White Christmas Sangria

Merry Christmas!!

White Christmas Sangria combines my love of sangria with my love of holiday flavors - cranberries, apple, and rosemary. This sangria is fragrant and tastes like Christmas in a glass.

My favorite tip for making sangria is to use a flavor-infused pitcher. The fruit infuses into the liquid perfectly without having to strain any fruit pulp out before serving.

White Christmas Sangria

Ingredients:
·1.5 L Moscato wine

·1.5 L Sprite Zero

·2 large honey crisp apples, diced

·1 cup cranberries

·1 sprig of rosemary

Directions:

Place fruit and herb in the flavor-infused center of the pitcher. Add wine and Sprite. Let chill for at least 2 hours before serving. 

Apple Juice Spritzer

Apple Juice Spritzer is the perfect mocktail for Thanksgiving. It's simple to prepare with only two ingredients and tastes delicious - sweet, sparkly, and refreshing.

To prepare Apple Juice Spritzer, combine equal parts of Apple Juice and Ginger Ale. Chill before serving. Enjoy!

Spiked Caramel Apple Cider

Spiked Caramel Apple Cider is fall in a glass. It's easy to make and tastes like a grown-up caramel apple. We had a chili cook-off a few weekends ago, and this adult beverage was a hit. Combine 4 parts apple cider to 1 part caramel vodka, and serve chilled or warm. Happy Halloween!

Skinny Mojitos

 

Mojitos are one of my favorite cocktails - so light, flavorful, and very refreshing. While fall is my favorite season and I've been enjoying fall cocktails, which I'll post later this week, I'm preparing for a much needed beach vacation. One sip of a mojito instantly places my mind on the beach.

Skinny Mojitos

Ingredients:

·6 mint leaves

·1 lime

·4 oz club soda

·2 oz clear rum

·3 tsp sugar

·Ice

Directions:

Muddle mint leaves with juice from half of a lime and sugar. Combine remaining ingredients and shake in a cocktail shaker. Serve with remaining lime juice squeezed into a glass. 

Serves 2

Note: For a Skinny Blueberry Mojito, add a handful of blueberries to the mint and lime juice when muddling.

Sparkling Peach Black Tea

While peach season has officially passed, I don't believe good things should only be enjoyed when "in-season." This Sparkling Peach Black Tea is definitely one of those good things that should be enjoyed year round. It's the perfect balance of refreshing and sweet.


Click here for recipe from Iowa Girl Eats

Moscato Spritzer

This Moscato Spritzer is my new favorite party drink. The ingredients – 1 bottle of Moscato, 2L of Sprite, and 16oz. of Frozen Raspberries – are easy to remember when I’m doing last minute grocery shopping. It’s also simple to prepare and tastes great – very fresh, light, and slightly sweet.

 

Click here for drink ingredients from Make It-Bake It-Create It

Strawberry Lemonade Sangria

When I came across this recipe on Pinterest, I knew I had to try it as it combines one of my favorite non-alcoholic drinks (Strawberry Lemonade) with one my favorite adult beverages (Sangria).

Strawberry Lemonade Sangria is sweet and super easy to put together with just 5 ingredients - white wine, frozen lemonade concentrate, rum, strawberries, and lemons. I didn't have any rum, so I used bourbon instead. It still tasted great and we enjoyed it at a cookout, but it was very strong. I'm sure it would have tasted much better with the rum.


Click here for recipe from That's What We Said

Quick Smoothies

Quick Smoothies are my new go-to delicious and nutritious breakfast.

I've been thinking about making smoothies for awhile now, but I didn't think it would be easy or quick enough to do in the morning. Until I came across this idea for DIY Smoothie Packs on Pinterest. Freezing yogurt and having everything ready to go was exactly the solution I needed. 

Instead of freezing individual smoothie kits, I prefer to have one bag of frozen fruit in the freezer and one bag of frozen yogurt pucks. It makes it easy for me to grab one puck of yogurt and a cup of frozen fruit to put into my Magic Bullet. The smoothies I am currently drinking are vanilla yogurt with milk, vanilla protein powder, and a combination of peaches, strawberries, pineapple, and mangos. They are delicoius, fairly quick to prepare in the morning, and keep me full until lunch time.

Quick Smoothies
Ingredients:
·1 large tub of yogurt flavor of choice
·Frozen fruit of choice
·Milk or juice
·Optional add-ins: protein powder, chia seeds, oats, spinach, etc.

Directions:
Divide yogurt evenly among 12 regular-size muffin tins. Place in the freezer and freeze for a few hours until hardened. Remove yogurt from the freezer and let it sit on the counter for 10 minutes. Use a spoon and pop the yogurt pucks out of the muffin tins. Place yogurt pucks in a plastic bag and return to the freezer.

To prepare a smoothie, let yogurt and frozen fruit sit on the counter for about 10 minutes. Place one yogurt puck and about one cup of frozen fruit into a Magic Bullet cup. Add between one half and one cup of milk or juice and any additional add-ins. Blend until smooth.

Notes: If freezing your own fruit, lay it out evenly on a baking sheet and freeze it before placing it in a plastic bag. I prefer having one bag of yogurt pucks and one bag of frozen fruit in my freezer. However, if you prefer pre-made smoothie kits, you can portion out one puck of yogurt and one cup of frozen fruit into individual plastic bags.

In My Pantry: Gluten Free Alcoholic Beverages

I haven't posted too much about alcohol on my blog, other than a few cocktail recipes for Grown-Up Cake Float, Pineapple Upside Down Cake Martini, Red Mojitos, and Wedding Cake Martini. When I drink an adult beverage, I tend to drink wine or cocktails. But, they aren't the easiest thing to take when we are going somewhere. Today I'm sharing my go-to alcoholic beverages that are bottled and ready for hanging out with friends, warm weather cookouts, and for just having a good time. If you miss beer since becoming gluten free, here are some of my favorite gluten fee substitutes.

Redbridge Gluten Free Beer - Anheuser Busch makes this beer using sorghum. I used to drink light beer before becoming gluten free, so I find Redbridge to be somewhat heavy. Despite this, I still think it is the best gluten free beer.


Lakefront New Grist Gluten Free Beer - this is made from sorghum and rice. While it's somewhat heavy, New Grist is lighter than Redbridge and the flavor profile is good.


Michelob Ultra Light Cider - A friend introduced me to this light cider this weekend. And, we were lucky enough to find it in our local grocery store before it officially launches tomorrow. It is clearly labeled "Naturally Gluten Free" on the front of the bottle, which makes it easy to identify as a safe choice. The crisp apple flavor is really good. Since it is a light cider it has a lighter mouth feel than hard ciders, and is lower in calories. Michelob Ultra Light Cider is definitely my new go-to gluten free drink!



Wood Chuck Hard Cider - This is my favorite cider, and it's clearly labeled gluten free. I love the flavor profile and it is a smooth drink. I've tried the Wood Chuck Amber and the Wood Chuck Spring. Both are great, but I prefer Amber the best.


Angry Orchard Hard Cider - I recently discovered this cider and really like the smooth flavor of the Crisp Apple variety. It also states gluten free right on the pack, which makes it easy to shop for.


Hornsby's Hard Cider - Of the three hard cider's I've mentioned Hornsby's is my least favorite. I like the crisp flavor and don't mind drinking it, but it's just not my favorite because I like the flavor of Wood Chuck better. However, this is my husband's favorite of the three.


Mike's Hard Lemonade - Are you surprised to see a malt beverage on my list since malt is not gluten free? Well, even though Mike's products are malt beverages, they are gluten free. They undergo rigorous testing and have been tested to be less than 5 ppm of gluten, which is considered to be gluten free. You can read all about their testing process here. If you are highly sensitive and cannot tolerate any ppm of gluten, then this might not be the product for you. Personally, I have had no issues with this product. I love many of their flavor varieties and I know I can find this product anywhere.


What are your favorite gluten free adult beverages?

Lauren


Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. It's a product I bought, loved, and wanted to share with you!

Nutella Hot Chocolate

Nutella Hot Chocolate is rich and decadent. A warm glass of chocolate hazelnut cocoa is a chocoholic’s best friend in the morning.

I recently bought my first jar of Nutella (I know, I'm way behind). I have no idea why it took me so long, but I'm so glad I finally jumped on the Nutella-obsession-bandwagon. The first thing I made with my jar of Nutella was a Nutella Bagel. I toasted a Udi's gluten free bagel for breakfast and slathered it with Nutella. One bite instantly took me back to Paris...

I studied abroad in college, which included a week in Paris in my pre-gluten free days. For breakfast, I had a croissant filled with this chocolaty nutty goodness. I forgot about my breakfasts in Paris until I took a bite of my Nutella Bagel last week. I was instantly back in Paris and now know that the chocolaty nutty goodness filling inside my croissant was NUTELLA!
If you know me, you know what's next. I'm in my kitchen recreating a gluten free Nutella croissant relying on my taste buds and memories of Paris.

What are your favorite ways to eat Nutella? I'm on a Nutella kick now and am enjoying it every way I can think of!


Click here for the Nutella Hot Chocolate recipe

Wedding Cake Martini

This Wedding Cake Martini is another dangerously delicious way to enjoy cake vodka. It's as delicious as Pineapple Upside Down Cake Martini and Grown-Up Cake Float, but not as sweet.

Wedding Cake Martini
·1½ oz. amaretto
·½ oz. UV cake flavored vodka
·2 ounces pineapple orange juice

Pour amaretto, vodka, and pineapple orange juice into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well, then pour into a martini glass for serving.

Grown-Up Cake Float

Grown-Up Cake Float is another easy to prepare cocktail that tastes just like a Rootbeer Float. Cake flavored vodka is a genius idea. Yum!

Grown-Up Cake Float
·2 parts UV Cake Vodka
·4 parts rootbeer soda

Pour vodka and rootbeer in a glass over ice. Stir well and serve.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake Martini

This martini is sweet and dangerously tasty because it really does taste like Pineapple Upside Down Cake. I was pleased to turn my all time favorite shot into a delicious martini.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake Martini
·1 part UV Cake Vodka
·2 parts Pineapple Juice

Pour vodka and pineapple juice into a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake well, then pour into martini glasses for serving.

Pumpkin Chai Tea Latte

I'm slightly obsessed with my Vanilla Chai Tea Latte recipe. I've selfishly been known to hide all evidence when I make it, so I don't have to share with my husband. Adding pumpkin to the mix is a nice change-up for the fall weather. It's just as delicious as the vanilla variety, just don't tell Mike!

Pumpkin Chai Tea Latte
Inspired by my Vanilla Chai Tea Latte
Ingredients:
·2 black tea bags

·1½ tsp ground cinnamon

·½ tsp ground ginger

·¼ tsp allspice

·¼ tsp ground nutmeg

·1/8 tsp cloves

·1¼ cup water

·1 cup milk

·3 TBS brown sugar

·½ tsp vanilla

·1½ TBS pumpkin puree

Directions:

Place tea bags and spices in a coffee filter, add water and brew. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine milk, brown sugar, vanilla, and pumpkin puree. Stir and until sugar and pumpkin are dissolved and mixture is heated through. Pour milk mixture into tea mixture in coffee pot, stir, and pour into mugs.

Serves: 2

Apple Cider Floats

Apple Cider Floats are a quick and fun twist on a favorite fall beverage.

To prepare an Apple Cider Float, all you need to do is top a glass of warm apple cider with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream sprinkled with a dash of ground cinnamon. Serve immediately with a spoon and enjoy!


Recipe inspired by a more complicated version from a "Everyday with Rachael Ray" 2011 recipe.

Pumpkin Hot Cocoa

Pumpkin Hot Cocoa is a rich, decadent fall variety of one of my warm weather favorites, hot cocoa.

Last year, the barista at Starbucks looked at me rather oddly when I asked for a Pumpkin Spice Hot Cocoa. I'm not a huge coffee fan, but I wanted the flavors of a Pumpkin Spice Latte in a hot cocoa format without the coffee. The barista made my odd drink request, but the taste was disappointing and left something to be desired. This fall, I've concocted my own version of Pumpkin Hot Cocoa. The taste is delicious and oh so satisfying!

Pumpkin Hot Cocoa
Ingredients:
·1 cup skim milk
·1 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder
·1 TBS granulated sugar
·1 TBS pumpkin puree
·½ tsp ground cinnamon
·Dash of allspice, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat, whisking frequently. Heat until ingredients are well combined and hot cocoa is heated thoroughly, about 5 minutes.

Yield: 1 serving

Vanilla Chai Tea Latte

My husband and I L-O-V-E Vanilla Chai Tea Lattes. I've been trying to recreate a recipe at home, but it never turned out just right...until now! I've made this recipe multiple times a week since I finally perfected it a few weeks ago. And, we're absolutely in love! 

I will definitely be making this on a regular basis since it's starting to feel like fall where I live. This recipe takes less than 5 minutes to make. Since I plan on making this almost daily during the week, I'll measure out a full week of spices in advance to save time in the morning.

Vanilla Chai Tea Latte
Ingredients:

·2 black tea bags

·1½ tsp ground cinnamon

·½ tsp ground ginger

·¼ tsp allspice

·¼ tsp ground nutmeg

·1/8 tsp cloves

·1¼ cup water

·1 cup milk

·¼ cup brown sugar

·½ tsp vanilla

Directions:

Place tea bags and spices in a coffee filter, add water and brew. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine milk, brown sugar, and vanilla. Stir and until sugar is dissolved and mixture is heated through. Pour milk mixture into tea mixture in coffee pot, stir, and pour into mugs.

Serves: 2


I've also shared this recipe on: Slightly Indulgent Tuesday


Recipe inspired by Taste of Home

Fruity Water

Fruity Water is very simple and purely refreshing! It is also versatile with the endless combinations of fruit you can use to flavor water.

I originally saw a recipe similar to this in a summer issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray. You can prepare Fruity Water with any fresh fruit of choice. I used 2 lemons and 1 kiwi. I washed and sliced the lemons, then peeled and sliced the kiwi. Place the sliced fruit in the bottom of a pitcher and fill with water (about 1-2 quarts of water for the amount of fruit I used). Let the pitcher of Fruity Water chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before serving. Use a small strainer as you pour the Fruity Water into glasses to remove any fruit particles.

If you don't serve immediately (or you want to keep a pitcher in your fridge to enjoy over the span of a few days), remove the fruit after a day to avoid the water tasting like the fruit rind.

Peach and Peppermint Iced Tea

Peach and Peppermint Iced Tea; a great tasting, refreshing summer beverage!

When Mike and I were dating many, many years ago, he gave me one of my most-used gifts from him - a Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Maker. We use it multiple times a week as we love iced tea and creating different flavor varieties. To create Peach and Peppermint Iced Tea, I brew a large pitcher of regular tea bags and a handful of fresh peppermint from my garden. When the tea was done brewing, I pureed a few peaches, strained out the lumps, and stirred into the pitcher of iced tea. Depending on how sweet the peaches are, I sometimes stir in sugar for added sweetness.

I've also shared this recipe on: Seasonal Sunday

Red Mojitos

This spin on a traditional mojito is perfect for summer weather. I love this light and refreshing mint-flavored drink. The cranberry juice adds some sweet and tart flavor notes that makes for a very thirst quinching drink!

Red Mojitos
Ingredients:
·1 TBS sugar
·Handful of fresh spearmint leaves
·1 or 2 squeezes of bottled lime juice
·2 oz. light rum
·3 oz. cranberry juice
·2 oz. tonic
·Ice

Directions:
Muddle sugar, mint, and lime juice in a highball glass. Fill with ice and add rum, cranberry juice, and tonic. Stir and enjoy!

This recipe is slightly modified from the August 2011 issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray