Watermelon Cucumber Smoothie

Happy Monday!

I'm over on Life with the Crust Cut Off today, writing about this fabulous summer smoothie! Who else has TONS of watermelon in the house right now?? This is awesome way to use some of it up. Check it out here!

Lavender Mint Lemonade

The forecast highs for today and tomorrow are 104. No. Just…no. It's MAY for goodness sakes. I expect this in July, but May??

The pool hasn't even opened for the summer yet.

End of rant.

So while I had planned to make lemon curd, and therefore yummy baked goods this week to post I gave up. It's time to call an audible on all cooking plans this week because my oven is not going on if I can help it for the next two days. The roast chicken that was going to be our dinner tonight is getting bumped to the end of the week when it will be a comparatively chilly 93.

Instead of lemon curd and it's ensuing frilly baked goods, I bring you refreshing lemonade.

It is so easy to make, and a really fun way to get the kids into the kitchen in the summer. I amped up the flavor here with some lavender and mint to make it a touch more sophisticated, but you could easily leave those out of the recipe if you want.

I think this is the base for all sorts of lovely summertime treats…you could freeze it to make popsicles, add some gin or vodka to make an adults only version or make a really killer Arnold Palmer.

If this heat keeps up, there's a good chance I will try all of those by Friday!

What's your favorite way to cool down when the weather heats up? 

Lavender Mint Lemonade
Ingredients:

1/4 cup mint leaves
1/4 cup culinary lavender
2 cups sugar
2 cups water

1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
5-6 cups cold water

To start, make a simple syrup. Put the sugar and water in a saucepan and boil. When it comes to a steady boil, add the lavender and mint. To infuse the mint and lavender you have a few options. I used an oversized loose tea/spice infuser (like this one), but you could also tie them inside a bundle of cheesecloth or just add them directly to the water/sugar mixture and strain it at the end.

Boil until the mixture reduces slightly and thickens so that it will coat the back of a spoon dipped into it.
Take off the heat and let come to room temperature. At this point, remove the herbs by taking the infuser out or straining.

Add the lemon juice and 1 cup of simple syrup to a pitcher and stir in 3-4 cups water. Taste and then continue adding water slowly until you are happy with the flavor, usually about 5 cups for me.

Any leftover simple syrup can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container.

Sipping Chocolate

This is just the drink for a cold winter's night by the fire. While it's been warm here the last few days we are gearing up for a rather miserable few days with (potentially) rain, sleet and snow. Fabulous, no? I'm trying to see it as a chance to sit by the fire reading a book and maybe getting in a marathon of classic movies. I'm ignoring the fact that the locals still talk about the last major ice storm where the power was out for almost a week…

Back to that lovely vision of quiet fireside reading though. Sipping chocolate is a bit more like the hot chocolate drink served in Jane Austen's day. The chocolate flavor comes from actual chocolate being melted down as opposed to the cocoa powder traditionally used in modern times. 

Sipping chocolate is thus a baking chocolate bar melted into milk or cream with sugar and spice mixed in. Jane would probably have had some chile mixed into hers, but I left this sweet and creamy. I used milk in this version but you could also use heavy cream. Be warned that the milk version is already very rich so you may want to experiment before you go all cream instead. It's much thicker than hot chocolate made from cocoa powder. It almost tastes like drinking chocolate ganache! 

Given that this is a more historical recipe than my usual, I thought it was fitting to use some of my grandmother's tea set. You might have seen a sneak peek of this on my Instagram feed last week, when I opened a package from my aunt of some our family china and crystal. Family story is that the pattern was created in the 1830s. A little late for dear Miss Austen, but fitting for the chocolate all the same.


Sipping Chocolate
adapted from History Hoydens
Makes 2 small servings or one very generous portion

Ingredients:
2 1/2 oz bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups whole milk
1 tsp vanilla

In a saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate into the milk while whisking regularly. Once the majority of the chocolate has melted, add in brown sugar and vanilla. Whisk over low heat until it is completely smooth. Serve immediately.

Classic Gin and Tonic

Every once in a while one of those questionnaires or lists of "favorites" or "things everyone should have" circulates the internet. Not the kind where they tell you the 50 classic items you must have in your closet, but the things you should know about yourself. Honestly, most of the time I don't have answers to the questions and then start to wonder if I'm like Julia Robert's character in Runaway Bride-the woman who knew so little about herself that she didn't even know what kind of eggs she liked and just ate whatever her fiancé ordered. Then I remind myself that I'm not 12 and it's just a list of questions to get to know yourself or someone else a little better.

Emily of Cupcakes and Cashmere posted one yesterday that got me thinking. It's the standard "8 things every woman should have" type of list, and while I still don't have answers to some of the questions (I've never found anyone to match the hair stylist I had when we were stationed in Dover for example and I NEVER sing Karaoke) I can answer most of them. Signature drink? Check. Hobbies? Check. Best friends? Check. (In fact, triple check...I'm blessed to have fabulous ladies all over the country who are my dear friends. Best and worst part of the military life!)

Back to the signature drink. While I'd love to be able to order and drink French 75's everywhere we go, the reality is that most bars in rural Oklahoma don't stock decent champagne. (I know! Shocking, right?) Over the years, I've toyed with various cocktails but never found one I would always be happy with. Cosmopolitans are good, but a little too sweet sometimes. I was never a tropical drink kind of girl. Margarita's are a summer drink only for me. I waffled too much looking at giant drink menu's and reflexed back to a beer.

The husband has been telling me to try a Gin and Tonic for YEARS. Seriously YEARS. And I smiled and nodded and said "Maybe another day". So earlier this year I actually tried it, and loved it. It's got a touch of sweet, a touch of bitter and then undertones of whatever gin you are using...and many of those have started adding lovely botanical notes. It's simple and it's fresh. The key seems to be finding just how you like the lime added to it. I prefer just a hint of lime splashed directly in the drink, some like a wedge floating in it and some prefer just the twist on the edge. You will taste the gin, so I repeat my advice from the French 75s. Use a good one. (No plastic bottles please. Bombay Sapphire,  , Hendricks, etc.-there are lots of good options!)

PS. Honey, you were right. I should have tried this the first time you told me to!

Classic Gin and Tonic
loosely adapted from The Kitchn

Ingredients
2 oz Gin
5 oz tonic water
splash of lime juice (or lime wedge or twist)
.
Fill a glass with ice. Add gin and tonic and stir. Add in lime or use as garnish.

Gifts from the Kitchen: Mulling Spices

I may or may not have gone into a panic this weekend when I realized that Thanksgiving was just over a month away. My Inlaws are coming to see us which is really exciting-although it's their first visit to Oklahoma so I'm hoping the state cooperates and gives us those beautiful misty mornings and clear, crisp afternoons that we get in the fall. If we could at least avoid a massive dust storm that would be a start...I'd like them to come back after all!

In the midst of putting all the relevant visit dates on my calendar I was giddily thinking about all the recipes I want to test drive before the big meal. Then it occurred to me that I could send the family's Christmas presents back east when they fly home. I started counting the weeks...and let's not think about just how much planning it's going to take me to have all my shopping done by then. Somehow I think I'll still be standing in line at the post office in December.

Since we live so far from family we spend a lot of time in line at the Post Office (or desperately searching for things on Amazon so we can use our Prime shipping to get it there in time!) and I realized that we aren't the only ones doing that. So I'm going to make sure there are at least a few gifts that ship well in this series. Things you can package in mason jars are always a good start since they seal tightly and you can bubble wrap to keep the glass safe. As a veteran of sending cookies and other baked goods in deployment care packages, let me just remind you that bubble wrap is your best friend in shipping food gifts! Oh, and not all cookies are created equal in terms of shipping. Save those for local friends!

That's where gifts like the pancake mix from last week or these mulling spices come in. You don't have to worry about spoilage or breakage during shipping, and you know they will taste just as good when the recipient makes them as the day you put it all together.

Mulling spices are classic holiday fare but it's so ridiculously easy to make your own. Since the combination changes slightly in each recipe, you can use the one below as a starting point. You can even multiply the recipe and make a big batch of mulled cider in a slow cooker or on the stove top. A splash of bourbon or rum would be a nice touch at the end of the day. Experiment a little bit with the spices if you want-this recipe is so adaptable!


Mulling Spice Sachets
adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients for each sachet
1/2 of one cinnamon stick
1 star anise
2 cardamom pods
4 black peppercorns
1/2 tsp cloves
Cheesecloth squares (or empty loose leaf tea bag)

Combine ingredients in a square of cheesecloth. Gather corners and tie top to create the sachet.

Direction for Mulled Cider: Steep for 3-5 minutes in mug of hot apple cider.

Toasting a Legend

About 2 weeks ago, Barbara Mertz died. AKA Barbara Michaels. AKA Elizabeth Peters. She wrote mysteries, romances, thrillers and non-fiction under all these names. I discovered her in high school and devoured every single one of the Amelia Peabody (by Elizabeth Peters) mysteries. Amelia was a Victorian spinster who fell in love with Egypt (and then married an Egyptologist) and devoted her life to the study of the country. And of course, solved numerous mysteries and murders along the way.

Peters wrote several other historical mystery series that I adore as well, notably those with Vicky Bliss as the heroine. A PhD in Art History with the looks of a supermodel, Vicky struggles to find her way in a male dominated academic field and stumbles into a new, much more exciting, life working in a museum in Germany.

She was probably the biggest literary influence on me. I actually went to college planning to become an Egyptologist and go on to my PhD at the University of Chicago, where Barbara Mertz got hers. Life changes course, and while I didn't take that path, Amelia and Vicky remained my companions. They reminded me that life needs to be funny and a little bit crazy, history can be a passion, and that being a smart female is something to be proud of.

It seems only fitting to toast this legend of the mystery world with her most famous characters signature drink. Settle in with your Whiskey and Soda and a copy of The Crocodile on the Sandbank and raise your glass to this amazing woman.


Whiskey and Soda

Mix one part whiskey to two parts club soda (or to taste) and serve over ice.

French 75

When we lived in California one of our favorite wineries was a Champagne house-Mumm Napa. Nothing made me happier than knowing we had a surplus of champagne in the house-always some on hand to bring as a gift, toast an occasion or commiserate a bad day. Wasn't it Napoleon who said that champagne was great after a victory, but necessary after a defeat?

Since Mumm can't ship to Oklahoma our stash is sadly diminished. We finally found a wine shop that carries it here last summer (at a rather sizable markup-grr!) so now we can still have it for special occasions. (Don't think I haven't considered getting a mailbox at a shipping store in Texas so I can order a case!)

We celebrated our discovery by making the French 75 which would absolutely be my signature drink if I were cool enough to have one...well it would be if I was young, rich and lived near bars that kept champagne on hand :)

The French 75 is not a silly little cocktail. The gin cuts what could be an overly sweet concoction and makes it into something marvelous. I happen to be a gin fan, but if you don't care for it, I've been told you could switch it out for cognac or bourbon. If you go the gin route use the good stuff please! Nothing tastes worse than cheap gin.

The best part about champagne is how it makes the every day feel luxurious. I'm not very good at celebrating the little victories. I tend to just check something off the list and move on to the next thing without pausing to take stock of how much I have already accomplished. It's so easy to get wrapped up in the climb up the mountain of stress that I forget to admire the view from where I am every once in a while.

So let's celebrate where we are right this very second. All those little things you've accomplished? They really do add up to something. Let's remind each other of that every once in a while-deal? Deal.

Cheers!


French 75
adapted from Domestic Sluttery


Pour 1 1/2 oz of gin, 1 oz lemon juice, and a teaspoon of powdered sugar (regular sugar will work too if you need it to) into a cocktail shaker. Shake to mix together and pour into a champagne flute. Fill up the glass with champagne and enjoy!

*If you don't have a cocktail shaker just whisk the gin, lemon juice and sugar together instead.

Berry Smoothie

I am totally slacking on my grocery shopping this summer. During the school year I just went while the boys were at preschool and I could take my time and my list only needed to have the stuff I don't always buy on it. 

Then summer arrived. 

Grocery shopping with a 5 and almost 4 year old is a lesson in speed not accuracy. Everything last little thing I need has to be on the last or it will not make it into the cart. I like to joke that the other shoppers in the commissary get out of my way when they see us coming...and sadly it's not to far from the truth. I'm totally the mom with the crazy eyes sprinting through the store. 

Last week the distractions began in the produce section and I straight up forgot half of what we needed.  Of course, we ran out of fruit on a day the commissary was closed (thanks, Sequestration!!!) and in desperation to avoid taking the boys to Walmart I turned to the freezer. In the very bottom were bags of fruit from the beginning of the summer...you know when I planned on doing smoothies with the boys everyday and making it to all the summer reading events at the library and staying on top of the laundry. 

I'll pause for you to giggle now. 

So I threw this together in the midst of total Walmart avoidance and stress to produce a snack right.this.minute. It was great. In fact I drank one of these every day last week. It was just the thing I needed to get through two hours of watching swim lessons in 110 degree heat. And the laundry. 

The best thing about this smoothie is how flexible it is. Any combination of berries works, and if you're so inclined you can throw in a handful of spinach. My oldest will flat out refuse a green smoothie but the berries hide the color and taste of the spinach like a champ.  Add in a banana or some greek yogurt instead of the milk. Just play with what you have in the house. Easy!

Berry Smoothie 
(4 servings)

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups frozen mixed berries (I used strawberries, blackberries and raspberries, blueberries are great too)
2-3 cups water
3/4 cup  milk
splash of lime juice

Pulse the frozen berries in the blender until they have broken down a bit and then add in 2 cups water. Blend together until preferred consistency is reached, adding more water if needed. Add in 1/2-3/4 cup milk to add some creaminess and then a splash of lime. Pulse one last time to mix together and serve.

Homemade Ice Coffee

The last time I wrote something here it was freezing in Oklahoma. Then we moved. Then I fell off the face of the earth. Now I'm back, and the weather is gorgeous. I wasn't gone that long, was I?

Yes, for all my talk about trying to make the old house work, nothing quite worked. Just as we were starting another round of "maybe if we move this stuff over here, and buy one of these, it will work" our local property manager let us know he had a bigger house about to be available. And it had HALLWAYS. We jumped on it and moved as soon as it was available. The bedrooms are all off loooong hallways away from the living room and kitchen and it is fabulous. The boys don't wake up when the husband has an early morning flight and tries to make coffee. We can get grownup time at night without having to hear them playing in the room right behind our couch anymore. And honestly, moving right down the road when you already have friends, a hair salon and schools is so.much.easier than PCS'ing. (Permanent Change of Station for the non-military folks)

Back to the ice coffee. I started making this a few years ago after I saw it make the rounds of the blogosphere. I thought it might be fun to be able to make an ice coffee at home now and then, but we both got hooked on these. The base is stored in the fridge, so you start cold, instead of trying to get the coffee to ice cube ratio right without watering it down. This brews overnight so the flavor is strong, and holds up to the sugar, milk and ice without getting lost.

As soon as the weather is warm the is a staple in our fridge. Living in a town without a drive-thru coffee shop means that we never let ourselves run out. You might just find yourself making one for your husbands entire office every afternoon!

Ice Coffee 

adapted from The Pioneer Woman

12 oz bag of ground coffee beans
6 quarts water

Pour ground coffee and water into large container and leave out for 8-12 hours. I usually do this right before going to bed. Strain the liquid so that no grounds remain and store in the fridge. It will freeze well, so if you have more than you'd like to keep in the fridge just pop it in some tupperware and store in the freezer.
To make ice coffee, combine coffee base with milk, sweetener and ice. This works really well with the simple syrup I posted a few months ago. I like mine very sweet with lots of milk, but my husband prefers to just add a splash of milk.