Pomegranate Cooler

I haven't tried this recipe, but I had copied into my email drafts back in December. Not a go-to drink in December in Colorado but yesterday it was 80* and this could be on the menu soon!

http://www.ecurry.com/blog/drinks-cocktails/pomegranate-cooler/

Ingredients:
1.5 Cup Pomegranate Juice chilled (or 1/2 Cup Cranberry Juice chilled + 1 Cup Pom Juice Chilled)
A Fistful of Mint Leaves
1/2 Teaspoon Fresh Ginger Juice
Sprite or any Lime Soda chilled
Ice
Sugar or Honey to Taste
1/2 Teaspoon of Orange Blossom Water (Optional)

Alcoholic Version:
Add: 1 ounce of Vodka + 1/2 Ounce of Orange Liqueur

Preparation: Muddle the mint leaves (with sugar or honey if you are using it).Combine the pomegranate, cranberry juice, orange blossom water (if you are using it) & ginger juice with the mint leaves. Add Ice & Give it a good shake shake shake.

(For the alcoholic version, add the vodka & the liqueur along with the juice & other things)

Pour it in to individual glasses, half glass each. Fill it up with Sprite or any Lime Soda. Garnish with mint leaves.This is a fantastic drink for outdoor/indoor parties. Prepare the drink & keep it ready chilled. Add the soda just before serving. Garnish with mint.

citrus vinaigrette‏

4 oz OJ
1 oz lemon juice
1 oz red wine vinegar
4 oz olive oil
Pinch of black pepper
Pinch of garlic salt

Put lemon, oj and vinegar in bowl. Slowly drizzle olive oil into the bowl while whisking together. Then add pepper and salt, whisk again.

Drizzle over your salad. We had romaine lettuce, red onion, green & red peppers, sliced carrots with grilled chicken. But make the salad to your liking... otherwise you won't enjoy it! (I'm still struggling to enjoy salads but grilled chicken always seems to help - just as a good light dressing does.)

i halved the recipe because tim didn't want it, and it have SO much leftover still.

meals

would you all mind sharing what your weekly meal plans usually look like? i'm finally going to get my big booty to the grocery store so we can make meals at home.

when we have food in the house, we usually do:

chicken enchiladas & spanish rice
grilled chicken & veggies in baked potato
hashbrowns & eggs
chicken & veggie OR just veggie stir fry & rice

lindsay gave me some good crockpot ideas which i'll try out after grocery shopping.

i'm blanking on other simple ideas.

Check this out- how fun!

http://simplygluten-free.blogspot.com/2010/03/chocolate-bowls-step-by-step-how-to.html

ice cream cakes

i bought one premade oreo pie crust and one graham cracker pie crust. i bought a container of reese's pb cup ice cream, one of vanilla bean, and one of caramel swirl.

in the oreo crust i put in a layer of reese's pb ice cream, layer of vanilla (to tone down the intense reese's flavor), then topped with a layer of reese's pb again. then i topped with crushed/chopped reese's pieces.

in the graham cracker crust, i put in a layer of caramel swirl, then vanilla, then caramel swirl again. then i topped with chopped up pieces of caramello. this was definitely a lighter taste. they both turned out well. and i got some questions as to where i bought them. :o) not bad.

and i'm glad i did two pies. because there were 30 candles to fit on them!

bruschetta

this was the first time trying this out. it was super simple. i had found a few recipes online that looked good. some were for fresh tomatoes, some were for canned tomatoes. jae & i decided to try it with half and half since i had some canned tomatoes and fresh tomatoes that i had picked up.

1 can whole stewed tomatoes - italian style (w/ italian seasonings)
5 roma tomatoes
fresh basil leaves (about 10-15 leaves)
3-5 cloves garlic
extra virgin olive oil for brushing
dash of salt
artisan bread, cut on the diagonal in about 1 inch pieces


chop 1 can of tomatoes, well-drained, into small pieces. chop roma tomatoes into same size pieces as canned tomatoes. mince 3 to 5 garlic cloves. i think i ended up doing 5 because my garlic mincer doesn't mince the whole clove... if that makes sense. slice basil leaves in thin strips. put in about half, stir and eye if you think you need more... or just taste the mixture. i think we ended up using about 15 leaves. we let the mixture sit for a couple hours before serving it up for the party. you can put it in the fridge if you prefer - but you aren't supposed to refrigerate fresh basil so we kept it out. don't put the salt in the mixture until you are about to put it on the bread because the salt will make the mixture sweat.

when ready to serve.. put broiler on to 450ish. slice the bread into 1 inch pieces. i put the bread in for about 3 minutes and they were perfectly toasted. then tyler pointed out that i forgot the EVOO (extra virgin olive oil). Oops! I had a moment of panic but i think it might have turned out better this way. they were a little crispier and held up throughout the night. after brushing the bread with EVOO, I threw in the dash of salt to the tomatoes and scooped the tomato/basil mixture on the bread slices. place on serving plate - and you are set!

my apologies for poor pictures of everything. i was doing most of the prep about 30 minutes before the party on my own. so i was just trying to get everything out before people showed up, that didn't exactly work but the food went over really well. i cropped this from the full food picture in the post before.

tim's 30th birthday party food

brownie bite topped with a little homemade whipping cream and a fresh raspberry

these flew off the plate at the party

this is the only good pic i have of the caprese skewers

(this is tim's sister - jae. she came out for the weekend with tyler)

cherry tomato, basil leaf, mozzarella ball (or slice would work)

plate drizzled with EVOO, served with a side dish of balsamic vinegar to dip in

the spread: veggies platter, bruschetta (i'll post my recipe later), caprese skewers, parmesan-thyme rolls, canadian maple leaf sugar cookies, salsa and chips (from la luz - local taco shop), cheese dip in the fondue pot, brownie bites in the far corner, hummus with pita chips.

parm-thyme rolls
maple leaf cookies
(threw on some red sugar sprinkles after)