Thirsty Thursday: Rosemary Ginger Spritzer

A while back I decided to host a wine tasting and fancy cheese party at my house.  

Since I'm nursing I still can't go too crazy with the booze; we had a few other non-drinkers there so I decided to make a non-alcoholic cocktail for us to enjoy.  I'm including both versions of this recipe so you can decide whether to get schnockered or not.

INGREDIENTS:
Rosemary Ginger Simple Syrup:
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp rosemary leaves, roughly chopped
1 ginger herbal tea bag (original recipe called for fresh ginger, but I didn't have any on hand, so I steeped the tea bag in the simple syrup instead) - I used Stash's Ginger Lemon, which is my fave.
1 cup water

Combine these ingredients in a small saucepan; cook over low heat until sugar dissolves, then set aside & let steep for at least an hour while it cools.

Then, strain the syrup into a pitcher and add the following:
2 (12 oz) cans ginger ale
2 cups orange juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
BOOZY VERSION: 2 bottles dry champagne
NON-BOOZY: One 2L bottle sparkling water

Serve with rosemary sprigs for garnish.

BTDubs: Leftovers from a wine & cheese party make for a truly indulgent lunch the next day at work.

Thirsty Thursday: Strawberry Mint Julep

Since I'm rocking a bump for the next 23 weeks or so, my NOLA cousin Primeaux has offered to step in & help out with coming up with some tasty Thirsty Thursday cocktails for you all!  He's so kind, putting all those years of bartending experience to good use!  (He's made many improvements since our days of youth when all drinks incorporated pickle juice and a dare of some sort.)

Me & Primeaux, circa 1981.  Pre- pickle-juice dare days.

In honor of the 141st Kentucky Derby this weekend, Primeaux has come up with a delicious spin on the traditional Mint Julep.  Cheers!

American Pharoah winning the Arkansas Derby.  He's favored to win this year's Kentucky Derby & I can see why after that performance! (PS--post of Derby hats & more race photos to come soon!)

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It's practically May down here in the deep South. That means 90*+ days are just around the corner. I wanted to take a minute to post one of my favorite hot weather cocktails, the strawberry mint julep. it's a fruity spin on a Southern classic. It's very quick to throw together and is perfect for relaxing on the porch, or for toting around at your favorite outdoor gathering. 

INGREDIENTS:
4 Roses Bourbon
Lemonade
Simple syrup (that's not moonshine in the Mason jar)
Strawberries
Mint leaves

DIRECTIONS:
Slice up two strawberries and muddle together with six mint leaves and 2 oz of simple syrup in a mixing glass. Add 2oz of 4 Roses Bourbon and 2oz of lemonade. Fill mixing glass with ice and cap with a shaker or large plastic tumbler. Shake vigorously until chilled. Strain your cocktail into a rocks glass. Enjoy outdoors with plenty of sunshine (or while cheering your favorite pony this weekend!)

Blackberry Syrup: Good with…EVERYTHING!

 

We hosted a BBQ at our house last weekend, so of course, I wanted to use our blackberry stockpile in some way for that.  What goes great with a home bar-be-que?  Lemonade!  So I decided to make a quick blackberry syrup to mix in with regular lemonade. 

Of course, I’d also be able to use the syrup for all sorts of other things too!  Mixing in with greek yogurt & fresh berries, swirling in with oatmeal, a syrup for pancakes…even for making a SUPBERB margarita…but we’ll discuss that later this week.

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh or frozen blackberries

3/4 cup water

2/3 cup Splenda (or 1 cup sugar)

 

Directions:

Add all ingredients to a medium saucepan over –medium-high heat & stir to dissolve sugars. 

Heat to a boil, then decrease temperature to medium-low and simmer for 5-10 minutes, gently crushing the berries against the side of the pan as you stir.  Then remove from heat & let steep for 15 minutes.

Place a wire mesh strainer over a container and press to get all the syrup out of the solids.  Once separated, discard the solids (these are great for compost, if you’re a composter!) and let the syrup cool in the fridge.

For blackberry lemonade, add 2 tbsp of syrup to a glass of lemonade.  The syrup is pretty sweet, so I recommend making your lemonade a little more tart than you would normally.  If you’re using lemonade mix, just squeeze in a bit of extra lemon juice.  Mix in your favorite glass & enjoy!

And here’s the awesome thing…if you use Splenda rather than sugar, this has only 3 calories per tablespoon!  If you make it with sugar, it’s about 20 calories per tablespoon.

Tune in later this week for more fun with this syrup!