Drink of the Month: Tropical Red Sangria

I love Sangria!  Not the nasty stuff you find in a plastic bottled labeled, "Sangria," but real hand-made Sangria prepared with a good bottle of wine.  

White Sangria has always been my Sangria of choice.  I like Red Sangria, but I always found it to have a weird flavor that I just wasn't a fan of.  I finally realized what the flavor was, it's Brandy.  It seems like most Red Wine Sangrias call for Brandy, and I do not like the stuff.  So I set-out to make one that didn't involve Brandy.
  
It took a couple years, and a few failed attempts that went down the drain, but I finally concocted the perfect Red Wine Sangria for me.  

Most Sangrias are comprised of four main ingredients: wine, liquor, sugar, and fruit.  
*Wine is the easy one, I prefer a dry-spanish wine in Sangria, but most any red wine will work.  
*For the liquor component I used spiced rum instead of brandy.  
*The sugar was no sugar at all, it was Simply Tropical by Simply.
*The fruit was slices of orange and lime (because it's what I had on hand at the time).

Finally, a Red Sangria that I can drink all Summer long.  

Drink of the Month : Drunken Mallow-Nog

Once upon a time I did 'Drink of the Week.'  But, then I got pregnant and had a cute little baby boy.  Therefore, 'Drink of the Week' is now 'Drink of the Month.'

Oh Christmas, the most wonderful time of the year.  I love everything about Christmas; the lights, the music, the movies, and of course the drinks.  

We are an eggnog house from the time Thanksgiving rolls around until after the New Year.  Sometimes we make homemade egg nog, but most of the time we buy good old grocery store nog.  It's great as it right out of the fridge, but it doesn't hurt to spike it every once in a while.  Afterall, 'tis the season.  

Spiking eggnog is as simple as adding a shot of rum, whiskey, or bourbon.  But why not spice things-up a little bit to make it seem more merry?

Start with a simple combination of your nog and booze of choice. I myself prefer very little alcohol in my nog because a little goes a long way; to each his own.  

Most people stop there, but if you want to turn your simple drink into a beautiful one for guests, light it on fire....seriously!

Add a few marshmallows atop the nog (I used large mallows, but I think small would be better).  Then grab your tiny kitchen torch and light it up.  As you can see my mallows were a little too crisp, but it made for a great photo.  

Once you get your mallows to the perfect melty goodness, grate some fresh nutmeg over the top and sprinkle with silver sugar.  

That's it!  You turn a simple boozy eggnog into a pretty cocktail on Christmas morning.  If you want to make it even fancier, put it in a 'Christmas Vacation' Moose Mug. Ha! 

 Merry Christmas Ya'll!

Drink of the Week #2: Tropical Jam Smash

When I think of summer cocktails I think of sitting on a beach, bare feet in the sand, with a tropical cocktail (umbrella included) in my hand.  Unfortunately, we have no beaches where I live; but at the very least I can 'pretend' I am at the beach by bringing the flavors of paradise into my home.  

I really do love tropical rum drinks but I steer clear of them because of the calorie and sugar content.  Wanting desperately to bring a little bit of vacation into my life I decided to challenge myself to create a lower calorie rum drink---and I did just that.

The base flavor of the drink was the easy part, I chose a seasonal berry that was on sale, blackberries, and muddled them with fresh mint from my backyard, plus a lime.  Of course adding silver rum came next, but what other liquid could I use to add flavor- a bit of tropical- and not a lot of calories?  I would not think of Pineapple Juice right off the bat, but it sounded so dang delicious.  So, I went on a scavenger hunt for 100% juice, no artificial additives, no added sugar, Pineapple Juice.  I finally succeeded at Sprouts in the organic juice aisle.  Perfect!  

Tropical Jam Smash

• 10(ish) fresh blackberries
• 5(ish) fresh mint leaves
• 1 whole lime, juiced
• Quality, Silver Rum
• Organic 100% Juice Pineapple Juice 
• Beverage Umbrella, Not Included 

1. In a large Boston Shaker muddle the blackberries with the mint and lime juice until all the berries are successfully smashed.  
2. Add 2oz of Rum and 4oz of Pineapple Juice.  Shake.
3. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer to remove all the seeds and pulp from the blackberries (they get stuck in your teeth if you leave them in the drink).
4. Return the mixture to the Boston Shaker with ice and shake, shake, shake.
5. Strain into an ice-filled mason jar (because you made jam....get it?).
6. Top with a spritz of soda water (for a bit of bubbly) and garnish.

Careful, this Tropical Jam Smash is sneaky.  It is so tasty and refreshing that you drink it rather fast, then you realize you want another one, but then the rum starts to kick-in...

Cheers!