The Hazel Bloom

Ginger and Lemongrass Iced Green Tea

I'm on a couple of kicks lately. Well - come to think of it - several kicks. I'm just going to talk about two of 'em today.

Lately I'm a little obsessed with both iced green tea and fluffy beach reads. It is summer, after all. I've made raspberry lemon iced green tea (good), strawberry mint (also good), and blueberry (pretty color, but needs work). And the books, you ask? Well, I finally read The Help and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The Help was exquisite. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was so totally engrossing. Loved it. And after that, I read the fluffiest of the fluffy, a book called Sweet Life by Mia King. Apparently, Ms. King's books have recipes in the back. I had no idea until I flipped the last page and, voila! Recipes! And, double voila! A recipe for a Lemongrass, Ginger, and Mint Iced Green Tea! I love when kicks come together.

 
This is my favorite iced green tea variation so far. Which kind of makes me mad because this is the only one I didn't make up myself.

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Okay you guys - this is completely unrelated, but I am sort of distracted here, and I just have to share. The thing is, I have been working my tail off on redesigning and replatforming this thing, this whole stinkin' thing, this blog. The bad news is, I swear I have lost days. Wasn't yesterday July 13? What happened?? But, in better news, I think it's going to be pretty cool. Really cool, actually. Stay tuned for the launch. It's going to be soon!

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So anyway, how about some iced green tea? This stuff is terrific. The best. Absolutely perfect for summer. Ginger, lemongrass, green tea - so happy together. I'm also pretty sure it's kicky enough to power me through hours of web design, so that I can stop being distracted and get back to reading fluff already. Dare to dream.

Ginger and Lemongrass Iced Green Tea

Adapted from the Lemongrass, Mint, and Ginger Iced Tea recipe from Sweet Life by Mia King

Serves about 6

Ingredients

• 8 cups water
• 1 stalk lemongrass
• 1 piece of ginger, about the size of two thumbs (or one freakishly large thumb)
• 1/3 cup sugar (or 1/4 cup agave nectar, or sugar substitute to taste - just add to taste after it's chilled)
• 10 individual bags green tea or 3 heaping tablespoons loose green tea
• Mint for garnish

Directions

1. Cut lemongrass into two-inch pieces, and crush with the flat side of a knife, or just cut each piece lengthwise a few more times like I did.
   
   
    
2. Peel ginger and cut into thin slices.
3. In a large saucepan over high heat, bring the water, lemongrass, ginger, and sugar to a boil.
   
   
    
4. Remove saucepan from the heat, and add the green tea (if you're adding the loose tea, put it in something so you can get it out right after it's steeped, while leaving the ginger and lemongrass in). Steep for about a minute, or until it's the right color/flavor for your tastes.
   
   
    
5. Remove the tea bags/leaves, then let sit for about 30 minutes.
6. Pour the tea  through a fine-mesh sieve into a pitcher.
   
   
    
7. Refrigerate until cool - about a couple of hours.
8. Pour over ice. Top with a mint sprig. And enjoy!

Iced Coffee

About March-ish every year, I get my first iced coffee of the year from Starbucks. It's usually a sunny day, I may even be braving some sock-less shoes, and I'm feeling the spring fever. My toes and the rest of me are usually freezing by mid-morning, but I'm still practically giddy because, woo hoo! It's officially Iced Coffee Season!

Not only does Iced Coffee Season mean summer is coming, it also mean that for the next few months, this coffee drinker is going to be drinking copious amounts of iced coffee. Hey, what can I say. I'm all for straightforward, clear, and downright obvious when it comes to naming my seasons.

After spending far too much at the 'bucks on iced coffee over the years, I finally figured out how to make it at home.

 

 
I have a three personal rules for making iced coffee. Because if you just pour some brewed coffee over some ice cubes (yes, I started out trying that), you'll be disappointed. And might possibly want to throw up.

But when I follow my rules, I end up with a perfect cuppa icy joe:

1. Start with very strong coffee.
2. Cool the coffee first.
3. And, my favorite rule: Use ice cubes made of coffee, so you don't dilute the brew.

The coffee ice cubes are key.

Ready to cool down and caff up with me? Here's the recipe:

Iced Coffee

Serves 1

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups very strong coffee
• Coffee ice cubes
• Half and half to taste
• Sugar to taste

Directions:

1. One day ahead, make the coffee ice cubes. Allow coffee to cool, then pour into ice cube trays. Freeze.
   
   
2. Brew coffee, then pour into a large Pyrex measuring cup or other container that's safe for hot beverages. Allow to cool a bit, then place in the refrigerator until it's cooled off.
   
   
   
3. Add coffee ice cubes to a tall glass.
   
   
    
   
4. Pour cooled coffee over the top, leaving a little room for half and half if desired.
5. Stir in some sugar (I usually add just a spoonful). You can add this in step 2 so that it's perfectly dissolves, but personally I like to add it to taste per glass.
6. Stir in half and half to taste. And enjoy!
   
   
   
   

 
P.S. Please do not feed to dogs, no matter how much they beg.

Cranberry-Lime Champagne Cocktail

I have a new and vivid fascination with champagne cocktails. An elegant champagne flute, some bubbly, a little flavoring, maybe a touch of fruit, and you've got perfect party fare. And endless possibilities.

I've yet to try the most classic iteration, with bitters and a sugar cube, but you can bet your strawberry I'll be trying it soon. Once I figure out what bitters are.

Meanwhile, I've got a cranberry lime version for you. Red and green for Christmas Eve! So perfect I can hardly stand it. Oh, totally unrelated, speaking of hardly being able to stand something, you've got to check out these Candy Cane Christmas Tree Cupcakes over on Bakerella's blog. So cute I'm pretty sure I just plain can't stand it. 

Okay, okay, tear yourself away from Bakerella's fabulous blog and come back to me, will you? We've got some drinking to do!

Here's the recipe:

Cranberry-Lime Champagne Cocktail

Serves 1

Adapted from Tyler Florence's Cranberry Champagne Cocktail recipe on foodnetwork.com

Ingredients:

• Champagne (we like the Riondo Prosecco we picked up for a mere $10 at Costco)
• 1 oz. cranberry juice (the sweetened kind)
• 1 lime wedge + one very thin half lime slice
• 2-3 frozen cranberries

Instructions:

1. Pour cranberry juice into a chilled champagne flute.
2. Squeeze the lime wedge into the glass.
3. Fill with champagne.
4. Float the cranberries and the thin lime slice on top.
5. Enjoy, enjoy, and enjoy!

 

 

Hot Buttered Rum

You know how, sometimes, you screw up a recipe, but it's too late to turn back? And so you hope that this is one of those rare times you've stumbled upon either something completely new that no one has ever thought of and it's simply amazing, or at the very least you made something really really good even better?

Yes, of course I do this all the time. And of course, usually what I end up with is muck. Like the time I used baking soda instead of baking powder in a pancake recipe and they were dis. gus. ting. Except, actually, now that I think about it, I didn't realize what I'd done to screw it up until after I'd left an embarrassingly bad review on Recipezaar. "I don't know why everyone's raving about these! I'm sorry, but these pancakes are so gross!" Whoops.

This Hot Buttered Rum recipe, also based on a Recipezaar discovery, suffered from a miscalculation on my part and as a result, two to three times the recommended spices. 

Yummy, as it turned out!

Here's the recipe. This stuff is perfect to keep in the freezer for surprise holiday stop-ins, or a special drink anytime. We like Captain Morgan's spiced rum in ours. And now that I've written about it, I think I'll have to go downstairs after this is done and fix a couple of 'em up (we've got it in the freezer!)

Hot Buttered Rum Batter

Adapted from this Very Rich Hot Buttered Rum recipe from ArtWork on Recipezaar.com

Serves... oh lord, I have no idea. Let's just say this recipe makes a ton of batter. Probably 25 drinks' worth, maybe more.

Ingredients:

• 1 quart vanilla ice cream at room temperature
• 1 pound brown sugar
• 1 pound powdered sugar
• 1 pound (four sticks) butter (either salted or unsalted works) at room temperature
• 5 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons nutmeg

Instructions:

1. Mix all ingredients together. I just throw it all in my Kitchenaid stand mixer and let it have at it. 
2. For the drink, place three tablespoons of batter into a mug, and add a shot of rum.
3. Pour hot water over the batter and rum.
4. Stir well.
5. Shake a little nutmeg on top.
6. Enjoy!
7. Store in the freezer - it'll keep for a month or more.

Mulled Cranberry Cider

Me: "Oooh, I think today is a good day for Mulled Cranberry Cider!"

My guy: "Do you think we have the rum to support that?"

That's my guy - officer thinking all the way. (And yes, of course we did!)



I first caught wind of the idea of hot cranberry cider on a Martha Stewart Thankgiving Special. It was this episide - or one I caught around that time - where they showed a blooper reel and in one, she was cluelessly holding up two melons at chest level, talking very seriously about how to choose the ripest - apparently they didn't realize the, um, gravity of the situation until after filming the segment. You just have to see it, but it's hee-larious. I love that Martha can laugh at herself - especially because she just sometimes comes across as the type of person (as much as I love her) that can't. And that she's down with the whole Whatever, Martha! thing? Bless her. She rocks.

So anyway, Mulled Cranberry Cider. It's good stuff, especially for this time of year, and especially with rum. I like this better than hot apple cider, actually - it's a little easier to drink because it's not cloyingly sweet. Which actually can make this a little dangerous with rum - consider yourself warned! Here's my version.

(You can warm this on the stove top, too - I just love the Crock Pot for stuff like this.)

Mulled Cranberry Cider

Approx. 10 servings

Ingredients

• 2 quarts Cranberry-Apple Juice (I get the bottle from Trader Joe's) OR 1 quart each cranberry juice and apple cider
• 1 orange, cut into wedges
• 1/2 lemon, cut into wedges
• 5 cinnamon sticks
• 1 to 2 tablespoons honey, to taste
• 1/2 - 1 cup red wine (optional, I just find this is an excellent use for that last little bit of leftover red wine, plus it adds a nice little oomph)

Instructions

Add all ingredients to the Crock Pot, and cook on high for about an hour and a half, or low for about three hours. Switch the Crock Pot to the warm setting, and it's ready to serve when you're ready to drink!

Ladle the cider into mugs (leaving the fruit in the Crock Pot). I like to throw another cinnamon stick in there for good measure. Those nice long cinnamon sticks that double as a stirrer would work even better.

Oh right, the rum! Add a shot of rum to your glass before you ladle in the cider, if you are rum-inclined.

Cozy, warm, happy holidays to you! The holiday season is officially here.

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Along similar lines (except cold) check out this recipe from Cooking Light for Spicy Rum Punch. I need to try this one next.

Spiced Apple Cider, Crock Pot Style

It's the time of year for spiced – and spiked, if you're so inclined – apple cider! The kind of cider that warms you to your toes after searching for the perfect pumpkin or hiking around the muddy Christmas tree farm. The kind of cider that is a must-have during holiday get togethers. The kind of cider that makes your house smell like fall, only cozier.

The Crock Pot is perfect for brewing up a tasty batch of hot cider. It warms slowly, so it has lots of time to absorb all the flavors. And you can just throw the ingredients in, go outside and jump in a pile of leaves or whatever, come in after a few hours, and have the perfect mug of cider waiting for you!

Here's the recipe:

Spiced Apple Cider in the Crock Pot

2 quarts (64 oz.) apple cider
1 orange
Whole cloves (probably about 1/8 cup)
Three cinnamon sticks

Stick the cloves in the orange. It's easiest to poke the orange all over with a toothpick first, then insert the cloves.

Doesn't this orange look like a face? Hee. "My eye!"

 
Soon your orange should look something like this:

Tie the cinnamon sticks together with kitchen string (if you want – they can just float around separately, too), and put them together with the clove-studded orange in the Crock Pot. Pour the cider in.

Heat on low for 5-6 hours. Ladle into mugs (add a little rum now, if you want - or a lot), and enjoy!

 
 

 

Blender Mojitos

I'm sure there are some that would say making a mojito in a blender is sacrilege, but when we're camping, if it's good, it's golden. I firmly believe in putting the "campy" into camping, after all. And when any recipe involves our friggin' awesome hand-crank blender, all the better – not to mention easier.

We enjoyed these refreshing numbers while basking in the sun over in Eastern Washington this past weekend. And if your garden is overflowing with mint like mine is, all the more reason for you to chop chop and enjoy, too! Here's the recipe:

Blender Mojitos

Serves 4

Juice from 5 large limes
Leaves from 5-6 sprigs mint
5 T sugar
8 oz. white rum (or roughly 5 shot glasses worth)
Club soda

Throw the mint leaves and the sugar into a pitcher. Smoosh it around a bit with a spoon to get a bit of the mint oil out of the leaves. Roll the limes on the counter to help release the juice, slice them in half, and squeeze into the pitcher. You can even press a spoon into the lime halves to eke out every last bit of juice, if you want. 

Now the most important step: ADD THE RUM! :)

Next: If you're camping and your guy is waiting outside with the awesome hand-crank blender at the ready, take the pitcher outside for the next step. Or you can do this with your blender inside, too.

Fill the blender with 4-5 cups of ice cubes. Pour half the mojito mixture in, and blend on a low speed for 5-10 seconds, just until the mint has been chopped and the ice is a little smaller.

Divide the mixture between two large glasses, top with club soda to taste. Pour the second half in the blender, and do it again.

Now just drop straws in, pass 'em out, and let the party begin!

(Obviously, we need to make them again soon so I can post a better picture.)