Night Blossoms

For William's birthday, he went through my cookbooks and picked some recipes for us to try. One recipe was for Night Blossoms, which is a slushy, fruity drink with popping boba pearls.

Night Blossoms

Ingredients:

• 4 cups limeade
• 1 container apple juice concentrate
• 1 cup watermelon juice
• 1 cup strawberry nectar
• 2 cups lime sherbet
• 1/2 cup lemon-lime soda
• 1 container passion fruit boba balls

Directions:

1. Mix together limeade, apple juice concentrate, watermelon juice and strawberry nectar.
2. Pour half of the mixture into an ice cream maker (unless your maker can hold the entire batch all at once), and run the maker until mixture is slushy.
3. Pour an equal portion of slush into each cup (a large, maybe 20 oz cup), making five portions total.
4. Place cups in freezer.
5. Pour the rest of the juice mixture into the ice cream maker and being freezing into more slush.
6. In the meantime, in a blender, blend lime sherbet and lemon-lime soda until smooth.
7. Pour equal portions of ice cream mixture into each of the five cups and return to the freezer.
8. When the rest of the slush is ready, divide the mixture up evenly between the five cups and return them to the freezer until ready to serve (not meant to be completely frozen, so do not leave in the freeze for more than a few minutes... probably no more than 30 minutes total or your drink could get too frozen).
9. When ready to serve, top each glass with 1/5 of the boba pearls in the container.

Marsha's Notes:

Here are some pictures of some of the more unusual ingredients I used to help you find them in your stores. I ordered my boba off Amazon, but found all the rest at my local grocery store. The strawberry nectar was in with the Latin/Mexican foods.

Cold Brew Coffee

For my birthday, my sister gave me a cold brew coffee pot. It's pretty simple to use and I really love it. I wanted to document how to make the coffee here so I don't have to keep looking it up in the pamphlet. I also will put down my favorite way to drink the cold brew (in case you are curious) AND why I like it so much. So read on, if you want to know!

Mine is a 1 quart Takeya brand brewer. You can get one just like here using this link: https://www.amazon.com/Takeya-10310-Patented-Airtight-Silicone/dp/B00FFLY64U

Basic 1 Qt. Recipe: 1 cup grounds to 1 quart water

Instructions: Put about 1 cup of coffee grounds in the filter. For this model of brewer, once filled, screw the filter into the base of the lid. Fill the pitcher with cold water until it is about a inch or two from the top. Lower the filter into the pitcher (it should be attached to the lid at this point) and screw the lid down tight to seal. Swirl the pitcher to get the grounds all nice and wet and then place in the fridge overnight. The next day, remove the filter.

Basically, that's it!

Marsha's Favorite Way To Drink Cold Brew:

This might sounds weird, but hear me out... So I like my coffee with sweetener and creamer, right? And chocolate in coffee makes it a mocha, right? So what if I take a sweet, creamy, chocolate-y protein shake as my breakfast and top it off with some cold brew?!!! I get my breakfast and my coffee all in one! How much coffee you add is totally up to your taste, but I'd say I use somewhere around a 1/2 cup of coffee cold brew concentrate to 1 protein shake. You can use any flavor of shake that you think would go good in coffee, so vanilla shakes are totally an option.

Tips for Making Cold Brew:

• When filling the pitcher with water, you have to leave room at the top so when you put the filter in, the water doesn't overflow. 
• If you under-fill the pitcher, you can always open the lid and add just a touch more water. 
• This model is supposed to be leak-proof, so be sure to tighten the lid and you should be safe to swirl and shake the pitcher around to get the grounds all wet at the start of brewing. This ensures no pockets of dry grounds in the middle of the filter. 
• Being leak-proof also allows you to store this pitcher on it's side if you are short on space in your fridge.
• It recommends, for stronger more even flavor, to swirl the pitcher a couple times during brewing if you want.
• It also recommends using filtered water and course ground coffee. I feel like the mesh of the filter is really quite fine, so most coffee grounds are going to work and stay put in the filter, so making sure it's "course ground" (as opposed to regular ground, which is much easier to find in the store) isn't a huge concern for me. I say, use what you have... use what you like.
• When the coffee is as strong as you like it, remove the filter. I usually make it sometime the day before I want to use it, but I'm not too strict about the time frame... at least overnight, if not closer to 24 hours. The idea is to make a coffee concentrate but if you brew it less long or use fewer grounds, you will get a coffee that is less concentrate and closer to a regular coffee brew.

Benefits of Cold Brew:

As a person who is sensitive to bitter tastes, coffee has become an acquired taste for me and I still only drink it with sweetener and creamer. Cold brew tends to have a FAR LESS bitter taste than hot brew, which is AWESOME for someone like me. 

Also, if you like a "flavored" coffee bean like French vanilla or hazelnut, I have found that with many hot flavored coffees, once brewed, you can only smell the flavor but not taste it very much. So the hot coffee might SMELL like French vanilla, but it still tastes like black coffee. HOWEVER, with cold brew those flavors really become much more prominent in the drink so you can TASTE it as well as smell it.

Also, this might seem obvious, but if you like iced coffee, cold brew is already cold and ready to go whenever you are. It doesn't continue to get more bitter as it sits so the pitcher can be in you fridge for up to two weeks and taste the same as it did the morning it was initially ready. And unlike hot brew, you don't have to wait for it to get cold to use it or water it down with extra ice to get it cold.

Other Ways to Drink Cold Brew (Including HOT Recipes):

Keep in mind that cold brew coffee of this manner is really a coffee concentrate, depending on how long you let the coffee steep before removing the filter. So you often need less cold brew concentrate to flavor whatever drink you are preparing. Think espresso, only less bitter with cold brew. How strong the cold brew is depends on how long it steeps and the strength of the coffee used, so proportions in these recipes will vary to taste.

A few recipe ideas from the pamphlet are:

• Basic hot coffee- 1 part reheated concentrate with two parts hot water. Sweeten, cream, and flavor as desired.
• Basic iced coffee- 1 part cold concentrate with two parts milk and/or water over ice. Sweeten, cream, and flavor as desired.
• Cafe au Lait- 2 oz. cold brew with 6 oz. milk heated up. Sprinkle with cinnamon.
• Coffee Smoothie- 3 oz. cold brew, 3/4 cup frozen yogurt, 1/2 cup ice and 1 1/2 tsp honey mixed in a blender until smooth.
• Sparkling Coffee- 1 cup cold brew with 3 oz sparkling water served over ice.
• Caffe Macchiato- 1 oz. cold brew heated and topped with 1/4 cup hot milk that has been frothed to foam.
• Cafe Francais- Beat 1 cup heavy cream until fluffy. Add 1/4 cup powdered sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Split cream between 4 mugs. Heat 3 cups cold brew with 1 cup water and 1 tsp vanilla until hot. Pour hot coffee over cream in mugs and serve.

Breakfast in a Shake (Smoothie)

I found this recipe years ago and am now copying it here from our family cookbook binder. Enjoy! It is pretty much exactly the same as the smoothie recipe that I posted on this blog years ago, however, that other blog post includes more tips and variations for making other flavors, so you can check it out here: https://1brother2sisters.blogspot.com/2010/10/smoothies.html

Breakfast in a Shake (Smoothie)

Calories per serving: 325

Ingredients:

• 1 cup frozen berries or fruit
• 1/2 banana, frozen
• 1/2 cup apple or orange juice
• 1 cup yogurt, vanilla or matching flavor like strawberry or peach

Directions:

1. Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.  Enjoy!  
2. Mix and match your favorite things, like frozen berry blend, frozen strawberries, frozen mango, etc.

Luau Kooler

I found this recipe years ago and am now copying it here from our family cookbook binder. Enjoy!

Luau Kooler

Calories per serving: 10 calories

Ingredients:

• 2 lt. lemonade, sugar free
• Pinapple or Strawberry, Banana, Orange Crystal Light (or whatever kind you like)

Directions:

1. Mix two parts lemonade with one part Crystal Light in any amount you need.  Refreshing!

Super Easy Peppermint Hot Chocolate

I found this recipe years ago and am now copying it here from our family cookbook binder. Enjoy!

Super Easy Peppermint Hot Chocolate

Calories per serving: 150

Ingredients:

• 1 mug of hot water
• 1 scoop hot chocolate mix
• 1 crushed peppermint candy cane

Directions:

1. Need an idea to get rid of all those left over pesky mini candy canes that everyone gets?  Well, in microwave, heat your mug of water until desired temperature.  
2. Add required amount of chocolate mix and stir until smooth.  
3. Then add one crushed candy cane.  Give the cane a minute to dissolve and then you will have easy mint hot chocolate and one less candy cane!

Rich N' Thick Hot Chocolate

I found this recipe years ago and am now copying it here from our family cookbook binder. Enjoy!

Rich N’ Thick Hot Chocolate

Calories per serving: 225 (makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 2 squares/bars unsweetened baking chocolate
• ½ cup sugar
• 3 cups milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• mini marshmallows

Directions:

1. Place water and chocolate in a medium sized heavy saucepan; cook on low heat until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended, stirring constantly with wire whisk.  
2. Add sugar, mix well.  Bring to a boil on medium-high heat.  
3. Boil 3 minutes, stirring constantly.  
4. Gradually add milk, stirring with wire whisk until well blended.  
5. Stir in vanilla.  
6. Reduce heat to medium.  
7. Cook until mixture is heated through, stirring occasionally.  Serve with marshmallows, if desired.

Fruity Frappe

I found this recipe years ago and am now copying it here from our family cookbook binder. This beverage is like a fruity version of a root beer float. You can make it with any combination of flavors that you like, but the original recipe called for raspberry drink/punch, lemon-lime soda pop, raspberry sherbet and frozen raspberries, which is what we tried to recreate in the images below (although, next time, I would put in a lot more ice cream in each glass). Enjoy!

Fruity Frappe

Calories per serving: 150 per 1 cup serving (makes 32 servings) (calories drop if using sugar free options)

Ingredients:

• fruit flavored drink (1 gallon)
• citrus flavored soda pop (2 lt.)
• frozen berries (1 small pkg)
• sherbet (1/2 gallon)

Directions:

1. Amounts all depend on taste and how many are being served, so play around with it to find what you prefer.  
2. Combine all ingredients in a large serving bowl until mixture resembles a float, or is smooth and frothy.  Serve immediately.

Marsha's Notes:

• You can also substitute any flavor of drink, berries, and sherbet to make what you like (strawberry, lime, etc.).
• Chris isn't a fan of anything carbonated, so you can also substitute lemonade for the citrus soda pop.
• The original recipe is really designed for a large party in a punch bowl where you hope there won't be leftovers because this drink really doesn't save well for later. Therefore, if you are doing this for a smaller group, I would recommend just getting the number of glasses that you want to fill, put a handful of frozen berries in the bottom, then your desired scoops of sherbet, then about 2/3 flavored drink to 1/3 soda pop/lemonade (or, make it adult with 1/3 sparkling wine).
• In the images below, we made this on a night where we also had a fun homemade dessert option, so I didn't want the drink to be overly "dessert-y" with too much ice cream in it. However, it is much tastier with more sherbet.
• I would recommend stirring the sherbet into the drink mix a little bit to get it out of one big ice cream clump to make it easier to drink. Then top with your carbonated beverage so you don't stir out all of the bubbles. Frappe tends to be a blended drink, so you could also try blending up all or parts of the drink to get what you like.

Mate Coco

Another recipe from Scott's mission.

Mate Coco

This is a drink that Scott learned to make on his mission to Paraguay.  Traditionally you would heat up the milk and sugar on the stove, then take a hollowed out cow horn (called a guampa), stuff the bottom of the horn with the coconut, pour the hot sweetened milk over the coconut and sip it out of the horn with a special strainer straw (called a bombilla).  Since most of us don’t have a bombilla to strain our drinks, here is a more “American friendly” version of this hot sipping drink.  Enjoy!

Calories per serving: 215, 100 if using sugar free sweetener

Ingredients:

• 2 cups 2% milk 
• ¼ cup sugar (or to taste)
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut (or to taste)

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, stir together milk, sugar and coconut.  
2. Heat over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until milk is desired hot temperature.  
3. Place a paper towel in a small mesh strainer.  Hold strainer over cup or pitcher and pour the milk through the paper towel or cheese cloth.  
4. Discard paper towel and coconut.  Serve hot.  Makes 2 servings.

Peppermint Hot Chocolate

I found this recipe years ago and am now copying it here from our family cookbook binder. Enjoy!

Peppermint Hot Chocolate

Calories per serving: 450 calories (makes 5 servings)

Ingredient:

• 1 ½ cups heavy cream
• 1 ½ cups milk
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 4-6 oz semisweet baking chocolate bars, chopped
• 3 drops peppermint extract
• Sweetened whipped cream 

Directions:

1. In a saucepan, combine the cream, milk, sugar and salt.  
2. Heat over medium-low heat.  
3. When the cream mixture just begins to steam, add the chopped chocolate and stir until melted.  
4. Stir in the peppermint extract/oil.  
5. Divide the hot chocolate among mugs and top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings for garnish if desired.  Makes about 4 mugs and is very rich.

Effortless Eggnog

I found this recipe years ago and am now copying it here from our family cookbook binder. Enjoy!

Effortless “Eggnog”

Calories per serving: 150 per 1 cup serving (makes 8 servings)

Ingredients:

• ½ gallon cold 2 % milk, divided 
• 1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) instant French Vanilla pudding mix, sugar free
• ¼ cup sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Directions:

1. In your serving bowl (or in a small bowl), combine ¾ cup milk and pudding mix.  Whisk until smooth.  
2. Then whisk in the sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.  
3. If using the serving bowl, stir in remaining milk until all is well combined.  If using a small bowl, I get my half gallon of milk from a ½ empty full gallon of milk.  Then I pour the pudding mixture back into my milk jug, and then replace the lid and shake the jug to get everything combined.  You can’t use a regular ½ gallon jug because there is no extra room for the pudding, sugar, or spices.  Store in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Easy "Drop Drinks"

To round out my posts about all my favorite home-made cocktails, so far, I am going to do a quick post about all of my easy "drop drinks." Simple, fast, and yummy... they basically involve a serving of the base of your choice and about a shot of the preferred liquor. Enjoy!

Rum and Coke- 1 shot rum to a serving of cola. You can change things up by using vanilla rums or other complimenting flavors to your cola.

Lime Ricky- 1 shot grape vodka to a serving of lemon lime soda pop plus grape flavored syrup (1/4 cup or so depending on taste) and optional fresh lime juice/wedges.

Bailey's and Coffee/Hot Chocolate- approximately 3 oz of your favorite Bailey's Ice Cream Liquor to a serving of coffee or hot chocolate. For a cold twist, add to chocolate milk or iced coffee.

Rumchatta and Coffee/Hot Chocolate- same as Bailey's.

Dr. Malibu- 1 shot Malibu rum and 1 serving Dr. Pepper

Marsha's Notes:

1/2 a shot usually equals about 25 ml or .845 oz. 1 full shot usually equals about 50 ml or 1.7 oz.

Marsha's Classic or Fruity Mojito And Long Island Iced Tea

Over the years I have made some delicious classic mint and lime mojitos (very refreshing when it's hot), but I have also sweetened things up a bit and made some amazing fruity mojitos as well. Here I will share both recipes with you. Enjoy!

Marsha's Classic Mojito

Calories per serving: 50-100 calories if using sugar free syrup, 150-300 if using regular sugar

Ingredients:

• 1/2-1 shot white rum (Bacardi) (50-100 calories)
• 2-4 Tbl. white sugar or 1/4 cup simple syrup (0-200 calories)
• 8 small mint leaves
• Juice of 1/2-1 lime, freshly squeezed
• Crushed Ice
• Soda Water/Club Soda

Directions:

1. All proportions vary depending on your taste, but these are the proportions we like. First you have to decide if you want to muddle your mint leaves in real sugar or crush them with simple syrup. 
• If you use regular sugar, add the juice of your lime to the serving glass, then the sugar, and finally drop in the mint leaves. Muddle (smash with a muddle stick) gently in the bottom of the glass 3 or 4 times to release the mint flavor. Over muddling makes things bitter. 
• If you decide to use simple syrup, I find it easiest to just take my mint leaves, and instead of muddling, I just smack them really good a few times in my hands to release the flavors before adding them to the rest of the ingredients in the glass. Just give them a good spank.
• Pick the smallest, newest leaves of mint from the top of the stem for the least amount of bitterness.
2. Then add your rum and ice; stir. 
3. Top off the glass with a splash of club soda. Again, the amount of soda depends on your taste, but I usually add about a 4 oz. or so.

Marsha's Fruity Mojito

Ingredients:

• 1 shot fruit flavored rum
• 2-4 Tbl. white sugar or 1/4 cup simple syrup
• 8 small mint leaves
• Juice of 1/2-1 lime, freshly squeezed
• Crushed Ice
• Soda Water/Club Soda
• sliced/diced fresh fruit coated in sugar and left to macerate, about a 1/4 cup

Directions:

1. The directions for this recipe are almost exactly the same as above, except you will now use a fruit rum instead. Fruit rums tend to be about 1/2 the strength of white rum. We have really loved Cruzan's Tropical Fruit or Black Cherry flavors, but you could use any that you like. 
2. Earlier in the day, I will prep some fresh fruit to compliment the drink by slicing/dicing it, covering it in some white sugar, and letting it sit in the fridge to release the natural juices, such as strawberries. I have also sliced a kiwi to make a kiwi strawberry version.

Marsha's Long Island Iced Tea

Ingredients:

• 1/2 oz vodka
• 1/2 oz rum
• 1/2 oz gin
• 1/2 oz top shelf tequila
• 1/2 oz triple sec
• 1 oz sweet and sour mix
• 1/4 cup simple syrup (optional)
• 1 oz cola or to taste (more than a splash)
• 1 lemon slice

Directions:

1. Fill cocktail shaker with ice. 
2. Pour in all ingredients except cola and lemon slice, cover and shake. 
3. Add fresh ice into serving glass (Collins or hurricane) and pour over. 
4. Top with cola and stir for iced tea color. Garnish with lemon slice.

Marsha's Notes:
I don't usually like the taste of tequila unless it is subtle/top shelf, so I might sometimes leave this out if I don't have any good stuff on hand. I like my drinks to be sweet, so I add the extra 1/4 cup of simple syrup to mine, but a true recipe doesn't call for it. Adjusting the sweetness just with the cola changes the sweetness AND flavor, unlike adding the simple syrup instead, so that's why I opt for that. But don't kid yourself. This drink has LOTS of alcohol in it, so there's only so much you can do to make it sweet. It's gonna taste like alcohol.

Lemon Drop Shot

Marsha's Lemon Drop Shot

Calories per serving: 78 with out a sugar rim

Ingredients:

• 0.5 oz. Vodka
• 0.5 oz. Triple Sec
• 0.5 oz lemon juice
• sugar for rim
• lemon wedges

Directions:

1. In a measured shot glass, measure out 1/2 an ounce of all three liquids. 
2. Take a clean shot glass for serving, run a lemon wedge around the rim and dip in sugar to coat. 
3. Pour the measured drink into the glass and serve with a lemon wedge. You can either shoot the whole thing and chase with a bite into the lemon wedge, or you can sip and drink gradually while chasing with the lemon after each sip.

Copy-Cat Olive Garden Sangria

Olive Garden has the most amazing sangria and I was lucky enough to find some copy-cat recipes on the internet so I could get the basis for making my own at home! So fruity, sweet, and yummy especially in summer! I want to jot down this recipe before next summer comes and I get a craving!

Marsha's Olive Garden Copy-Cat Sangria

Calories per serving: 192 (watermelon), 215 (green apple)

Ingredients:

• Ice, crushed
• Fruit, sliced strawberries and oranges
• 4 oz. Moscato
• 1 oz. flavored syrup/puree
• 1 oz. soda pop or juice

Directions:

1. For Watermelon Sangria- use crushed ice, sliced strawberries and oranges, 4 oz. Moscato, 1 oz. Monin Watermelon Syrup, 1 oz. ginger ale
2. For Green Apple Sangria- use crushed ice, sliced strawberries and oranges, 4 oz. Moscato, 1 oz. Monin Green Apple Puree, 1 oz. pineapple juice.
3. Add all ingredients to your glass (or quadruple recipe for a pitcher) and stir!

Monin Watermelon Syrup (click here to go to Amazon)

Monin Green Apple Puree (click here to go to Amazon)

Marsha's Cinnamon Roll Drink

This is a super sweet, delicious cocktail that tastes like eating the center of a cinnamon roll. YUM!

Marsha's Cinnamon Roll Drink

Calories: 112 per shot of whisky

Ingredients:

• 1 can cream soda
• 1/2-1 shot Porter's Fire Cinnamon Vanilla Whisky
• Ice

Directions:

1. You can either pour your cream soda of your choice over ice, add the whisky and give it a quick stir, or you can take a bottle of cream soda, drink a bit to make room, then add the whisky right to the bottle. 
2. I've also seen people garnish this drink with some whipped cream sprinkled with cinnamon sugar for an icing effect.

Marsha's Pumpkin Spice Iced Coffee

I love to be able to save a little money and make my own recipes at home for the things that I might splurge on when I am out and about. So I created my own version of the super yummy pumpkin spice iced coffee! Enjoy!

Marsha's Pumpkin Spice Iced Coffee

Ingredients:

• 1 coffee pod of your choice (I used Wide Awake Coffee Co.'s French Vanilla)
• 1/4 cup simple syrup, sugar free
• 1-2 pumps Torani's Brown Sugar Cinnamon Syrup, sugar free
• splash Coffee Mate Pumpkin Spice Creamer

Directions:

1. Brew an 8 oz. cup of coffee of your choice. 
2. Let cool. 
3. Fill a 20 oz. cup 1/3 full of ice cubes. 
4. Add 1/4 cup simple syrup (I like Torani's Sugar Free version for zero calories), 1-2 pumps of Torani Brown Sugar Cinnamon Syrup, a splash to 1/4 cup Coffee Mate Pumpkin Spice Creamer (or to your taste). 
5. Stir. Top with whipped cream sprinkled with cinnamon sugar for a fun finish. Enjoy!

Marsha's Sparkling Apple Refresher

Just messing around, I created a tasty, refreshing, fruity drink that is so fun, fancy, and EASY! I am going to try other juices and things to make other versions, so I thought to myself, "What am I going to call this drink?" Maybe "refresher" is kinda silly, but I think it describes this drink perfectly.

Sparkling Apple Refresher

Calories per serving: 115 if using 1 cup juice and diet soda

Ingredients:

• 2 parts Simply Apple juice
• 1 part lemon lime soda
• 1 handful frozen mixed fruit
• ice

Directions:

1. Place ice in your glass and top with a handful of frozen fruit. 
2. Fill glass 2/3's full of juice, and then top with lemon lime soda. 
3. Pop in a straw and stir. If you find your drink is cold enough without the ice, you can just use the frozen fruit to keep it cold without diluting it.

Marsha's Notes:
So, easy, but so yummy!!! I can't wait to whip this out in the summer, on my back porch, when it's hot and sunny!

Step-by-step pix:

Place ice in your glass and top with a handful of frozen fruit.

Fill glass 2/3's full with juice.

Top with lemon lime soda.

Pop in a straw, stir, and enjoy! You can even eat the fruit later when it's thawed!

McCormick's Apple Pie Spiced "Latte"

Find the original recipe here.

McCormick's Apple Pie Spiced "Latte"

Calories per serving: 200

Ingredients: 2 (1 cup) Servings

• 1 cup apple cider
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Apple Pie Spice

Directions:

1. Bring all ingredients to simmer in medium saucepan on medium heat, stirring constantly to dissolve sugar a prevent the milk from making a skin on top. 
2. Once steamy and hot, carefully pour mixture into blender container. 
3. With center part of blender cover removed to let steam escape, blend on medium/high speed until smooth and frothy. 
4. Pour into mugs. Top with whipped cream and sprinkle with additional apple pie spice, if desired.

Marsha's Notes:

I blended mine for at least two minutes or more (long enough to clean up my work space, wash my sauce pan, and get everything prepped for the mug), etc. It resulted it great foam!

If it doesn't look like this when you turn off the blender, you might need to blend longer.

Use a spoon or spatula to hold the foam back in the blender container while you pour the cider into your mug, then release the foam at the last minute so it can land back on top of your drink.

I topped mine with whipped cream and a little more spice.

Update: In my impatience, I attempted to make this recipe once by using the microwave instead of the stovetop and the result was curdled milk in my cup... so I guess there are no short-cuts for this recipe. I also let the sugar out in an attempt to be more healthy and the flavor did seem off to me, so maybe I'll try a zero-calorie sweetener the next time. Could that have contributed to the split milk? I don't think so, but I wanted to note it.

The story, if you are interested:

I really love hot drinks. For years, I have started my day with a cold drink and a hot drink and something to eat. (Truthfully, in my younger days, I didn't even both with the "something to eat" and just had my "cold drink/hot drink".) Typically, my hot drink of choice was hot chocolate, but as I got older and my sweet tooth mellowed out a bit, I have switched to the less sweet option of instant cappuccino (I call it "grown-up hot chocolate"). However, I also have a strong sensitivity to bitterness, so coffee products are not always acceptable to my pallet. So, when other "hot drink" options present themselves, I am excited to give them a try.

Enter this Apple Pie Spiced Latte. Now, I am no coffee guru, so all the terms like "cappuccino", "latte", "mocha", etc. are confusing to me. All of them basically boil down to some kind of coffee vs milk ratio with other optional things added in (chocolate=mocha). Depending on the amounts and the way the ingredients are treated determines what fancy name you give your cup of Joe. And, because they are mixing the coffee with other things, they typically use super strong coffee (known as espresso) to keep things from getting too watered down. I felt like this little diagram helped me understand the lexicon tons! (Click here for more information.)

So, if you look at this chart, you will see that a latte is part coffee, part milk, part foam. Simply replace the coffee with apple cider and spices, and now you have McCormick's Apple Pie Spiced Latte! In my head, this is similar to, yet not exactly the same, as Starbuck's Carmel Apple Spice hot drink, only, I believe there is no milk in the Starbuck's version making the apple taste much more pronounced. McCormick's version is 50% apple cider and 50% milk, making it a milder, creamer version of the Starbuck's drink (minus the caramel sauce).

So, now that you know all about lattes, and now that you know this particular "latte" has no coffee in it, some people become concerned about the term cider vs. apple juice. Cider can have the reputation for being alcoholic. Outside of the United States, alcoholic apple juice beverages certainly are referred to simply as cider, which contributes to the confusion. But inside the United States, that type of drink is more commonly referred to as "hard cider." While "hard cider" certainly is alcoholic, normal store-bought or fruit stand cider is not (legally, it can't be!). In this case, cider refers to the process of how the juice was made and not alcoholic content. Cider is a less processed, more natural form of apple juice. It can be cloudier and contain little bits of apple pulp. Many people find it to be more natural-tasting, stronger, and less sweet. Filtered apple juice, however, is clear and stays fresher longer (is more self-stable due to processing).

For this recipe, you can use either juice or cider, your choice. But, for a special, authentic-tasting fall drink, I vote for cider EVERY time. So, look for the cloudy juice in your refrigerated section of the grocery store... the kind that may even have some sediment in the bottom of the bottle that you have to shake up. For more information on apple juice vs cider, click here.

Wow! Do we all feel educated now? I certainly do!!! But it's always good to understand terminology and know what you are consuming. With that in mind, here is the recipe that started this whole business. I loved how it made my house smell DIVINE, was comforting and soothing, and the added foam on top from blending made it feel like a super-duper fancy coffee-house drink that I prepared myself in my own kitchen on the cheap!!! This latte is going to be a fall staple in my house from now on.

Marsha's Lime Ricky

Scott really loves a good Lime Ricky from Arctic Circle, and so one day I watched the lady prepare one and came home to make my own copy-cat version.  You basically need three things; lemon-lime soda, fresh limes, and grape flavoring. I think the ideal thing might be the grape syrup you can buy in the spring to make homemade snow cones, but alas, it is fall, and so I had to improvise.

I picked these Kool-Aid Singles because they are pre-sweetened and I could just dump a little in.  It makes it hard to know exactly how much I added, where as the syrup would be easier to measure.

So, here's the process.

Marsha's Lime Ricky

Ingredients:

• 1 can lemon-lime soda
• 1/4-1/2 fresh lime
• 1/3 (or so) packet of Kool-Aid Singles grape flavor

Directions:

1. In a tall glass, add the desired amount of ice and about 1/3 of your grape drink mix. 
2. Pour soda over top. 
3. Take a lime that has been cut into quarters and squeeze one quarter into your drink, then drop the wedge in. Stir and enjoy!

Marsha's Notes:
The amount of Kool-Aid you add will depend on how strong you like your grape flavor, and you will also determine the amount of fresh lime juice to add by taste. Scott just likes the juice and throws the wedge away, but in true Arctic Circle fashion, I put my wedge directly into my drink. The choice is yours.

Marsha's Smoothies

My favorite, go-to, smoothie recipe that my whole family enjoys. Super simple, three ingredients, customizable, and easy to get as thick or as drinkable as you'd like.

Frozen Fruit Smoothie

Calories per serving: 280

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup apple juice (or your favorite flavor, i.e. orange, pineapple, grape, etc.)
• 1 6 oz. container yogurt
• 1-2 cups frozen fruit

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth.

Marsha's Notes:

So, here are my tips.  First of all, I just put a couple of handfuls of frozen fruit in my blender because it's a little hard to measure frozen fruit that is all different sizes.  Really, the amount of fruit you use depends on how thick you like your smoothies and how strong your blender motor is.  I freeze ALL the fruit I use in my smoothies, including bananas.

Secondly, to make my smoothie a little more figure friendly, I use Yoplait Light, fat-free, yogurt.  They are around 90-100 calories.  If my calculations are correct, 1/2 cup apple juice is around 50 calories, and 1 cup fruit is around 100 calories, making a big breakfast smoothie around 250 calories.  That's very diet friendly.

Thirdly, as far as proportions go, if you use a really ripe frozen banana, the banana flavor can be pretty strong, so I only use 1/2 a banana per smoothie.  I am also careful to not use too many berries in any given smoothie because they can be rather tart.  Instead, I like to balance the sweetness in my smoothies by using just a few berries and lots of peaches, pineapple chunks, mango chunks and/or 1/2 a banana.

Fourthly, I haven't found a yogurt that I didn't like in my smoothies.  Any flavor that you like will do.  I just try to match my yogurt to the fruit I am using that day.  Lemon and lime yogurts work well in a tropical blend.  

Fifthly, you can add any kind of powdered supplement that you like, if you are into that kind of thing.

Here are some combinations that I have tried that I love:

Marsha's Strawberry Smoothie

1/2 cup apple juice

1 6 oz. strawberry yogurt

1/2 banana, frozen

1 cup frozen strawberries (adjust amount to taste and thickness)

Marsha's Peach Smoothie

1/2 cup apple juice

1 6 oz. vanilla yogurt

1-2 cups frozen peaches

Marsha's Tropical Smoothie

1/2 cup apple juice

1 6 oz. yogurt (any flavor that sounds good)

1-2 cups frozen mixed fruit (peaches, strawberries, pineapple, mangos, bananas using more of the particular flavor that I want to be strongest in my smoothie that day)

As you can see, the combinations are almost limitless. Just get your proportions of juice, fruit and yogurt right, and you can combine anything that tastes good to you. You can also mix up your juices to adjust sweetness, or use frozen fruit that comes pre-sweetened.