To me, Valentine’s Day is vibrant red and cinnamon flavored. Without that bright and bracing flavor, I have not really DONE Valentine’s Day. As such, I feel that anything presented as Valentine’s specific should be dark red and filled with hot cinnamon-y goodness.

Today’s Designated Driver Drink delivers a fantastic dose of spicy red that is sure to delight kids and kid-at-heart adults.

Big Red Cinnamon Cocktail for the kids

• Big Red Soda (you can substitute Mountain Dew Code Red if you can’t get Big Red)
  
• 2 small boxes cherry Jello gelatin
• 1 1/4 C boiling water
• 1 drop cinnamon oil (Lorann is a good source)

1. Put two boxes of jello gelatin into 1 1/2 C boiling hot water and mix until dissolved.
2. Add drop of cinnamon oil.
3. Pour into your favorite mold or a flat pan to set up for 3 hours in the refrigerator.
4. Cut jello into desired shape and add to a serving glass.
5. Pour soda over the top of jello and serve with other Valentine’s decadence.

If you would like a cinnamon flavored drink for the over 21 age group try a “Big Red” Cocktail. This recipe uses Cinnamon Goldschlager, a liquor that has gold flakes floating lazily about in it’s depths, a schnapps I love because its so darn pretty.

Liquid Big Red

• 2 oz Goldschlager cinnamon schnapps
• 2 oz Jagermeister herbal liqueur
• 12 oz Dr. Pepper soda

1. Pour Goldschlager and Jagermeister over ice in your most festive glass.
2. Add Dr. Pepper until it reaches the top, taking care to not let it foam the cinnamon goodness over the top.

One bit of trivia for you: The company that makes Goldschlager had to reduce the amount of gold flecks it puts into the formulation because people were having reactions to the gold, an element that is supposed to have no effect on our bodies. (see this PubMed link for studies)

Drink in moderation as this mixture is sure to go to your head in a schnapp.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Without a doubt, January is a time of fighting the winter doldrums. Many across the northern tier states are having a wicked trying winter with unusual amounts of snow while we have been oddly warm but very dark and dreary with non-stop fog here in New England. For many of us, thinking of tropical climes can be a treacherous thing unless you have the means to jet off to the Caribbean, South America, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia or other reasonable locations.

Without such options, I am left with a trip to my local Latino market to get a taste of my childhood. I remember visiting relatives in Colombia for Christmas and experiencing equatorial weather and foods. One refreshing sort of drink comes to mind: the fruit shakes made from tropical fruits (frescos de frutas) like guava, mangos, guanábana, and berries such as blackberries.

In the parks of Pereira and on the coast of Colombia (cities like Cartagena, Santa Marta, Tolú, and Barranquilla), street vendors can be found whipping these drinks up to order. Back in the 60s, they would serve the shakes up in glasses that you would use and then give back to the vendor who would then rinse it out for the next patron. Its likely this has changed since then! Nearby, food vendors can be found selling things like empanadas, yucas fritas, chontaduros (roasted and salted acacia tree fruit, sort of tastes like chestnuts), candied fruits, and simply divine roasted ears of corn (mazorca asada).

These frescos de frutas are not only rejuvenating, they are also loaded with Vitamin C and other antioxidants. You can make it like they do in Colombia (see below) or you can get creative and add your favorite smoothie amendments.
You can buy most of these as fruit pulps (stored in frozen packs) like you see below in your Latino grocery store.

Copyright 2007 Nika Boyce

Mora Shake

• 1 14 oz. pack of Blackberry (Mora) fruit pulp - FROZEN (do not thaw)
• 1 C ice
• 1 C cold milk (do not use whole milk, this really wants 2% or 1%, skim would not hurt)
• 1/2 C sugar

Put fruit pulp, sugar, milk, and ice in blender and blend until well mixed. You may need to add a bit more milk to get the consistency you desire. You also might need to stop and open the blender a couple of times to force the unblended chunks down into the base for proper blending.

Copyright 2007 Nika Boyce

I hope you take the time to hunt down some of these fruit pulps and give a try at making your own frescos. You can’t go wrong!

This month’s drink for the Designated Driver is actually much more for the sugar-addicted than any other drink I have written about here before. I would be afraid to guess how many calories it might contain. It is honestly only for hard-core fluff lovers and adventerous adults and children.

I decided on this concept when I was making some rice crispies christmas cookies earlier this month.

The fluff you use to make those cookies is really an amazing compound material. While it was cooking in the pan, it sort of deflated and became less than it was so I wanted to see what I could do with it that kept its glorious color and texture.

I surfed over to the official Fluff site and found their online cookbook (PDF) with all sorts of high-caloric nefarious recipes! This is actually the 9th edition of the Yumybook, the first was published in 1930! On page 13 are their “shakes”, drinks made from fluff, milk, and various amendments. I extended the concept and created the Peppermint Fluff Martini in this post. I am sure you can come up with your own favorite variation!

This recipe could benefit from the addition of peppermint schnapps if you were so inclined. I am working on one made with kaluha myself.

Peppermint Fluff Martini

The Yummybook directions call for the use of a blender, I used a stick immersion blender instead. It works just fine.

• 2 tablespoons fluff
• 2/3 C cold milk (I used 1% because thats what I had, didn’t effect it negatively. Might not want to go with the cream, not sure if that would be too fatty and cause pools of fat on the top of the drink)
• Crushed pepermint sticks
• 1 peppermint stick, dipped in melted chocolate
• red food coloring
• Lorann natural peppermint oil

Into a tall narrow mixing container add the fluff, milk, and 1 drop peppermint oil.

Mix until all fluff lumps are gone.

Split mix in half and add red coloring to one half, mix until incorporated.

Layer the white and pink fluff with additional peppermint chunks throughout.

To decorate top edge of glass (as shown), before assembling the drink dab a small amount of fluff on the edge and then dredge in finely crushed peppermint candy.

Finish with chocolate dipped peppermint stick.

Give to your loved ones. They will be lucky to finish one of these.

Resources:
Rumple Minze Peppermint Schnapps
Fluff
Lorann Oils

(Pumpkin Pie Cappuccino © 2006 Nika)

My perfect thanksgiving would have a complete lack of turkey meat and loads of desserts, especially pumpkin pies. I am allergic or super sensitive to baked turkey so if I eat any leftovers, I become lost in a world of pain and freaky hallucinations.

I am much more into sides, desserts, and the drinks.

I have designed this month’s “Designated Driver Drink” to do at least double duty: provide a decadent drink that starts off the Thanksgiving holiday with a turbo-caloric bang (something we all need right?) and satisfy the pumpkin pie craving. There is nothing light, dainty, or delicate about this drink. It is meant to be deeply satisfying in a purely hedonistic way. The use of pumpkin as a drink base is practically a mandatory meme in the food blogosphere these days. A Nice Cuppa has a similar coffee based drink, give it a try!

If you find yourself having a cold Thanksgiving, serve these piping hot when the kids and adults come in from playing outside. This drink has no caffeine so it’s fine for the kids. The adults might appreciate a little addition of original Kahlua or perhaps Kahlua Especial, a darker and richer handcrafted formulation that might stand up better to the flavor-dense pumpkin base of this drink.

Pumpkin Pie Cappuccino

• 1 can of pumpkin (Use the kind with no added ingredients, as sold for making pumpkin pies. Make your own from scratch if you like!)
• 3/4 can sweetened condensed milk
• Baked Puff Pastry or pie pastry rounds (sized to fit in the cup)
• Whipped cream to garnish (Use your favorite - homemade, cool whip or from the can!)
• Pumpkin Pie spices - nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, all up to you. Try not to make it taste like chai though.

Directions:
Preheat oven to temperature suggested on dough package. Cut dough into rounds that are just small enough to fit in the top of your serving glasses. Bake until a golden brown. Set aside to cool.

In a sauce pan, put 1 can of pumpkin pie filling, 3/4 can sweetened condensed milk, and spices. Whisk to mix.
Heat until desired temperature. If the consistency is too thick for you, thin with some cream or milk. If it is too thin, add pumpkin pie filling until it is as you desire it.

Pour the heated mixture into heat safe irish coffee mugs, top with the pie dough round, whipped cream and sprinkle with cinnamon or powdered chocolate. If you want to spike this drink with a liqueur, add it to the drink in the pan, off the heat and before poured into the mugs. Use a whisk to incorporate the liqueur.

(Cream tartlets © 2006 Nika)

If this is an early afternoon snack for a Thanksgiving feast that is served at night, you might want to offer something along with the Pumpkin Pie Cappuccinos. I suggest something less flavor intense such as these very simplistic cream tarlets. If you feel they are too simple you might want to add a filling such as chunky cranberry sauce or perhaps some pudding for the kids.

Cream Tartlets

• Prepared pie dough or your secret recipe homemade kind
• Filling if desired (Be creative. Make some homemade chunky cranberry sauce or maybe some orange marmalade, up to you)
• Whipped cream

Directions:
Thaw pie dough to a cool pliable room temperature.

Preheat oven to temperature suggested on dough package.

Spray a mini-muffin tin with cooking spray.

Using a round cookie cutter, cut rounds from the pie dough that just fit inside the mini-muffin tin wells.

Press the dough into the wells and then poke holes through the dough all around and on the bottom. This keeps the dough from simply puffing up into odd shapped puffy non-shells.

Bake until lightly brown. You will need to watch them as they will cook sooner than the pie dough package suggests (they are much smaller than a regular sized pie).

Cool.

Add desired filling and the top off with pretty dollops of whipped cream.

Sprinkle with desired topping such as powdered chocolate (if you used chocolate pudding or ganache as a filling) or perhaps cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice.

Serve immediately.

Some Ingredient Resources:

• Edinburgh Orange Marmalade with Whisky Liqueur
• Original Kahlua
• Kahlua Especial

What wiggles, jiggles, and tickles the nose? Without exploring all THAT could describe (this IS a site rated for all audiences), here I am talking about a gruesome cadaveric drink, floating jello fingers with veins included, that is actually composed of a delightful sparkling apple cider. Something about the jello with Twizzlers makes the cider turn a toxic yellow that will surely delight any child.

By letting the kids participate in the making of the jello fingers (or hand or foot or eyeballs or whatever floats their boats) as well as the suggested witches finger cookies (see below), they get to expand on the Halloween fun beyond one night of romping in the dark.

Sparkling Cadaver Cider Cocktails

Ingredients:

Sparkling apple cider (can substitute with apple cider and soda water or ginger ale)
Desired body part (we constructed jello fingers, do what makes you all gross out maximally)

 

Ingredients:

1 roll of prefab white sugar cookie dough from the dairy case
red fruit leather (for the nails)
extra all purpose flour

Directions:

Work some extra flour into the cookie dough to stiffen it so that it doesn’t flatten much during cooking.

Form into small finger sized logs and then shape them with knuckles and such. You can add food coloring to make them look even more disgusting if you feel the need.

Cut out nail shaped bits of fruit leather and apply to the fingers, where appropriate.

Bake as per directions on the dough package, until cookies are done.

Serve with the cadaver drinks above.

 

A good sangria is like an attentive partner on your journey into an agreeable evening. The first sips are scintillating, the fruit sings and delights. Soon it is time for tapas or other favorite snacks, priming the appetite for what is to come or to buffer the insides for an evening of bar hopping.

A good sangria can be deceptively mild in its intoxicating abilities. For those of us who are the designated teetotaler (as I usually am), a virginal sangria will have to suffice. I like the following recipe because it skirts somewhat closely to the “spirit” of a sangria, but is non-alcoholic.

To me, this means that I miss out on the truly amazing Spanish wine one should use in an alcoholic sangria, but it also means I can enjoy a very refreshing sangria all night long.

Ingredients:
Your favorite fruits (I used red delicious apples, oranges, plums, and peaches), sliced artistically
3/4 C homemade grenadine (Pomegranate syrup)
4 C 100% Cranberry Juice
4 C Ginger Ale, cold

Directions:
The day before you wish to serve this sangria do the following:
In a large bowl place sliced fruits, cover with the cranberry juice and the pomegranate syrup.

Refrigerate overnight. Also have the ginger ale cooling in the fridge.

At service:
In an attractive serving pitcher add ice and the 4 cups of ginger ale.

To this add fruit chunks and the soaking liquid. Serve and enjoy.

You may wish to nibble on some quality olives, a strong sausage, and a favorite cheese. This snack would be a good culinary venue to buy some Spanish imports for experimentation. Don’t buy a lot and if you don’t like a certain product, you have given it a try but not spent the farm on it.

Sangrias have been discussed previously here on the Well Fed Network, check out these links too:

Cucumber, Ginger and Sake Sangria & Fresh Vegetable Spring Rolls

Sparkling Sangria and Seared Shrimp

White Wine Strawberry Sangria (aka Mom Juice)

Sangria: Fun and Festive Recipes

Sangria & Ribs

I have been playing with non-alcoholic drink possibilities that are not too onerous to concoct but that are somewhat different from the usual. The heat here in rural MA has backed off slightly and there is some hope for more comfortable days. Certainly 80s is better than 105 in the shade!

I also wanted to make a bit of a foray into the syrups that are used to make many classic cocktails. I chose Grenadine and set off to the liquor store to find it.

Let me tell you, you have to either be oblivious or have a big ego to not notice the stares you get when you walk into a liquor store 7 1/2 months pregnant with your 9 year old in tow.

To compensate for being there I bought all these extra non-alcoholic items like peppery bacon and cheeses and more. Didn’t help because people were looking at my tummy and not my bacon snacks in the cart!

Anyway, I look at the list of ingredients on the grenadine bottle when I get home and no where is there mention of actual juice, let alone pomegranate juice.

This was a sad thing for me because I was under the impression that grenadine was a pomegranate syrup. This syrup sure didn’t taste very good either. It reminded me of a really cheap snow cone.

At this point I decided that pomegranate juice is not that hard to get a hold of and I set out to make my own grenadine. It is well worth the small trouble as it tastes completely different.

To make homemade Grenadine do the following:

Ingredients:

white sugar
100% pomegranate juice

Directions:

Simmer 1 part sugar and 1 part pomegranate juice for about 10 minutes on medium. You want the sugar to dissolve and for the syrup to reduce slightly.

Allow to cool and then experiment with your favorites. Some of the almost 600 cocktails using grenadine, with recipes, can be found here on The Spirit World or at this WebTender link.

I used my new grenadine to make Grenadine Lemonades, a recipe I conjured myself.

Ingredients:

1/2 C fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 C freshly made and cooled grenadine syrup
ice cubes
1 C cold sprite, seltzer water, or ginger ale to taste. (amount depends on size of serving glass, mine was a pub glass)
lemon slices, lime slices and frozen blueberries to garnish.

Directions:

Chill all juice, syrup, and soda.
Fill glass with ice cubes (I froze some blueberries into my cubes), add soda to 1/2 point, add juice and grenadine and then top off with soda. Mix gently. Add garnishes if desired.

A Bloody Mary can be a resplendent experience but not if a store bought mix is used. That really just negates the whole concept of a summertime tomato based drink. Why waste your time with the mix when there is a wide selection of fresh tomatoes calling out to be transformed into the perfect drink. In the average grocery store you should find not just red run-of-the-vine tomatoes but scintillating yellow and orange ones.

I have put together the following concoction for you to spread your tomato essence wings. It is up to you whether you wish to add the distilled spirits.

Radiant Bloody Marys

Ingredients:

Freshly juiced tomato juice, 4 oz. (red, yellow, and orange, as you desire)
Horseradish 1/8 tsp
Minced garlic 1/8 tsp
Fresh squeezed lemon juice, 1/2 tsp
Sea salt, pinch
Chopped cilantro, 1/4 tsp, to taste
Tabasco, to taste
Bunch of fresh cilantro

Directions:

I used our juicer for the tomato juice but if you do not have one do the following. Cut up the tomatoes, run through the blender, and filter out skins and seeds. With the juicer there may be some separation of the lighter stuff from clear liquid. Mix the juice before serving.

Combine tomato juice, horseradish, garlic, lemon juice, chopped cilantro leaves, Tabasco sauce to taste, and pinch of salt; mix well. A blender is not really necessary. Pour into serving glass (ice is up to you) and garnish with cilantro.

Seen below served with my summertime tomato tarts.

Father’s Day seems to have become this sort of grunge-fest of heavy foods and beer. It would not do to celebrate it in other ways but some of us need a break from the hunks-o-meat and savory beers. To me, these things are better suited to cooler weather, like October, but what can you do!

Nevertheless, it would be great to offer your guests a tropical alternative to the beer and I propose the following cocktail as one that could just as easily be served with or without alcohol. It is a tart drink that can be sweetened to taste, experiment with it!

Tart Summertime Kiwi-Lime-Ginger Cocktail
Juice of 1/2 a lime, freshly squeezed
1 kiwi fruit, diced with some larger chunks for garnish
1\4 tsp finely minced ginger
Dash of salt (if desired)
slightly crushed small piece of ginger
3 Tablespoons simple sugar syrup (1:1)
8 oz. Ginger Ale
Ice
Kiwi and lime rind for garnish

Rub lip of chilled tumbler with ginger, drop into cup. Add ice. In a separate mixing container, add sugar syrup, dash of salt, minced ginger, diced kiwi, and lime juice; mix well. Pour ginger ale into chilled tumbler, and pour juice mix over soda, making sure to swirl minced ginger and kiwi back into suspension first. Garnish with kiwi and/or lime rind. Enjoy!

Let me know if you try this drink as I have concocted this one on my own. Also, let me know if you can think of a snappy name, if it’s kewl I will showcase it on my blog (let me know if you want or do not want me to use your name or URL).

In such a place, you are likely to need cooling libations that bring relief to a perspiring (never sweating) brow and an excuse to sit on the porch and relax after weeding the garden.

For such a moment and such a far-away place, I recommend a non-alcoholic Pineapple Mint Tulip

Ingredients:
1 C Pineapple juice (make it fresh for better flavor)
2 TBS sugar, powdered
1 TBS grenadine*
1 small bunch of fresh Mint, as much as desired
Ice cubes, as many as desired

Directions:
Mix juice, sugar, and grenadine together well. Rub mint leaves on the inside of your glass, fill 1/2 way with ice and top off with your juice mix.

* About Grenadine (grenadine syrup) is a blood-red, strong syrup made from pomegranates. It is the number one among fruit syrups, and is used in many cocktails not only for sweetening, but also to give them a red color.

Grenadine syrup for use in a bar is usually bought on bottles, but you can also make your own:

Use 4 pomegranates to make about 2 cups of pomegranate syrup. After removing seeds, process with food processor knife blade. Simmer pulp with 1/4 cup honey over low heat 3 minutes. Stir well. Strain to remove seeds. (Source: The Webtender)

For the rest of us cold and wet huddling masses in New England, I might suggest a Hot Toddy to help with the moldy frostbite of our lovely northern spring.

Cookbooks used:

Great American Favorite Brand Name Cookbook