Smokey Citrus Bloody Mary

Here is a little secret about me...I am cheap. I prefer to make dishes/drinks at home versus going to a restaurant, particularly if we will be having drinks with the meal.

On that note, Pat and I love a good Bloody Mary drink on a lazy Sunday morning  I will partner them with a nice little brunch. Problem is that I can't stand commercial Bloody Mary mix, so I went on a search for a homemade one. I found this recipe on Allrecipes and we loved it. I made it the day before just to give the flavors a time to meld. The nice thing about this mix is that even though it made a ton of mix, we were able to put it in serving size packages and freeze it.

I decided to partner this with a citrus vodka. It had a sweet yet smoky taste to it. We also tried a plain vodka version, and it was awesome too. What I liked about this recipe is that I seemed it could be easily adaptable for a Bloody Maria which has a tequila base. We even tried it straight with no alcohol and it was pretty dang tasty.

Garnish these as desired. I like the "meal in itself" component of these drinks and will go crazy with my garnishments. I have used green onions, celery stalks, green olives, large shrimp, chunks of cheese, chunks of summer sausage, etc. I am reminded of that photo where the Bloody Mary is garnished with a baby cheeseburger, a chicken sandwich and a buffalo wing.

So, here we go!:

Ingredients:

1 (46 fluid ounce) can HIGH QUALITY tomato juice

1/3 cup steak sauce

3 tablespoons hickory smoke-flavored

barbeque sauce

1 teaspoon ground celery seed

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste

Lemon wedges

Directions:

1)  Stir tomato juice, steak sauce, barbeque sauce, celery seed, garlic salt, cayenne paper and black pepper in a large pitcher. 

2) Serve in glasses over ice. Add 1.5 ounces vodka and top with 4 oz of mix.  

3) Garnish each serving as desired above.

Iced Coffee (serves 1)

Adapted: Allrecipes.com

As I was wandering around Allrecipes.com, which is a pretty common thing for me to do, I came across a recipe for Iced Coffee. Now, I love Iced Coffee, I just don't like paying the costs for it at Starbucks or places like it. This recipe intrigued me. Could it be the same?? Could I quit depriving myself?? How could I play with the recipe to make it my own?? Well, I found out the answer to all 3 of my questions! I am going to give the original recipe for a low-fat version which is beautiful for everyday use. Then, I will give my recipe with several variations. All were superb!

So, here we go!

Original recipe:

2 t. Instant Coffee
1 T. sweetner of your choice (sugar, equal, etc)
3 T. warm water
6 oz. fat free milk

Directions:

1) In a mason jar or any jar with a tight fitting lid, place first 3 ingredients. Shake for approximately 30 seconds to ensure ingredients are blended.

2) Put ice and 6 oz of milk in jar and reseal.  Want a variation, this is when those flavorings would be added. Shake for 60 seconds and pour into glass.

Naomi's recipe for full fat version (not one to be drank everyday and not shown!):

Prepare as same above, but substitue 6 oz of whole milk or half and half for fat free milk.

Variations (works with either non fat or full fat recipes):

Mocha Iced Coffee: Place 1 T. chocolate syrup in first step and continue as usual. Top with whipped cream and drizzle chocolate syrup
Caramel Iced Coffee: Same as above, substitute caramel topping for chocolate syrup
Flavored Coffee Creamers: I have been known to throw in some flavored creamer as well.

Alcoholic Variations (serves 2)

Disaronno Iced Coffee: Place 2 oz of DiSaronno in first step. Continue as usual. Top with whipped cream
Kahlua Iced Coffee: Place 2 oz of any flavor of Kahlua and continue as usual.

Note: Alcoholic Variations could be used as an after dinner drink. They should only be used with half and half to carry the alcohol.