Posted in Birthdays and Other Celebrations, Food and Beverage

Today Deserves an Apple-ause

Happy Turkey Day!!!!

Now that I’m starting to recover from my food coma, I can finally type.

The Theme was apple. It was entirely by accident that almost every meal had apples in it.

My friend’s turkey recipe, which is to die, a recipe her mom used to make, covers the turkey in seasoning, chopped apples, onions, and celery. And I learned how to baste a turkey for the first time in my 25 years on earth.

The stuffing a friend made also had apples in it. It sounded bizarre at first, but honestly, it was delicious.

We had a salad full of apples and Asian pears. It was amazing. I never had Asian pears before and now I only want to eat them.

My contributions to dinner were a caramel apple cheesecake and a drink I made up that was supposed to taste like fall in your mouth. I had to make a perfect fall drink, which was a little tricky. I didn’t want too much pumpkin or apple, just the right amount of pumapple- or at least that’s what my friend called it after drinking some.

I love playing bartender when Hector isn’t available to be the personal bartender.

I made the drink base since I knew there would be kiddos and people who don’t drink.

  • 4 cups of apple cider
  • 8 oz of orange juice
  • 6 oz of lime or Lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree
  • 2 tbsp of pumpkin pie spice

For the nonalcoholic version, I used Cock and Bull ginger beer. Three ounces of ginger beer per glass. I recommend using a different drink, maybe pear juice, if you don’t like how spicy ginger beer is.

And for the alcoholic version, i was going for a margarita vibe. I used tequila- also three ounces per glass. Any tequila works; my personal choice of tequila is La Gritona. You can also replace the orange juice with an orange liqueur.

Since I’m extra, I like to garnish my drinks. I rimmed the glass with caramel and a cinnamon sugar mixture for both versions. Add ice and serve. This made about 8 cups.

Each cup is about 1/2 a cup of apple cider, so increase or decrease how much you would like to make based on that.

Posted in Food and Beverage

Orange Tea

It’s the time of year when I get sick. Colds, sore throats, body aches, headaches, you name it, I get it. I don’t get sick often, so it hits me hard when I do. And I thought I could avoid the getting sick since I only go to work and home. I thought wrong.

Now I have a sore throat and a killer headache. I want a big cup of tea, a super-steamy shower or bath, and to lay down with every blanket known to man on top of me.

Nyquil and Orange Tea help me the most. But all the stores around me don’t have Nyquil. So I decided to make tea. Don’t be fooled by the pretty name; it is a bittersweet tea. It’s a home remedy my parents would make and force me to drink growing up.

Isn’t it funny when we grow up to like what our parents force us to eat or drink? It doesn’t always happen to this day I will never eat lima beans.

It is a pretty simple recipe. I take four cinnamon sticks, about three large oranges, one ginger root that I cut into thin slices, and honey for sweetness.

Add cinnamon sticks, gingers, and oranges to a pot of water. Cook on medium heat. When it reaches a rolling boil, lower the heat and let it simmer for at least 30 minutes, and remove it from the heat. I let it cool for another 30 minutes before drinking. Add honey to individual glasses. It makes about four glasses.

What are some home remedies that work for you?

Posted in Food and Beverage

Butterbeer Recipe

Sweet September 🤍 finally starting to feel like fall, and I love it 🍂

Today, I’m keeping my post short and sweet!

Every Harry Potter fan knows what Butterbeer is. But suppose you’re a muggle and have no idea what it is. In that case, it is a popular wizarding beverage described as tasting “a little bit like less sickly butterscotch.”

There are several Butterbeer recipes out there. And I tried a few highly rated ones with disappointing results.

I’ve never had the real deal Butterbeer from the theme park but this is just what I’d imagine it to be like.

I found this recipe in 2011, and I’m sure it needs an upgrade, but I’m a little sentimental with it.

Ingredients 

  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 4 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
  • 3/4 cup heavy cream, divided
  • 1/2 tsp – vanilla extract
  • 2 liters Vanilla Flavoured Cream Soda, chilled

Directions

  1. In a small saucepan, combine brown sugar with 2 tablespoons of water. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F (115 degrees C) on a candy thermometer, stirring occasionally. If you don’t have a candy thermometer, bring it to a gentle boil and turn off the heat after about a minute of cooking.
  2. Turn off the heat and add the butter, salt, vinegar, and 1/4 cup heavy cream and vanilla. Stir until smooth. Cool mixture to room temperature before using.
  3. In a medium bowl, beat together the remaining cream (1/2 cup) with 2 tablespoons of brown sugar syrup.
  4. In each glass, mix together 1/4 cup brown sugar syrup with 1/4 cup cream soda. Pour in the rest of the cream soda until it is near to the brim of the glass. Top with whipped cream.

You can adjust the flavor by adding more or less of the brown sugar syrup. 

Also, mix it up a little and use marshmallows for a creamier topping.

  •  200 g (7oz) marshmallow creme
  • 1 c whipping cream
  • 1 tsp. rum extract
Posted in Food and Beverage

Pumpkin Juice and Stoat Sandwiches

🍂 Happy Fall, Friends! ✨🍂 

Fall is here, so I’m ready to jump into my fall recipes. What better than to start fall with a nice glass of pumpkin juice!!!

Ingredients

  • 1-liter apple juice (I like pressed apple juice for this recipe-the thick, almost apple sauce apple juice. You can use apple cider)
  • 15oz can of pure pumpkin puree
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • Honey
  • 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pice spice (cloves, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg)

Directions 

  • Pour apple juice, vanilla extract, pumpkin puree, and spices in a blender until all incorporated. I used to hand mix everything, but I feel like when I hand mix, you get an uneven pumpkin taste. 
  • add honey, measure with your heart
  • stick it in the fridge for a bit, then serve

I paired my pumpkin juice with a stoat sandwich.

Stoat sandwiches are one of the many things Hagrid offers Harry, Hermione, and Ron during their visits to his hut.

“Hagrid made them tea and offered them stoat sandwiches, which they refused” (Sorcerer’s Stone 231).

We all know Hagrid isn’t the best cook. He has good intentions but is not overly competent.

I recently found out what stoat is; if you are wondering, it’s a weasel-like animal that used to be super popular in Britain.

Wizard or not, I will certainly have no desire to discover what these cute little guys taste like. I definitely understand why Harry, Ron, and Hermione refused. Being a dumb American, I always imagined a roast beef sandwich.  

You can use brioche buns or something fancy, but I feel like Hagrid wouldn’t do anything too fancy. It’s a basic sandwich, but I don’t put mayo on it; I put horseradish sauce.

  • 1 cup light sour cream
  • 3 tablespoons prepared horseradish
  • 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
  • 1 pinch of pepper and salt
Posted in Food and Beverage

Liquid Luck

In America Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer.

It’s everyone’s last excuse to barbecue and there’s a whole thing about not wearing white after Labor Day. Idk it’s a lot of nonsense that I don’t pay attention to. 

We didn’t babaque or anything but definitely decided to take advantage of the weekend off work.

So kiss summer goodbye and start fall off with a little liquid luck.

Felix Felicis, also called “Liquid Luck,” was a potion from Harry Potter that made the drinker lucky for a while. It’s supposed to be the color of molten gold. I’m still mad that the movies made it a clear liquid.

So I decided to make my own. It’s the perfect blend of fall and summer. And despite the name, it’s non-alcoholic. 

But if you wanted to add a little alcohol you can.

Ingredients

  • sparkling sugar
  • Cinnamon 
  • vanilla ice cream
  • caramel sauce
  • 1 bottle of Martinelli’s Gold Medal Sparkling Cider or whichever sparkling cider you prefer 

Measure everything with your hearts

(Optional for 21+ add 1 shot of rum to each drink )

Instructions

  • Pour some of the caramel into a small bowl. Dip the rim of your glasses in the caramel and then into the sparkly sugar.
  • pour about 6 oz. of the cider into each of the prepared glasses
    • If 21+ also add your shot of rum
  • Using a cookie scoop, add ice cream to each glass.
  • Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top of each drink.

I used Wilton Gold, Silver and White Sugars 

Can be found here

Posted in Blogmas, Food and Beverage

Christmas Day

The final day of Blogmas!

I would have posted sooner but yesterday and today was crazy between going to work, getting last-minute presents, and trying to wrap everything before people came over.

Usually, I’m a gift bag type of person, but I tried to live out my Hallmark main character fantasy. I watched two videos on how to wrap presents, and let’s just say I’m going back to gift bags next year.

Wrapping problems aside, last night was so fun. I’m surprised I stayed up until midnight- saying that makes me sound like an old person, but I was just sooo tired. But it was worth it to see everyone’s faces as they opened their gifts.

My boyfriend has wanted a new longboard for a while now. He always talks himself out of buying one because of the price. So I knew it was perfect even though I went over the agreed-upon $50 gift limit we set months earlier. Giving him his gift was the highlight of my day. I don’t know if it was his cute little smile or the fact he just started smothering me in kisses, or the fact he ran outside at midnight to ride it. He was like a little kid it was soo cute.

Since we open presents on the 24th we don’t usually do much on the 25th.

The kids played with their new toys while the adults just at and watched tv. Soul came out on Disney and Wonder Woman premiered on HBO. So we were so busy watching the movies.

When we were done with all the new stuff it was time for a classic. We decided to put on Harry Potter and make our own butter beer.

I tried to convince my family to play a Harry Potter drinking game with me but they were completely against the idea.

Apparently watching Harry Potter which wasn’t even my idea was soo boring. My sister fell asleep during the first movie.

Today was overall fun. the little ones had a great time opening all their gifts.

I’ve had this recipe for butterbeer saved in my notes for a year. This isn’t my usual recipe it’s not even my original recipe. But I don’t remember where I got the original recipe from.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup light or dark brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 6 tablespoon butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon  salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
  • 3/4 cup heavy cream divided
  • 1/2 teaspoon rum extract
  • 4 bottles (12 oz. bottles) cream soda

Instructions

  1. In a small saucepan over medium, combine the brown sugar and water. Bring to a gentle boil and cook, stirring often, until the mixture reads 240 F on a candy thermometer.
  2. Stir in the butter, salt, vinegar and 1/4 heavy cream. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
  3. Once the mixture has cooled, stir in the rum extract.
  4. In a medium bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar mixture and the remaining 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Use an electric mixer to beat until just thickened, but not completely whipped, about 2 to 3 minutes.
  5. To serve, divide the brown sugar mixture between 4 tall glasses (about 1/4 cup for each glass). Add 1/4 cup of cream soda to each glass, then stir to combine. Fill each glass nearly to the top with additional cream soda, then spoon the whipped topping over each.