Tropical pink limeade

 

 Salud! is this weeks theme at I heart cooking clubs. And while í am making this post the rain is pouring, but when i made this thirst quensing limeade this week it was very hot outhere and we where really in the mood for this limeade.

It even was a coinsidense that i could get my hand on prickly pears because i never noticed them before in any shop, but now they where there and the taste is great in this lovely pink limeade.

 

 

Tropical Pink Limeade

 

Makes 5 or 6 servings

Courtesy by Rick Bayless
Recipe from Season 3 of Mexico - One Plate at a Time

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups fresh lime juice
1 quart water (use sparkling water for a festive touch)
1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar
2 or 3 prickly pears

Directions

In a large pitcher, mix together the lime juice, water and smaller amount of sugar. Taste and add more sugar if you think the limonada needs it. Serve over ice.

Cut the ends off 2 or 3 prickly pears (handle prickly pears with latex or rubber gloves or with tongs). Make a shallow slit down the length of each one, then peel away the thick skin; discard. In a small bowl, crush the fruit into a coarse puree, then strain the puree into the limeade mixture. Taste and add more lime or sugar if necessary.


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Mexican Horchata: Almond-rice cooler

This week at I Heart cooking clubs we are cooking with the theme earth day. Any recipe with use of products grown from the earth is allowed. Should i make something with fruit or root vegetables, No rice is grown from the earth too.We eat a lot of rice but i never had it as a drink. So i decided on this Recipe for Horchata; Almond-Rice cooler. It made me curious, how would it taste?

Rick Bayless says" This has the simplest and most familair flavors of the three most common aguas frescas: a slightly chalky, thirst-quenching refreshment with a flavor reminiscent of rice pudding. This drink is light and rich - exceptionally good hot-weather party fare, poured over ice."

Almond rice cooler
Rick Bayless, authentic mexican

Yield: about 1½ quarts, 6 to 7 servings

Ingredients:
6 tablespoons rice
6 ounces blanched almonds
1 inch cinnamon stick
3 2-inch strips of lime zest(colored rind only)
about 1 cup of sugar - sugar syrup

1. Soaking the rice and the almonds.
Thorougly pulverize the rice in a blender or spice grinder. Transfer to a medium bowl and add the almonds, cinnamon stick and lime zest. Stir in 2¼ cups of hot tap water, cover and let stand at least 6 hours or preferably, overnight.
2. Blending and straining.
Scoop the mixture into the blender jar and blend for 3 or 4 minutes, until it no longer feels very gritty. Add 2 cups of water, then blend for a few second more. Set a large sieve over a mixing bowl and line 3 layers of damp cheesecloth. Pour in the almond-rice mixture a little at a time, gently stirring to help the liquid pass trough. When all has been strained, gather up the corners of the cheesecloth and twist them together to trap the dregs inside. Squeeze the package firmly to expell all remaining liquid.
3. Finishing the Horchata.
Add 2 cups of water and stir in enough sugar to sweeten the drink to your taste. If the consistency is too thick, add additional water. Cover and refrigerate until you're ready to serve. Stir before pouring.

Notes/ findings:
- The drink keeps for 5 days or more, covered and refrigerated.
- At the last moment i put in some more cinnamon, because i really like cinnamon.
- I used sugar syrup instead of sugar.
- And ofcourse i really liked this drink and Rick was wright it does taste like rice pudding!


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Frozen fruit smoothies

It's that time of the month already, potluck time over at I Heart cooking blogs. Didn't had a lot of time to participate this week so kept it simple. Come and have a look what everybody else brought to the table.



ingredients
(makes 2 glasses)

• 1 ripe banana
• 1 glass of frozen fruit of your choice: mango, blackcurrants, or strawberries
• 2 heaped tablespoons natural yogurt
• 1 small handful of quick cook oats (not instant)
• 1 small handful of mixed nuts
• 1 glass of soy milk, fat free milk, or op pie juice

Optional: honey, to taste

method

Smoothies are not only deliciously tasty but they're also perfect to have for breakfast, as they're full of goodness. Adding quick cook oats and nuts to them is great, because it helps slow down the absorption of the sugar from the fruit into your bloodstream, which gives you more energy for longer. The great thing about frozen fruit is that it's been picked at its best, at the right time, and hasn't been forced to grow out of season, like so much of the "fresh" fruit on offer to us these days. It's also cheaper and far more convenient— it will keep happily in your freezer for months on end, so any time you fancy a smoothie, you can have one!

These smoothies are best made in a blender, as opposed to a food processor, as this will give your smoothies a lovely silky texture. And feel free to use any fruit you like, either one type or a mixture. Raspberries are really tasty and you can use them here, but I tend to stay away from them because of the seeds.

Peel and slice your banana and put it into a blender with your frozen fruit and the yogurt. Whiz it up and add the oats and nuts. Add the soy milk, fat free milk, or apple juice and whiz again, until nice and smooth. If it's a bit too thick for you, just add a splash more milk or juice and whiz around again. Give it a good stir, then have a taste. Rarely with a frozen fruit smoothie should you need to sweeten it, but if you think it needs a bit of extra sweetness you can add a little honey to taste — you won't need much.

From: Jamie's food revolution

Notes: Made a delicious banana&strawberry smoothie, very easy and simple to make. But the taste is fantastic and there healthy.

Apple and Thyme Martini

The exact origin of the Martini is unclear however the most likely explanation is that it was simply a shortening of the main ingredient, Martini branded vermouth. One popular alternative suggests it evolved from a cocktail called the Martinez served at the Occidental Hotel in San Francisco in 1862, which people frequented before taking an evening ferry to the nearby town of Martinez. Another theory links the origin of the Martini to the name of a bartender who concocted the drink at the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York City in 1911.

The original Martinez cocktail consisted of two ounces of Italian Martini & Rossi sweet vermouth, one ounce Old Tom sweet gin, two dashes maraschino liquor, one dash bitters, shaken, and served with a twist of lemon.By the end of the 19th century, the martini had morphed into a simpler form: two dashes of Orange bitters, mixed with half a jigger of dry French vermouth and half a jigger of dry English gin, stirred and served with an olive.

But it was Prohibition and the relative ease of illegal gin manufacture that led to the martini's rise as the predominant cocktail of the mid 20th century. With the repeal of Prohibition, and the ready availability of quality gin, the drink became progressively dryer. In the 1970s and 80s, the martini came to be seen as old-fashioned and was replaced by more intricate cocktails and wine spritzers, but the mid-1990s saw a resurgence in the drink and an explosion of new versions.

Some of the newer versions (e.g., appletini, peach martini, chocolate martini), take their name not from the ingredients, but from the cocktail glass they share with the martini.

If you have read al that information you will see in giada's recipe there is only vodka. So it's a very modern take on Martini with even a pinch of thyme, this is where the homemade thyme syrup that i posted earlier this week comes in.
After taking my first sip of it , i almost spit it out because the vodka was to strong for me. I had to ad some more apple juice to make it drinkable. Then the taste was fine i liked the Thyme in it but my boyfriend(from now i will reference to him with Mr. R)totaly didn't. I would chance the amount of vodka and applejuice to use in this recipe with each other the next time.

Recipe can be found here
Courtesy of Giada de Laurentiis


serves: 4
Ingredients
Ice
10 ounces vodka
6 ounces apple juice
1/4 cup thyme syrup, recipe posted earlier on my site
1 large apple, peeled
4 fresh thyme sprigs

Directions
Special equipment: melon baller

Chill the martini glasses.

Fill the shaker with ice. Combine the vodka, apple juice, and thyme syrup in a martini shaker. Shake for about 10 seconds. Divide between the 4 chilled martini glasses.

Use the melon baller to scoop out small balls of apple. Place 3 balls of apple and 1 sprig of thyme in each glass for garnish. Serve immediately.




Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martini_(cocktail)