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Summer Cocktails, Pitcher Drinks & Cool Sips

Summer Cocktails, Pitcher Drinks & Cool Sips

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Limoncello Basil Cooler recipe

You may remember from previous posts that I love a little herb in my desserts – well, I also love a little herb in my drinks. Especially basil. And cilantro. And rosemary…ok I love them all. Give me a fennel-infused bloody mary with a touch of cilantro plus all the fixins and I’m a happy girl.

I was an equally happy girl when I found these easy summer cocktail and drink recipes: one uses limoncello and basil and the other uses wine and sparkling orange mineral water. Both can be made by the pitcher for groups and parties, and you can always infuse your own personality into the drink – as I found out at a recent wine cocktail aperitivi party on California’s central coast.

For the Limoncello Basil Cooler pictured at top, you can easily follow the recipe; it’s oh so refreshing after a long day. Or, to create a South of the Border version, use 1 part margarita mix and 1 part dry white wine instead of limoncello, add fresh lime and lemon juice, and replace the basil with cilantro. You can even add a dash of Tequila! Oh Summer Cocktails how I love you all.

Limoncello Basil Cooler from Meals.com

Ingredients for 6 small servings:

  • 1/2 cup loosely packed fresh basil sprigs
  • 1 bottle (750 ml) limoncello liqueur, chilled, divided
  • 1 bottle (16.9 fluid ounces) Sparkling Natural Mineral Water
  • Crushed ice cubes
  • 6 basil sprigs for serving

Directions:

MUDDLE or smash 1/2 cup basil with 1/4 cup limoncello with a wooden spoon in a large pitcher. Add remaining limoncello and sparkling water.

FILL glasses half full with ice. Top with limoncello mixture, holding back bruised basil; garnish with basil sprig.

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Limoncello Basil Cooler
Author: 
Recipe type: Drinks
Prep time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6
 
Fun, summery, sparkling punch!
Ingredients
  • ½ cup loosely packed fresh basil sprigs
  • 1 bottle (750 ml) limoncello liqueur, chilled, divided
  • 1 bottle (16.9 fluid ounces) Sparkling Natural Mineral Water
  • Crushed ice cubes
  • 6 basil sprigs for serving
Instructions
  1. Limoncello Basil Cooler from Meals.com
  2. Ingredients for 6 small servings:
  3. /2 cup loosely packed fresh basil sprigs
  4. bottle (750 ml) limoncello liqueur, chilled, divided
  5. bottle (16.9 fluid ounces) Sparkling Natural Mineral Water
  6. Crushed ice cubes
  7. basil sprigs for serving
  8. Directions:
  9. MUDDLE or smash ½ cup basil with ¼ cup limoncello with a wooden spoon in a large pitcher. Add remaining limoncello and sparkling water.
  10. FILL glasses half full with ice. Top with limoncello mixture, holding back bruised basil; garnish with basil sprig.
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Fruity White Wine Spritzers recipe

Another super easy crowd pleaser is this recipe for Fruity White Wine Spritzers. These take no time to put together if you just follow the recipe (a little bit hard for me!) OR you can really go crazy substituting your favorite fruit, juices and herbs to get something totally unique.

Fruity White Wine Spritzers from Meals.com

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups white wine, chilled
  • 1 cup SAN PELLEGRINO Sparkling Orange Beverage
  • Ice cubes
  • Orange slices and fresh mint sprig

Directions:

COMBINE wine and San Pellegrino in pitcher.

PLACE orange slices and mint sprig in tall glasses; fill glasses half full with ice. Top with wine and San Pellegrino mixture.

Happy New Year Cocktail: Spiced Apple Cider

Happy New Year Cocktail: Spiced Apple Cider

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Spiced Apple Cider Recipe

When I saw this recipe for Spiced Apple Cider, it reminded me of the Vin Chaud (mulled wine) I’d had and loved in Europe during the holidays. I could often smell it wafting from doorways of small restaurants and upon entering friends’ homes or churches. Even places like train stations and gas stations served it, which cheerily sustained me through the cold winter months.

I remember when Ani got the inspiration for this cider, and I thought it would make a perfect cocktail recipe for a New Year’s celebration in wine country. I could please everyone: plain cider for the mocktail drinkers, spiced wine for the wine country fanatics and cider with vanilla vodka or rum for the most festive of friends.

I tested it out in preparation; following the recipe was easy…so much easier than the homemade eggnog I’d recently tried out. You just need spices and apple juice for the base, and it only takes 15 minutes of cooking time. I also decided to chill some of the plain cider after cooking to satisfy those that might want their cocktail on the rocks.

Here are some cocktail variations you might try:

  • Add vanilla vodka or rum (or your favorite spirit) to the hot cider.
  • Add your favorite spirit to chilled cider along with a splash of carbonated water over ice.
  • For mulled wine, substitute 1 bottle of medium to full-bodied red wine for the apple juice, add 1/4 cup sugar, cover immediately and cook on low (so it never reaches a boil) for 20 minutes.
  • For white wine cider, substitute 1/2 bottle of medium to full-bodied white wine for 1/2 of the apple juice, add 1/8 cup sugar, cover immediately and cook on low (so it never reaches a boil) for 20 minutes.

For me, this will make the cheeriest, easiest and most versatile of winter celebrations. Happy New Year!

Old-Fashioned Eggnog

If you’re looking for something creamier, fancier or more holiday-themed, check out this old-fashioned eggnog adventure (pictured above) and the coffee-creamy-martini or latin-inspired eggnog below.

Links:

More holiday celebration drink recipes:

After Midnight Javatini Recipe
After Midnight Javatini		 Costa Rican-Style Eggnog Recipe
Costa Rican-Style Eggnog
Wine Cocktail: White Peachy Bloody Mary

Wine Cocktail: White Peachy Bloody Mary

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White Wine Peachy Bloody Mary

In the South, cold drinks are mandatory near the close of each work day…or maybe I should say just somewhere around 3 pm, when the day is at its hottest… and its humidest (and this is what humidity does to your brain in Alabama). This is featured in the new book The New Bloody Mary: More Than 75 Classics, Riffs & Contemporary Recipes for the Modern Bar.

Several factors influenced the ingredients in this particular drink:

  • I had just driven through North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia with my dad, where ripe peaches were everywhere.
  • Earlier in the summer, I drank a fabulous tomato-hot pepper-peach-white wine cocktail at Palmina Winery and wanted more.
  • I had just transported some beautiful cherry tomatoes grown in my friend’s garden from North Carolina.
  • My personal Alabama chef had left me plenty of cilantro and lime, left over from his lovely grilled salmon dinner and his breakfast frittata (read about brunch in Alabama here).
  • It was hot. And humid. And nearing the end of the day – ok it was afternoon and that’s good enough.

So, in the high heat and humidity of this Southern afternoon, I had the idea to mix fresh tomato juice, muddled peaches, lime, simple syrup, cilantro and Sauvignon Blanc into one good-lookin’ tall drink of wine. Or do I mean good-lookin’ tall drink of water? The wine or my chef? I forget now, it was so hot.

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White Peachy Bloody Mary
Author: 
Recipe type: Drinks
Prep time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2
 
Artisan cocktails with local ingredients had become popular all over the country, and I had recently tried a fabulous tomato-hot pepper-peach-white wine cocktail. I loved the idea of wine in the drink instead of spirits and I wanted more. That summer, I was visiting family and friends in the South, and had just driven through North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, where ripe peaches were everywhere. My friend also picked some very ripe, beautiful cherry tomatoes from her garden for me to take with me on the drive. It was hot. And humid. And nearing the end of the day – ok it was afternoon and that’s good enough. So I set to work on this drink.
Ingredients
  • 1 Tablespoon chopped cilantro + more for garnish
  • 8 cherry tomatoes
  • 1 small peach, chopped
  • Sugar, to taste
  • Fresh juice of 1 lime
  • Dry Sauvignon Blanc, chilled
Instructions
  1. Muddle the cilantro, tomatoes, peach and lime juice together with all the juices and sugar.
  2. Pour this mixture through a large strainer into 2 large wine glasses—you want some of the fruit material to go in the glass, but not all the seeds and large skin pieces.
  3. Top with cold Sauvignon Blanc and stir. Add ice and extra chopped cilantro.
  4. Note: You can also add sparkling water or soda to make a bubbly drink.
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Rosé Wine Peachy Bloody Mary

I also tried it with a dry frizzante Rosé (which is slightly sparkling) above, that I got from a visit to Raffaldini Vineyards in North Carolina’s Yadkin Valley. I loved the color of this one, and the small bubbly feel. (You could get this effect in the white version using a little club soda.)

Whichever version or combination you choose to create (get more ideas here), it’s sure to cure all your ills. But it certainly won’t help your grammar.

More:

Make Creepy Halloween Punch with this Bone Chillin’ Brew Recipe

Make Creepy Halloween Punch with this Bone Chillin’ Brew Recipe

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Bone Chillin' Punch Halloween Recipe
Photo by Meals.com

Ever since I bought my new cake stand which doubles as a punch bowl, I’ve been looking for excuses to make punch (or retro layered salad). I fondly remember my mother’s parties when I was young, complete with polyester suits, funny 70s hairstyles and punch for everyone. So I was excited to find this creepy Halloween Punch, Bone Chillin’ Brew, to make for my friends.

First task: making ice hands in the freezer overnight. I delegated this task to my friend, who broke one glove, managed to fill and tie the other three properly but laid them in strange locations in the freezer. One hand didn’t freeze all the way through and another had been squished into a corner, its fingers now in a slightly offensive position. That left us with one good ice hand. My ice tip: buy extra gloves and follow the exact directions in the recipe for making the ice hands if you want them to come out right!

Cutting the gloves off the hands also takes some patience and skill – not to mention sharp scissors. As I cut off the gloves, two of the fingers broke off the good hand, so I began cutting and peeling more slowly and carefully. I ended up with one good, frozen, dismembered hand.

I set to work making the punch. I used part Fruit Punch and part pomegranate juice; I wanted to make it less sweet, pump up the anti-oxidants and make it look more like blood. I also substituted Sparkling Juicy Juice for the soda (it has more fruit servings than soda) and replaced half the soda for pink sparkling wine since this was going to be an adult punch.

Bone Chillin' Punch Halloween Recipe

The punch tasted great with all my substitutions; it was delicious, fruity and refreshing. And it actually looked even creepier with the one dismembered ice hand floating in the bloody-red liquid!

So don’t be scared to try your hand at this Halloween Punch Recipe…you can be terror-ifically creepy too.

Bone Chillin’ Punch Recipe

Ingredients for 24 eight-ounce servings:

  • 3 cups water
  • 3 clear plastic gloves
  • 3 rubber bands or twist ties
  • 2 bottles (64 fl. oz. each) Punch Flavor juice, chilled
  • 1 can (12 fl. oz.) frozen lemonade concentrate, slightly thawed
  • 4 cans (12 fl. oz. each) lemon-lime soda, chilled

Directions:

FOR FLOATING HANDS:

POUR water into gloves, adding enough water to fill the gloves loosely but not so full that the fingers will not move. Fasten gloves with rubber bands or twist ties. Line baking sheet with paper towels. Place filled gloves on paper towels. Freeze for 3 hours or until firm.

FOR PUNCH:

COMBINE Juicy Juice and lemonade concentrate in large punch bowl. Gradually stir in soda. Carefully cut gloves off hands with scissors. Float hands in punch.

 

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Creepy Halloween Punch: Bone Chillin' Brew Recipe
Author: 
Recipe type: Drinks
Prep time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 24 servings
 
Ever since I bought my new cake stand which doubles as a punch bowl, I've been looking for excuses to make punch. I fondly remember my mother's parties when I was young, complete with polyester suits, funny 70s hairstyles and punch for everyone. So I was excited to find this creepy Halloween Punch, Bone Chillin' Brew, to make for my friends.
Ingredients
  • 3 cups water
  • 3 clear plastic gloves
  • 3 rubber bands or twist ties
  • 2 bottles (64 fl. oz. each) punch-flavored juice, chilled
  • 1 can (12 fl. oz.) frozen lemonade concentrate, slightly thawed
  • 4 cans (12 fl. oz. each) lemon-lime soda, chilled
Instructions
  1. FOR FLOATING HANDS:
  2. POUR water into gloves, adding enough water to fill the gloves loosely but not so full that the fingers will not move. Fasten gloves with rubber bands or twist ties. Line baking sheet with paper towels. Place filled gloves on paper towels. Freeze for 3 hours or until firm.
  3. FOR PUNCH:
  4. COMBINE juice and lemonade concentrate in large punch bowl. Gradually stir in soda. Carefully cut gloves off hands with scissors. Float hands in punch.
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