Category Archives: Drink

Aug 17 8 comments
Cocktail, Drink, Recipes

Peach Mojito

peachmojito

Summer 2009

We have a barbecue and our friends bring rum, mint, lime and club soda. I am pleasantly surprised and excited about the prospect of mojitos. It’s like summertime in a glass, right? With no particular recipe, we try valiantly to get the balance right and they turn out bland, sour and one of our friends spits out mint for what seems like hours. I slowly back away from the mojito and think it’s best if we go on our separate ways for a while.

June 2010

We attend a barbecue with good friends and Brian, “The Mojito Master,” makes some fine, fine mojitos. It is indeed, summertime in a glass. The perfect balance of sugar, lime, rum and mint. It can be done! I nudge Marc into the kitchen with Brian, hoping the magic will rub off on him.

July 2010

When it is our turn, Marc steps into the kitchen with his faithful Mr. Boston drink recipe book and all of the appropriate ingredients. With a touch of sweat on his brow, he hands me the pint glass and watches for my reaction. I am blown away with mojito goodness. We sink into our porch chairs and savor every sip.

August 5, 2010

Two days before my brother and sister-in-law’s wedding, we eat at a reputable restaurant and a mojito sounds great. The drink is a disaster that was too many parts simple syrup, too few parts flavor. A damn shame.

August 6,  2010

A glutton for punishment and apparently lacking imagination, I order a mojito at the rehearsal dinner. The kind waitress suggests their peach mojito and my “okay!” can be heard for miles. Brother-in-law’s amazing girlfriend and I enjoy the heck out of some peach mojitos.

August 14, 2010

I puree some ripe peaches and create a fresh peach mojito to share with you.

Peaches

Fresh Peach Mojito

Adapted from Mr. Boston

Makes 1 drink

2 t. sugar

4 small sprigs mint

1 lime, halved

2 oz. white rum (we used Mount Gay silver)

club soda

1 1/2 oz. peach puree (recipe follows)

1. Muddle sugar and mint with a splash of club soda in a pint glass. The ball pint jars work great for these.

2. Squeeze both halves of lime into the glass, leaving only one hull in the mixture.

3. Add rum, peach puree and fill with ice.

4. Top with club soda and garnish with a slice of peach, a slice of lime or a sprig of mint, if desired.

strainingpuree

Peach Puree

Makes approximately 2 C. of peach puree

5 ripe peaches

1. Roughly cut the peaches into large chunks and discard pits and stems.

2. Put peach chunks into blender and blend until all of the peach is pureed and no chunks remain. (Use the puree setting if you have one.)

3. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl and pour the peach puree into the strainer in batches and use a spatula to encourage the puree through, leaving the peach skin behind. I found pouring only a bit at a time, made it easier and less messy to get the puree through the strainer.

4. Pour peach puree into a pint ball jar or other sealed container and refrigerate. We used ours in a couple of days, but it will hold up well for a week.

peachpuree

Jul 13 1 comments
Drink, Recipes

Cold-Brewed Iced Tea

glassoftea

Last week on Twitter I heard about cold-brewed iced tea. See kids, Twitter can be educational! It seemed so simple and brilliant all at the same time. I really, really love iced tea. I order it 95% of the time when we eat out for dinner. It’s refreshing and if you like it unsweetened like me, it’s guilt-free. I rarely make it at home, though, because of the whole process. Not that it’s hard, but once I’ve heated up the water, timed the steeping of the leaves and put it in the fridge to cool for way too long…I’m not thirsty for iced tea anymore. This method takes just a few minutes and the results are spectacular. The tea is smooth and not bitter because the cold water gently releases the flavor from the tea leaves. Is there some sort of prize I can hand out to the person that discovered this? Seriously.

teabrewing1

Cold-Brewed Iced Tea

Recipe from The Kitchn

Makes 6 cups, I use this iced tea pitcher

Large jar or pitcher

3 T. loose leaf or 3 bags of your favorite tea (I used a mix of 1 T. black to 2 T. green)

water

1. Add 3 T. of loose tea (in a bag or infuser) or 3 bags of tea to a pitcher or large jar. Fill container with 6 cups of cold water. Add mint, lemon or whatever you like.

2. Put in the refrigerator for 8-24 hours.

3. Pour yourself a glass and enjoy!

If you like your tea sweetened, I would recommend making a simple syrup (1 part water to 1 part sugar) or heat a bit of honey and add to your container before putting in the refrigerator. My mom used to make sun tea back in the day, but I’ve heard things about bacteria in sun tea. As a full-blown germaphobe and cold-brewed convert, I’m saying no thanks, however my family lived through my mom’s sun tea phase.

glasswithpitcher

May 19 0 comments
Drink, Recipes, Vegetarian

Kale Juice

kale juice

Ok, I know this sounds weird, but I had to try this. I’ve been signed up for Gwyneth Paltrow’s GOOP newsletter for a while now and I enjoy reading her tips on vacations I can’t afford and clothes I could only dream of buying, but her best tips come from her trainer Tracy Anderson. A few months back I purchased some of Tracy’s DVD’s and I like her take on exercise. I am not an exercise expert by any stretch of the imagination, but her workouts are not boring and are created to give you a lean, toned dancer body. Yes, please!

Gwyneth shared her Ironman 2 workout on GOOP recently and a 5 day cleansing diet. I’m not sure about my motivation for trying this kale juice, but I think it was the cynic in me thinking, “A grassy lemonade, Gwyneth?” She proved me wrong, though, it DOES taste like a grassy lemonade. I whipped up the recipe in my food processor and strained the solids. If I were in a more creative mood, I could have added the greens to some pasta or made a tasty quick bread, but instead I ate the solids as is and it was pretty darn good. The juice is delicious, slightly sweet and completely drinkable. The process of making the juice in the food processor was a bit messy, but I hope to add this nutritious drink into a regular rotation in my diet. Using a juicer would make this easier and a bit less messy, but I don’t have one. Below I’ve included directions for use with a blender or food processor.

Kale Juice

enough for 1 glass, recipe from GOOP

1 bunch of kale (I used about 3-4 stems)

2 small lemons, juiced

1 1/2 T. agave nectar

1/2 C. cold water

1. Combine everything in a blender or food processor and process until completely pureed. Strain the juice through a fine strainer into a bowl (a bowl with a spout is helpful), pushing down the solids with the back of spoon to extract all of the juice.

2. Taste the juice and add a bit more lemon or agave to taste (I thought the measurements were right on). Pour into a glass and drink up.