Category Archives: Drinks

Mulled Wine & 5 Holiday Hangover Cures

Mulled Wine
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With the holiday happenings rapidly approaching, I thought I’d better hurry up and get my new favorite drink recipe out to you!

I adore a nice, hot beverage around the holidays.  I’ll take anything from hot cocoa, tea with lemon and honey, or hot apple cider.  So when Bill found this Mulled Wine recipe, I obviously thought – This. Is. Happening.

A few weeks ago, I was “fluffing up” our fake Christmas tree.  Meanwhile, Bill was in the kitchen forgetting to add the fresh ginger and cloves to the rest of the ingredients in this recipe.

Yep.  He did that.

We liked it a lot once we had all of the ingredients mingling happily together.

I also made this for my family at our “ThanksChristmas” celebration last week.  We all decided that next time we’d prefer less anise.  So if you’re not much of a black licorice flavor kind of person, you might want to scale back on that a little.

Now, if you drink a little more than your fair share this holiday season, I’ll share with you a few hangover cures.

Ok, I lied.  There really aren’t any true “cures” for a hangover except time, but there are a few things you can do to make yourself feel a little better while you’re waiting it out.

  1. Eat a pickle!  Or two, or three.  Pickles are salty, and water is attracted to salt like a magnet.  When you’re severely dehydrated the salt will help your body retain more water.  I prefer Nathan’s brand of pickles for the day after my drinky-time indulging.
  2. Make yourself some scrambled eggs.  I’m sure a lot of you already do this the next morning, but do you know why your body needs them?  Eggs contain something called “Taurine” which can help your body flush out toxins more quickly.  In other words… Yay for your liver!
  3. Have a banana.  During the dehydration process, your body loses potassium – which can lead to that awful dizziness and nausea.  So unpeel that baby and gobble it up!
  4. Hair o’ the dog.  Go ahead, have another drink.  A Bloody Mary might be the only thing you can choke down, but be careful, this is only a short term fix and you could end up worse than where you started!
  5. Drink Water.  Get yourself rehydrated.  The more, the merrier in this case.  Of course, your water intake should start the night before.  Try drinking water whilst chugging down those cocktails people!  Your body will thank you for it later.

Of course, there are many, many other things you could do to help fight that hangover, but following these tips are a good place to start!

Do you have any tips of your own to add to this list?  Please chime in and comment below.  I’d love to hear them!

Rachael Rachael xoxo

Happy Holidays from Bill and me!  Thanks so much to you all for being a part of our “little blog world”!!

Recipe slightly adapted from:  Hy-vee Wine & Spirits Magazine

Mulled Wine
 
Prep time

Cook time

Total time

 

Author:
Serves: 9 (6 oz each)

Ingredients
  • 1.5 liter dry red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon, for example)
  • 1 orange sliced
  • 10-15 whole cloves
  • 4-6 star anise
  • ½ cup organic honey
  • 3-4 cinnamon sticks
  • 5 slices peeled, fresh ginger
You may use additional orange slices, cinnamon sticks, and anise for garnish if desired

Instructions
  1. Combine all ingredients except garnishes in slow cooker on LOW heat for 30 minutes – or up to 3 hours. Strain and pour into mugs to serve.
  2. Garnish each mug with an orange slice, star anise, and cinnamon stick if desired.

Notes
If you’re not a big fan of star anise (which has a black licorice flavor), you can use less to suit your taste.

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Frozen Boozy Bomb Pop Drink

If you’re looking for a good way to get your 4th of July on, this will definitely do the trick!

This drink is so BOMB… literally.

It’s crazy strong but super refreshing.  We took these drinks outside and enjoyed ourselves much more than we normally would in the Midwest heat.

It really does taste just like a bomb pop, but alcohol makes everything better!

I love this drink, and I’m pretty sure I could drink it all day if I had to (and you never know… there could be some sort of life or death situation where that might happen).  ;)

I’m definitely going to set aside some time to blend
up a batch of these blissful frozen drinks for our 4th of July guests.

If you plan on drinking more than one of these, be sure to have a DD!

Bill and I hope you have a super fun, safe, and happy 4th!

 Rachael xoxo

5.0 from 1 reviews

Frozen Boozy Bomb Pop Drink
 
Prep time

Total time

 

Super boozy and super refreshing drink for your 4th of July celebration!
Author:
Recipe type: Cocktail
Serves: 4-6 depending on glass size

Ingredients
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 ounces vodka
  • 2 ounces freshly squeezed lime juice
  • 4-6 cups ice
  • 4 ounces blue raspberry vodka
  • 3 ounces cherry vodka

Instructions
  1. To make a simple syrup, combine sugar and water and heat in a small saucepan until sugar dissolves. Cool completely in refrigerator.
  2. In a blender add clear vodka, lime juice, 2 ounces simple syrup, and 1½ cups of ice; blend on high until it reaches a “slush like” consistency, adding more ice if necessary. Pour into a container and place in the freezer. Next, in the blender add blue raspberry vodka, 2 ounces simple syrup, and 1½ cups of ice; blend on high until desired consistency is reached, and pour into a container and place in freezer. Then, in the blender add cherry vodka, 2 ounces simple syrup, and 1½ cups of ice; blend until desired consistency is reached and place into a container and place in freezer.
  3. Let chill in freezer until ready to use.
  4. To “assemble” drink layers, spoon some of the blue in the bottom of a glass, then white, then red on top.

Notes
You may add less or more booze to taste, and add more ice to each layer if necessary. You can freeze this until it’s ready to use, but the consistency will change a bit. To make a faster simple syrup: place sugar and water in a sealed container and shake well until sugar is dissolved.

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Cilantro Lime Tequila Spritzer with Jalapeno Slices

I made this delightfully refreshing drink to go with our leftover Ancho Chicken Tacos and oh my, was it ever good.  The jalapeño slices give a really smooth heat in the back of your throat when you take a drink.  It goes really well with the sweetness of the simple syrup.

Delicious… just delicious.

Here’s a tip:  To make squeezing the juice from the lime easier, poke it with a fork continuously while squeezing.  If you don’t have a hand juicer it helps the job go faster.

 Rachael xoxo

Recipe inspired by “Sparkling Basil Lemonade” in Better Homes and Gardens magazine

Cilantro Lime Tequila Spritzer with Jalapeno Slices
 
 

Author:
Serves: 8

Ingredients
  • 2 cups water
  • ½ cups sugar
  • ½ cup cilantro, plus 8 ‘sprigs’
  • 1 liter club soda
  • 1 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 8 small limes)
  • 8 ounces tequila, or less depending on taste
  • 2 jalapeño peppers, sliced into rounds

Instructions
  1. In a medium pot add water, sugar, and cilantro. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes to make a simple syrup. Strain out cilantro and discard. Chill the simple syrup mixture in the refrigerator for 2 to 24 hours or freeze for 1 hour to speed up the process.
  2. In a large bowl combine chilled syrup, club soda, lime juice, tequila; stir. Serve over ice with a sprig of cilantro and top each drink with 2-3 jalapeño slices.

Notes
Yield: 8 (8 oz) drinks

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