some granulated sugar)
• 1 bartlett pear
• Club Soda
  

Directions:

1. Chop up the pear, strawberries, one lemon, and oranges into larger bite size pieces.
2. Put chopped up fruit into a VERY LARGE Pitcher. Squeeze juice from one Lemon over fruit. Add rum, orange juice, and simple syrup. At this point you could let it soak for a few hours before adding the red wine, if you'd like. I took this opportunity to kinda mash up the fruit a little. Or "muddle" if you will.
3. Add the red wine.
4. Chill for a few hours.
5. When read to serve, pour over a tall glass of ice and add a splash of club soda.
   
6. Enjoy on a nice warm evening!
   

So the strawberries turned out to be a really nice touch - they give off a really unique flavor when allowed to soak for awhile. If the pitcher gets too full of fruit, you may want to take some out and put in a separate bowl and add back in later. Make sure you have enough room for the wine!

Posted by Lauren