Pomegranate Margarita

This has got to be one of my new favorite drinks!  I have been on a real pomegranate kick lately, so this was right up my alley.  The recipe I found did call for Grand Marnier, but I only had Cointreau and a little less than it called for.  It also called for plain Tequila, but I had lime on hand.  For a bit of garnish/color I added some lime zest and peel as well.  And the last change I made was to use a pomegranate sugar I found for the rims rather than salt.  Since I did make so many little changes I am just going to list the drink as I made it, but I will still put the original recipe link at the bottom.

The color is gorgeous, the taste is smooth and tart/sweet, and it doesn’t have a really strong alcohol flavor which is perfect for me.  This is the sort of drink I could probably drink all night and not even realize I was drinking alcohol until it was too late.  My only regret is that I am now out of Cointreau and can’t make it again every night this week.

 

Serves : 2        Time to make : 5 minutes

Ingredients :

• 3 oz. Cointreau
• 3 oz. Lime Tequila
• 4 oz. Pomegranate juice (like POM)
• 4 oz. fresh lime juice
• 3 oz. simple syrup
• sugar or salt for rim (If you can find it, pomegranate rim sugar)
• limes and pomegranate arils for garnish
• ice

Directions :

1. First make your simple syrup.  Just add equal parts sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil and allow sugar to dissolve.  Remove from heat, and allow to cool completely.
2. In a cocktail shaker (or you can just stir them together) filled about halfway with ice, combine Cointreau, Tequila, Pomegranate juice, lime juice, and simple syrup.  Put on lid and shake vigorously for a minute to two.
3. Take a wedge of lime and run it around the rim of your glass before dipping in your sugar or salt.  Then strain the contents of your shaker into glasses filled with more ice.
4. Grate a bit of zest into the glasses or add wedges/slices of lime and/or fresh arils.

Recipe from how sweet it is

 

Chilean Salmon with Avocado Cream Sauce + Island Nectar

As promised last night on my facebook page, here is Chilean Salmon with Avocado Cream Sauce and a drink I made up to use the rest of the coconut water.  If you are following my facebook page (there is a button on the right hand side of this blog) you will know that I had a bit of a fiasco with this recipe last night.  Because I had such a thick piece of salmon, and didn’t want to cut it and take away from the photographic presentation, I ended up with a portion in the middle/bottom that wasn’t quite done.  Having the skin still on the bottom side didn’t help either.  It wasn’t a big deal though, as I just flaked off the parts that were done and then put the rest back in the skillet for a minute more until it was done.  It was quite the mess however since I had already put the sauce on top.  I suggest making sure your pieces are cut more reasonably though if you want to present a beautiful piece of fish on the plate.

The flavor of this salmon was fantastic!  The actual preparation of the salmon is very simple, but allowing the lemon juice to soak in a bit and then covering the top with a generous amount of course sea salt and pepper results in such a beautiful crust that is full of flavor and allows the actual salmon flavor to really be the star.  Topped with the cool, creamy, slightly spicy avocado cream dip this is melt in your mouth good!  As I mentioned, my piece of salmon still had the skin on one side, which can be nice for presentation if you like that sort of thing, but I feel like it kind of messes up the cooking process… at least in a hot skillet since it seems to block some of the heat from reaching that bottom side and making it through to the middle to ensure a fully cooked fillet.  It would also be nice without the skin to have the option to salt and pepper both sides for even more crust.

Note : my piece of salmon was quite wet to start, and I had forgotten to pat dry it a bit before putting the lemon juice on.  As a result when I placed in into the hot oil in my skillet there was a LOT of splash from the moisture which not only caused a disaster on my stove top, but also managed to give me quite a few little burns.  I imagine even if you do dry your fish off well before putting the lemon juice on it’s going to splatter a bit from the lemon juice so beware and consider having a splatter screen handy!  And here is another little tip when cooking fish in a skillet.  Once you set the fish down don’t touch it until you see the bottom is starting to brown and the color will start to change up the side of your fillet.  You want it to be about halfway before you flip it.  If you try to move it before it starts to crust over you chance breaking the fish or having it stick to the skillet.  Also, always use oil or non-stick spray and cook in a quality skillet.

Chilean Salmon w/ Avocado Cream Sauce

Serves : 2+                          Time to make : 15 minutes

Ingredients :

• 1 lb fresh salmon fillets (2 good sized fillets or you can opt for smaller pieces to serve more people)
• lemon
• course sea salt
• fresh ground black pepper
• olive oil (about 2-3 T.)

• 1 Haas avocado, about 2/3 cup
• 2 T. fresh lemon juice
• 1 T. finely chopped shallots
• 1/3 C. coconut water (I used Blue Monkey with pulp)
• pinch cayenne pepper
• pinch chili powder
• pinch smoked paprika
• 1/4 tsp. cumin
• 2 tsp. white wine vinegar
• 1 T. olive oil
• 1 T. chopped chives

Directions :

1. Pat dry your fillets and then place on a plate and squeeze the juice of one lemon over top and allow to sit for about 5-10 minutes.  Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat until hot, but not smoking.  Generously sprinkle your course sea salt and fresh ground black pepper onto the salmon fillets before carefully placing into the hot oil.  Cook on the first side about 3-4 minutes depending on the thickness of your salmon until browned on bottom and the color has turned light pink about halfway up the side of your fillet.  Flip and cook through.
2. Meanwhile for the sauce (It can help to have some of the sauce ingredients ready to go before you start cooking your salmon) cut open your avocado and scoop out the insides.  If you have never cut an avocado before what you do is take a knife and make a cut from top to bottom.  You won’t be able to cut through because of the pit, once you hit that sort of roll the knife around the avocado until you cut all the way around from top to bottom.  Holding both sides twist and pull and you’ll have two perfect halves with the pit in one of them.  I like to use a knife or spoon to pry the pit out at that point and then using a spoon slide it between the peel and the avocado and you can scoop it out in one swipe usually.
3. Place all sauce ingredients together in a food processor and blend until smooth and creamy.  Spoon over your finished salmon.

Recipe from : domestic fits

Now for the drink… I am calling it Island Nectar because the flavors are very “Island-y” and it has Guava Nectar in it… real creative I know lol.  As I mentioned on the facebook page, I just wanted to use up the rest of the can of coconut milk and figured some sort of cocktail would be the way to go.  I have a rather diverse bar in my pantry from all the various drinks we have tried over the years so I knew I could probably come up with something.  Unfortunately the ones I wanted to use, such as the rum were pretty low, hence the somewhat random amounts listed, but it actually ended up just right for my tastes.  Jeff likes a lot more alcohol in his drinks, whereas I am more about the taste, so if you are more like him you might want to add some straight rum or vodka to it so as not to change the taste too much.

So without a real plan I just started pouring things together and at first it was AWFUL… I mean seriously bad.  This was around the point that it was just coconut water and guava nectar.  I hadn’t really ever tried guava nectar before, but had a few cans lying around for a drink I wanted to try from Guy Fieri.  It is definitely not something I would drink on it’s own… So I knew I needed to sweeten it up and just started grabbing other things I had and voila it was suddenly good!  I don’t know how much this makes, but it about filled a basic pitcher.

Island Nectar

makes : 1 pitcher

Ingredients :

• 1 can Blue Monkey Coconut Water with pulp (or slightly less if you used some on the fish)
• 1 (11.3oz) can guava nectar (I found some called Jumex in the beverage isle at the grocery store)
• 1 can 7-up
• 2 oz. triple sec
• 6 oz. pineapple rum
• 1 oz. vanilla flavored syrup (like for coffee drinks)
• ice
• mint sprigs or lime wedges for garnish (I didn’t have anything on hand)

Directions :

1. Combine everything over a generous amount of ice in a pitcher and stir.

Day 144 : Margarito

With so much on my plate this week I just wanted a nice little something to relax with.  Based on what we had on hand this is what I came up with and I think it suits me perfectly since it combines two of my favorite drinks!  You get the fresh mintyness of the mojito mix, and the sweet/sour of the margarita mix.  Throw in a bit of alcohol and you’re set! lol

Anyway, I better get back to work.  So much to do and so little time to do it in!

Margarito

Serves : 1          Time to make : 3 minutes

Ingredients :

• 3 oz. sweet and sour mix
• 2 oz. mojito mix
• 2 oz. light rum
• 1 oz. cointreau
• ice

Directions :

1. In a shaker filled with ice, combine all ingredients and shake til well mixed and chilled.
2. Strain into a short glass with ice.

Day 134 : Nutella Shots

Ok, I know I did an alcohol drink yesterday for my blog, but as I was browsing recipes for this week’s meals I came across this one and just HAD to try it!  Nutella is one of the best things ever, and best of all I already had the liqueurs on hand!  Well sort of…. it actually calls for godiva chocolate liqueur, but I substituted godiva mocha liqueur and added a bit of chocolate syrup.  It is SO good, and would be great as a full drink instead of shots as well.  I really like the look (and taste!) of the nutella rim too.   This is the drink I would order for me and my girlfriends for ladies night so we could do lots of shots before we really felt the effects lol.  It’s not strong, but it’s also one that you gotta be careful with because you will want to keep drinking them and they will probably sneak up on you.

Beyond the above mentioned change I also used fat free half and half instead of the heavy cream called for in the recipe just to save a few calories.  I imagine it would be even better with the cream though.  I got about 8 shot glasses (1.4 oz. each) out of this.

Nutella Shots

Serves : 8 shots            Time to make : 5 minutes

Ingredients :

• 3 oz. frangelico liqueur
• 3 oz. godiva mocha liqueur
• 1 oz. chocolate syrup
• 1 1/2 oz. fat free half and half
• ice
• nutella

Directions :

1. In a shaker filled with ice combine frangelico, godiva mocha, and half and half.  Shake 15-20 seconds until well mixed and chilled.
2. Rim shot glasses with nutella, then strain drink into them.

Day 133 : Captain’s Nest

It was a great day today.  Had to take the little one in to the doctor to get his shots, but even with that rough start it was a good day.  The sun was shining, the temperature was perfect, we got some much needed yard work accomplished, went on a family drive, got a mocha from my favorite new coffee place, went out to eat, and found some fun decorations for our flower beds.  I decided to finish the night with some adult beverages to really relax.  I asked Jeff what type of alcohol from our veritable liquor store he wanted me to base the drinks off of, and his choice was Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum.

I looked on their website and this one sounded right up my alley.  According to Jeff it turns his “manly” alcohol into a girly one, but that’s ok with me lol.  The drink was pretty good, but I think it could have been a lot better if I had not used up the last of our fresh pineapple earlier today and been forced to use canned for this.  The pineapple juice is one of the prominent flavors of the drink is just nothing compared to fresh!  I also might have preferred my usual orange juice of choice (sunny D) over the more bland variety I used since I had it on hand from a different recipe.  Like I said though, the drink was enjoyable and had a nice tropical taste to it.

I just want to take a second to explain the picture tonight…. I was admittedly a little drunk at the time (had a large margarita with dinner lol) and I thought it would be great to push the pirate/tropical theme with a pirate’s treasure chest and other various items I had from Tahiti and whatnot.  I raided my jewelry box, my son’s rock collection and took his pirate chest to get what I have to say looked like a nice bit of loot!  And then I threw the tropical stuff in as well with the captain morgan bottle.

Captain’s Nest :

Serves : 1                Time to make : 3 minutes

Ingredients :

• 1 oz. Captain Morgan’s Original Spiced Rum
• 2 oz. pineapple juice
• 2 oz. orange juice
• 1/4 oz. amaretto
• lime slice
• ice

Directions :

1. Combine rum, pineapple juice, orange juice and amaretto in a shaker filled with ice.  Shake until well blended and chilled.
2. Strain into an iced filled glass and garnish with lime slice.

* as a variation… I made enough for two, and instead of 4 oz of orange juice (2oz per serving) I used 3 oz. juice and 1 oz. cointreau.

Day 125 : Derby Special

On a whim I told Jeff to purchase some cointreau last weekend without really knowing what it was.  I just knew that I had often come across it in my recipe searches and felt aggravated when I didn’t have any.  I remembered it being for things like margaritas is all.  Well it turns out that it is an orange flavored liqueur, and not a cheap one at that!  I already had triple sec on hand which is an orange liqueur but I must admit that the cointreau does taste a bit better…. sweeter maybe.

Since today is Friday I figured it was a good day to have a drink.  I searched through my huge book of drink recipes for those that called for cointreau and suddenly there were a lot fewer than I remembered and those that did call for it also required things like vermouth, brandy, or gin…. none of which we keep on hand.  I came across this one and it was the only one that we had all the ingredients for so that’s the one I chose lol.

The funny thing is that both Jeff and I felt that it tasted rather like a gin type drink in the end.  I was assuming it would be more like a margarita given the ingredients, but it was definitely more like a gin drink and something more for Jeff than I.

Derby Special

Serves : 1                  Time to make : 5 minutes

Ingredients :

• 1 1/2 oz. light rum
• 1/2 oz. cointreau
• 1 oz. orange juice
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• ice

Directions :

1. Add approximately 4 oz. cracked ice to a blender
2. Pour in light rum, cointreau, orange juice and lime juice.
3. Blend at medium speed until smooth.
4. Pour into a highball glass.

Day 90 : Midori Margarita

This doesn’t really need a long introduction… so I’ll be brief and get back to my drink lol.  It’s been a long week, full of editing, kids, and just life and it’s time to relax with a nice margarita!

 

Midori Margarita

Serves : 1       Time to make : 2 minutes

Ingredients :

• 1 oz. Midori
• 1 1/2 oz. tequila
• 2 oz. sweet and sour mix
• ice

Directions :

1. Shake the midori, tequila, and sweet and sour mix in a shaker with ice.
2. Pour over some crushed ice, and garnish with a slice of lime if you want.

 

 

Day 82 : Island Mojitos

Day 2 of not being able to get around or move…. so that means another quick recipe for tonight.  Sorry for another quick intro and review but typing is not helping my back at all!  I love mojitos, and have had quite a few different versions, but tonight I decided to just wing it and come up with a new one altogether.

This is a very strong flavored and sweet mojito.  If you prefer a less sweet drink you can certainly just use club soda, or cut back on the limeade, but once in a while I like a little sweet in my day. You could also just use fresh lime juice rather than the limeade, which would afford you more control over the sugar levels.  If you do that just add a bit of sugar to taste.

Island Mojitos

Serves : 2           Time to make : 10 minutes

Ingredients :

• green sugar (for rims)
• lime juice (for rims)
• 4-5 T. limeade concentrate
  
• 4 sprigs fresh mint, chopped
• 2 oz. pineapple rum
• 1 oz. coconut flavored syrup
• 12 oz. lime sparkling water
• ice, crushed
• sugar (just enough for muddling the mint)

Directions :

1. Dip rims of glasses into a bit of lime juice, and then into the green sugar.  Place in freezer to chill glasses.
2. In a small pitcher, muddle the chopped mint with a little bit of sugar to release the flavors.
3. Pour in the limeade, rum, and syrup, stirring to combine.  Add the sparkling water and give it another stir.
4. Fill glasses about 1/3 – 1/2 of the way with the crushed ice and pour drink over top.

Day 81 : Tiramisu Frappe

Somehow I managed to mess up my back yesterday.  Since the moment I got out of bed this morning I have been pretty much unable to move without pain, and after a day of having to chase after my kids anyway because they don’t care about my excuses, I was not up for standing around the kitchen all night to make dinner.  We had pizza instead, but in the spirit of not missing a day of my blog I decided to make a frappe.  It has been a while since I have tried one of the recipes that came with the frappe machine, and since I am in pain I decided to go all out and do the adult version.

Normally I make my frappes with ice cream or frozen yogurt, instead of ice to get a creamy texture, but the heavy cream does just as well.  Of course it’s far from figure friendly, and when using frozen yogurt I can go with fat free…. but after a day like today I don’t really care lol.  I have to say, this was SOOOOOO good, and really did taste like tiramisu!

Just for some fun, I made a very quick chocolate decoration to put on top, but since I was in a bit of a hurry and not moving all that well I didn’t get it all off the paper in one piece.  There should have been more steam lines coming from the middle.  As you can see I also slightly melted the edge of the handle…. but you get the idea lol.  My son told me it was amazing anyway!

Tiramisu Frappe

Serves : 1        Time to make : 5 minutes

Ingredients :

• 1/2 cup strong brewed coffee or espresso
• 2 cups ice
• 2 T. chocolate syrup
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup rum

Directions :

1. Put ice in blender and pour in other ingredients over top.
2. Blend on high until well combined and frothy.
3. Top with whip cream if you desire and a sprinkling of cinnamon.

Day 69 : Fern Gully

Not to be confused with the quaint rainforest that is home to the fairies, this is and adults only drink that packs a lot of flavor!  It’s another Friday night and my husband and I decided to unwind with a cocktail.  This one comes from a rather LARGE bartending cookbook my mother gave us a long time ago.  I was just sifting through the pages and the name stood out to me right away because of the movie…. and the ingredients though different seemed rather intriguing.  I wasn’t sure what to expect but both Jeff and I gave this a 4 star review.  It has a somewhat complex flavor.  You first notice the lime and coconut cream, but there is that hint of something else (the amaretto and orange juice) in there too that you just can’t quite put your finger on.  I can definitely see this served on the beach of just about any tropical location.

I used Sunny D for ours because that is my orange juice of choice, though I realize it’s probably not what they were referring to.  Either way it worked fine and you can use whatever orange juice you like.  I also used bottled lime juice this time so I wasn’t wasting a whole lime for a little bit.  I had never really tasted coconut cream before and it is quite good!  I am going to find all sorts of other drinks to try it on and maybe even baking lol.  Especially since I now have a lot left over from tonight.  I have never heard of Creme de Noyaux, but the amaretto seemed to work just fine, and for that I used my homemade amaretto.

 

Also from the book… here is a toast from the Philippines, meaning “long life” ……..    Mabuhay!

 

Fern Gully

Serves : 1        Time to make :  3 minutes

Ingredients :

• 1 oz. light rum
• 1 oz. dark rum
• 1/2 oz. cream of coconut
• 1 oz. orange juice
• 2 tsp. lime juice
• 1/2 oz. creme de noyaux (any almond-flavored liqueur may be substituted)
• ice

Directions :

1. Fill cocktail shaker with ice.
2. Add light rum, dark rum, cream of coconut, orange juice, lime juice and creme de noyaux.
3. Shake
4. Strain into a goblet or large wineglass.
5. Add ice

 

Day 62 : 8 Ball

TGIF!  It has been a long week, enough said.  Time to sit back, catch up on stuff, and relax!  No dinner recipe tonight because I spent the last few hours rearranging furniture so I could steam clean my carpets!  I earned this drink for sure.

I knew I was going to make a cocktail tonight, but I had no idea which.  I sort of searched recipes for drinks containing lime and pineapple since I wanted something refreshing and tropical.  I stumbled upon this one and figured I’d give it a try.  I used light rum, triple sec (instead of grand marnier), lime tequila (all I have and I prefer it anyway), pineapple juice from a can of pineapple, lime juice (the squeeze kind because I was too lazy to cut one up and juice it), and of course regular sugar though I have no idea how much a dash of sugar syrup is.  Jeff wasn’t a big fan, I think you have to really enjoy lime to like this one, but I though it was refreshing.  I do think I could have used a tad more sugar syrup though since the squeeze lime juice is somewhat bitter.  Add a bit of mint and this could really be good!

Best of all though…. I got to use our cocktail shaker!  LOL.  It’s just one of those things we bought for something long ago that never gets used.  It’s sort of fun shaking up your drink in an official shaker!

*Edited to add that I put a little bit of 7-up in my glass after I wrote this and thought that really helped sweeten it up while at the same time giving it a nice effervescence.

8 Ball

Serves : 1         Time to make : 3 minutes

Ingredients :

• 1/4 cup light rum
• 1/8 cup grand marnier
• 1/4 cup tequila
• 1/4 cup pineapple juice
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• dash of sugar syrup
  
• ice

Directions :

1. Fill a cocktail shaker halfway with ice, add ingredients and shake well.
2. Strain into glass over a few ice cubes.

Day 59 : Adult Iced Hazelnut Mocha

So a full week now of sickness in our house, and still lingering.  Seems today it was my youngest again that suffered the most….poor little guy.  When he’s upset it makes EVERYONE’S day hard though.  I figured it was a good night for a little treat before bedtime.  Typically, an iced hazelnut mocha is my go-to beverage when I want a little pick me up or dessert drink.  I figured why not take it a step further and have an even bigger treat that might help me relax a bit or sleep deeper tonight.  I had the three liquors up in the pantry cabinet, so I decided to wing it!

I think it turned out pretty good!  Although the name implies that it is a mocha, it doesn’t have a very strong coffee flavor to it.  Kahlua, though made with coffee, doesn’t have a whole lot in it.  I might have added more to this drink, but Jeff has a major aversion to coffee so I figured that since I was mixing it all together it was easier to leave it be.  Next time though I might take that extra step and add a bit more kahlua to my own, or even some fresh brewed coffee.  As always measurements are more like guidelines and you can always adjust them to your tastes if you prefer one liquor over the other.

I have to admit that when Jeff brought home the Chocolate Tequila Rose I was not a big fan.  However, mixed into drinks it is actually not so bad and I can see all sorts of uses for it in the future from drinks to desserts!

Adult Iced Hazelnut Mocha

Serves : 2             Time to make  : 3 minutes

Ingredients :

• 2oz Chocolate Tequila Rose
• 2oz Frangelico
• 2oz Kahlua
• 3oz half and half cream
• 4oz milk
• ice
• whip cream
• chocolate syrup for garnish

Directions :

1. Mix alcohols, cream, and milk together in a small pitcher and stir to combine.
2. To garnish glass, hold it in one hand at an angle and slowly pour the chocolate syrup onto the inside of the glass spinning it as you go.
3. Put ice in each glass, and pour drink over ice.
4. Top with whip cream and a drizzle of chocolate syrup.

 

Day 52 : Grapefruit Margaritas

Today is a great day for two reasons…. the first being that it’s my baby’s first birthday!  Happy Birthday Archer!  And as if that weren’t enough of a reason to celebrate, it’s also National  Margarita day, or so I am told at least.  I didn’t verify, but you never really need an excuse to enjoy a good margarita!

I am not a big drinker, despite the handful of drinks I have already shared on here lol.  I really only like a few different drinks and margaritas are one of them!  I like them traditional, I like them on the rocks, and I even like virgin margaritas.  I don’t much care for Strawberry Margaritas, but then again I don’t care for strawberry flavored drinks at all.  Today was the perfect day to venture out and try something new though and I remembered I had a few grapefruit that were going to go bad soon if I didn’t use them.  I have been meaning to try this for quite some time and I am so glad I did!  I love the extra sweetness the grapefruit juice brings to the party!  The recipe called for a salted rim…. which I LOVE about a margarita, but I thought I would go with a sugared one for this just to push the sweet factor.  I also used Lime Tequila because I think it is so much better than regular and I was putting lime into this already anyway.  This is my idea of a well balanced margarita, with the flavor not being overpowered by the sheer strength of the alcohol which I truly appreciate.  It also has a beautiful pastel pink fluffy appearance that would look so nice served to your girlfriends for a girls night IN!

WARNING!     These go down very smooth!

Grapefruit Margaritas

Serves : 2                 Time to make : 5 minutes

Ingredients :

• Crushed Ice (about 2-3 cups)
• 1 cup fresh squeezed grapefruit juice (about 2 grapefruits)
  
• 1/2 cup tequila (I used lime Jose Cuervo)
• 1/4 cup grand marnier (I used triple sec since I had it on hand)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 lime, juiced (cut other half for garnish)
• one wedge of lime to wet the rims
• sugar for rimming

Directions :

1. Juice your grapefruits into a measuring cup and add the juice of your lime, tequila, and grand marnier.
2. Pour juice mixture and sugar over ice in a blender and blend until nice and smooth.
3. Using a small wedge of lime run it around the rim of each glass and then carefully dip it into some sugar on a plate.
4. Pour margaritas into each glass taking care not to ruin your sugared rim, and garnish with a wedge of lime.

Day 48 : Toasted Almond (Drink)

Just a quick one tonight, because I have been running around doing a million different things to get ready for my baby’s 1st birthday party tomorrow!  I can’t believe he is turning one already (actually the 22nd).  Where does the time go?!  Anyway, amidst the chaos I found some time to have a little drink which was also very needed after a rather stressful evening…. let’s just say that true to tradition I had a few cake woes with them messing up my order again.

This drink is very good, and goes down pretty smooth.  I can see how you might easily overdo it on these lol.  I actually can’t believe I have never thought to try this combination before as those are two of my favorite liquors.  I bet they would be even more smooth if you used half in half instead of the milk but I didn’t want to be TOO bad lol.  So CHEERS, and here’s to a great party tomorrow and hoping it goes off without a hitch!

*Sorry for the uninspired photograph… my table is full of Little Dino birthday stuff at the moment lol.  I could barely find a place to set my drink down for a shot!

 

Toasted Almond

Serves : 2             Time to make : 2 minutes

Ingredients :

• 4 oz Kahlua liquor
• 4 oz Amaretto liquor
• 8 oz milk
• ice

Directions :

1. Combine first three ingredients stirring til well mixed, then pour over ice in two glasses.

 

Day 16 : Homemade Amaretto Liqueur

As promised, here is that homemade Amaretto recipe.  What can I say….. not only is it fun to make your own liqueur, but it’s generally CHEAP!  I don’t know how much a bottle of Amaretto goes for, but I am willing to bet it is upwards of $20 at least.  You can get a bottle of vodka for maybe $8 and most people already have almond extract on hand as well as sugar.  Put it in a fancy bottle, and you’ve got yourself a great gift for friends!

It’s not only cheap, it’s super easy to make your own liqueurs.  I have now made my own Amaretto, Kahlua, and Framboise….. I am thinking of possibly making Limoncello next.  Anyway, having had both store-bought and homemade Amaretto, I can honestly say this comes very close.  One thing I did discover is that it only gets better the longer you let it sit, so keep that in mind if you decide to make it for something.  The recipe as stated results in a clear liquid, so if you’re like me and want it to look like the real thing you can add a bit of food coloring.  To get a amber color I use about 2 drops of red, 4 drops of yellow and 1 drop of blue.

Amaretto, of course, is used in the drink I shared a few days back (Heston), but a couple other ways I have used it include over ice cream, in a cake, and even in a shrimp dish where it lent a nice delicate almond flavor that turned something simple into something romantic.  I love almond flavor and I am sure there are MANY ways to use Amaretto.  I’d love to hear of some of your favorite ways, for those that drink it!

Homemade Amaretto Liqueur

Fills about a 750ml bottle                         Time to make : 5 minutes

Ingredients :

• 3 C. vodka
• 1 C. sugar
• 1/2 C. water
• 3/4 tsp. almond extract
• red, yellow, and blue food coloring (optional)

Directions :

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, bring sugar and water to a boil for 2 minutes.  Set aside to cool slightly.  This makes a simple syrup.
2. In a pitcher combine the simple syrup, vodka, almond and food coloring (if desired) and mix well.
3. Using a funnel transfer to your desired bottle for storage and enjoy!  Remember that the longer it sits (and it’s best to at least give it a day or two initially) the better it gets!

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