Category: drink
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Basil Gimlet
July 21, 2015
The history of the gimlet stretches back to the 1850s when the first known "gin mixture" (gin, sugar, water and lime juice) was recommended every four hours to combat cholera that had spread from India to England. Today, this cocktail is making a resurgence as gin, particularly artisanal brands, come back in to fashion. Flavored with fresh basil, this version is light, summery and not without its nutritional value. One drink is "High In" vitamins A, C and K as as well as manganese.
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Ginger Grapefruit Julep
May 12, 2015
I don't make a lot of cocktails on Vegetarianized.com (this is also a great drink without alcohol too!), but a version of this refreshing drink recently caught my attention at one of my favorite, local restaurants. I brought it in-season by replacing the usually lime juice of a mint julep with ruby red grapefruit juice, and added a spicy ginger component using both ginger beer and a candied ginger garnish. You can make your own ginger beer (it's super easy!) using my recipe for one of my other favorite drinks, Dark 'N Stormy. One drink isn't without any nutritional merit: it's "Low In" fat, saturated fat, sodium and cholesterol and "High In" vitamin C.
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Egg Nog
December 10, 2014
First, a brief history: egg nog was created by the English in the 18th century using brandy, but only really drunk by the rich who had access to dairy and eggs. When it came across the pond in colonial days, we had tons of farms so just about everyone could enjoy it although brandy was heavily taxed so we used dark rum since we had access to Caribbean trade routes. Later in the Revolutionary War, rum came in short supply so we started using whiskey and then eventually bourbon.
I did my own little not-so-scientific taste test with all four liquors and the winner for me was actually brandy! It didn't taste boozy and had a great caramel, vanilla creaminess that was very warming - damn Brits! I also tried to make this recipe not too off the boards nutritional, and used 1% milk and heavy cream. You can save 130 calories, 15g fat, 9.5g saturated fat and 60mg cholesterol by replacing the heavy cream with half-and-half, but I found the latter to be too thin. Either way, don't think this is without some benefit! It's "High In" phosphorus and riboflavin - you are doing your bones and teeth a solid so drink up this holiday season.
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Pumpkin Simple Syrup
October 28, 2014
Spice up Halloween with spicy pumpkin simple syrup! With this syrup, you can make treats by drizzling over ice cream or using in cookie batter, or be tricky by adding your favorite liquor for a happy Halloween indeed. Of course, I chose the latter, but to keep the mixture thick for the former just don't strain it. Pumpkin is super high in Vitamin A so no matter if you are tricking or treating, you'll be doing good for your skin, teeth and eyes.
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Dark N’ Stormy
October 7, 2012
In Hong Kong, we met some Aussies at a bar that introduced us to this Bermudian drink that is a mix of dark rum and ginger beer (not ale). I was actually surprised that we never ran into it before. Popular in New England where Bermudian sailors traveled to, it also became popular in Australia about 30 years ago apparently starting when Bermuda and Australia got together to play rugby. Not a cloud in the sky here in California, but no better time for this drink. P.S. Making your own ginger beer is super easy!
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Singapore Sling
August 26, 2012
Wow - just back from our trip to Singapore and Hong Kong, and I have easily more than a dozen new recipes to recreate and share on Vegetarianized over the next few months, but this is an obvious first choice. There is quite a bit of mystery that surrounds the recipe for this drink created in the early 20th century at the very fancy Raffles Hotel in Singapore. We went to test for ourselves and their version is now extremely touristy - over the top sweet and unnaturally pink. After some trial and error, my version limits extraneous fruit juices and garnish in favor of what is seen as more classic and reserved. Just as at the Raffles Hotel, serve on or near rattan and with peanuts - shell on the floor.
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Old Fashioned
August 14, 2011
August 15-21 is Midtown Cocktail Week in Sacramento with boozy parties and cocktail-making classes all week long. In its honor, I requested this amazing homemade maraschino cherry Old Fashioned recipe from a new friend, the newly minted Jersey Girl, Zoe H. (check out her new blog, Lamb's Quarterly). The cherries are spicy, fresh and retain their snap - a million miles away from those nuclear red, squishy sweet ones from the bar.
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Sangria
July 10, 2011
When I'm thinking of recipe ideas for an upcoming blog post, I am sometimes stunned by an obvious one I've missed. This is one of those cases! I've been making this Sangria for years. It's a recipe I perfected over many summers that let's you taste the brightness of the fruit without too much sugar. It's best to let the fruit juice, sugar and brandy sit overnight, but if you are in a rush an hour or two will do. Choose a fruity Spanish, Chilean or Argentinean wine.
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Hawaiian Mai Tai
May 8, 2011
We had many different versions of Mai Tais over the past week so that peaked my curiosity about the origin of the drink. There is much mystery about how this famous tropical drink came about, but many stories start actually at a bar in Oakland, CA called Trader Vic's in 1944. Much lore surrounds how the drink actually got to the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu nine years later, but today this is the most famous tropical drink on Maui by far. This is my version of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel recipe, which has more fresh juice than the Trader Vic's drink - fruity, not too sweet and with a bit of a punch.
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Rosemary Peach & Tomato Spritzer
August 1, 2010
Not exactly overrun with tomatoes yet, but I had a bunch of Green Zebras - plum-shaped tomatoes with green and yellow stripes - and the local peaches are just heaven-sent at the moment, so I trial and error-ed this white wine spritzer concoction. Rosemary and peach-infused simple syrup mixed with fresh ginger and ginger ale sweeten up those juicy zebras.
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Rosemary Lemonade
May 16, 2010
In celebration of all the May birthdays in my family (that's me, Rodney, Kathy, Meaghan and Patrick) I have a super fun, get-you-tipsy-without-realizing-it, sparkly cocktail. If you've ever made a mojito at home, you've made simple syrup by dissolving sugar in water. For this drink, we dissolve sugar in fresh-squeezed lemon juice and infuse it with fresh rosemary - ooo, yum! After a few hours of cooling (but if you can't wait you can put it in the fridge), you mix up your simple syrup with vodka and a splash of club soda or seltzer to give it a kick and some fizz. You can make this without vodka, but I wouldn't recommend it. Happy Birthday (or un-Birthday as the case may be)!
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Gluhwein
November 30, 2008
This will get you in the mood for the winter holiday no matter the weather outside. Today I think the high in Davis is supposed to be near 70! This is the German version of mulled wine drunk from specially decorated mugs.