Drinks | Life Tastes Like Food

Did everyone have a nice Thanksgiving? I think my favorite part of Thanksgiving was when I caught my adult cousin literally licking her plate clean :) Trust me, I was thinking of doing the sammme thing…she just beat me to it.

Now that Turkey Day over, the Christmas season is starting to set in! Warm fires, snow, hot drinks, fudge, cookies, ugly sweaters, Christmas movies, Christmas SONGS. The list goes on.

My favorite drink? This mulled cider!! It’s so warm and tasty. One sip makes me want to curl up under a blanket and watch Christmas movies back-to-back all weekend long (too bad it’s Monday!). And if you’re not a grandma like me who enjoys the occasional spiked drink while watching movies on a Saturday night, I guaranteeeee that this cider would be a hit at any holiday party!! It’s really easy to make and one pot serves a small gathering.

The trick to this cider is using unfiltered apple juice. And fresh fruit. Fresh fruit always wins.

The fruit and spice blend create a magnificent aroma, and you can barely taste the rum but it adds a really wonderful flavor to the drink (you can add more rum or omit it entirely if you’d like too!)

Oh, and your house will smell AMAZING when you make this!! Not. even. kidding. Warning: This cider goes fast so you may want to get enough ingredients to make two (or three) batches :)

What’s your favorite holiday drink???

Happy Monday!!

Mulled Cider with Spiced Rum

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

30 mins

Author: Life Tastes Like Food

Recipe type: Drink

Serves: 4

Ingredients

1 64 oz. bottle of unfiltered apple juice
1 apple, cored
1 orange
4-5 cinamon sticks
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
1 cup of spiced rum

Instructions

Heat up the apple juice in a large pot on the stove over medium-high heat.
While the apple juice is heating up, cut the apple and orange into 1/2 inch slices.
Add the apple and orange slices to the warm apple juice.
Then add the cinnamon sticks, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves to the juice.
Turn the heat to low and let the mixture simmer for 5-10 minutes.
Add the spiced rum and let it warm up and simmer for another 5-10 minutes.
Serve immediately.

Notes

– You can add as much or as little rum as you’d like to this recipe. – You can also strain the mixture when it’s ready but honestly, I’ve never done this and I think the cider tastes great! Just make sure you don’t accidentally drink the cloves. :) – Add a cinnamon stick to each cup for garnish, along with a slice of apple and orange. – The apple and orange slices will have a stronger rum flavor than the drink itself.

Last weekend, the friends and I went on our annual camping and tubing trip at Cache Creek. Cache Creek isn’t really a hard-core-hike-to-your-site-bring-only-what-you-can-carry sort of experience. It’s more of a pull-off-the-highway-and-pitch-tents-on-the-lawn-with-neighbors-five-feet-away-from-you sort of deal. I know that may not sound like that much fun to some, but I love it. Movie projected on a screen under the stars? Got it. Bathrooms and a generator? Check. Steak tips, baked beans in a dutch oven, OYSTERS, grilled corn, hot dogs, burgers, and a bacon lattice (just like last year!)? Done and DONE.

I love the summertime.

Don’t take it for granted! Here are 10 recipes that you should consider making soon because before we know it, it’s going to be Fall and we will be wishing for 100 degree weather and fun weekends to play by the water :)

10 Things to Make Before Summer is Over

1. Red Wine Sangria

2. Sesame Crusted Seared Ahi Tuna

3. Grilled Flatbread with Bacon, Artichoke, Arugula, and Goat Cheese

4. Avocado, Mango, and Strawberry Fruit Salad

5. Hash Brown Crusted Quiche with Bacon

6. Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

7. Mango, Pineapple, Banana, Orang Smoothie

8. Strawberry and Feta Salad

9. Spicy Guacamole with Corn and Black Beans

10. Garlic Edamame

Happy Monday! Oh, how I already miss the weekend. So before I go on about this beautiful and delicious drink, I have some news! I am officially starting invisalign! WOAH. I know, random. I’ve been wanting to do it for a while and have finally sucked it up and started the process. The only thing that worries me is that I have to remove the invisalign trays EVERY time I eat and then go brush my teeth.

This is going to be an issue because I snack all the time! Like, every hour. So I will be dramatically changing my daily eating habits and will share my journey on invisalign as things start to happen. I got impressions made earlier this week so in about 6-8 weeks, everything will begin! In the meantime, I just going to snack until I drop! Snack, snack, snack…all day long.

Oh, and this is embarrassing but I’m pretty sure I BIT the dental assistant. Yep. No biggie. UMMMM, I almost got out of the chair and walked out it was so embarrassing! More on that later.

Back to the mojitos!

OH, these mojitos. They are so fresh tasting and delicious. And yay for antioxidants! Not only is the drink so tasty but it’s also healthy for you (right???). I used the blueberries I got from the farmers market, and let me tell ya, on a hot summer’s day these mojitos will do the trick. Just don’t try to taste test 4 glasses of them. Oops.

And if you’re not a fan of rum or want to make it kid-friendly, replace it with some more club soda and make this drink a spritzer! DE-LISH. Delish.

Blueberry Mojito Recipe

Mint Simple Syrup (makes enough syrup for about 6 drinks)

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
12 mint leaves

Mojito (makes 1 serving)

6-8 mint leaves
10 fresh blueberries
1.5 ounce simple syrup
1-1.5 ounce rum (depending on how strong you like it)
juice of one lime
3 ounces club soda
ice
more blueberries for garnish (I used about 8 more)

1. To make the simple syrup, combine the ingredients in sauce pan and bring to a small boil over medium heat while stirring. Once the mixture boils, turn down the heat to low for an additional minute or two. Then remove from heat and let cool for about 20 minutes or until the mixture is at room temperature.

2. Add the blueberries, mint, and simple syrup to the cup. Using the back of a wooden spoon or a muddler, muddle the mint leaves and blueberries until the berries have burst and is mixing well with the mint. Add the rum, lime juice, and then throw in some ice. Drop in the rest of the blueberries for garnish and add the club soda. Stir.

3. Add a sprig of fresh mint for garnish and enjoy immediately.

Last weekend, I drove up to HOT, HOT, HOT Davis, CA to celebrate with 4 of my friends who were graduating. Two of them received their undergraduate degrees and the other two completed their masters programs! I’m so proud of them. Look out, World, here come the grads!!!

How amazing is this card that our friend Rachel MADE for the occasion? (Our school has a huge water tower that you can spot from the freeway and UC Davis is known for having a bunch of cows.)

Best part? Ohhh, ya know…a taco truck catered the graduation event. WHAT. WHAT. I know, amazing. Fresh tortillas, hot meats, and spicy salsas.

Don’t let the sweet looking green salsa fool you either. That “hot” salsa was insanely spicy! And delicious :)

We also enjoyed some homebrew and lots of fresh fruit to keep us cool (did I mention it was around 102 degrees that day?). Oh, and there were delicious popsicles! Strawberries and cream, pistachio, walnut, and a couple more flavors…ALL delicious.

As you can see, everyone loved them…

Cute, naked babies running around, breathtaking sunsets, catching up with friends, delicious tacos, and some good ol’ all-you-can-eat sushi made the entire weekend complete.

Um…I think we also all agreed that these were some of the best strawberries we’ve ever had!

BABY PHOTO BOMB! Can you spot the cute little guy below? :)

And brace yourself for this next pic. Adorable to the MAX.

I also got to spend some time with my old co-workers from Davis. I can’t even begin to tell you how great it was to see their smiling faces. I hadn’t seen them in over 5 months! 5 months too long, if you ask me. That won’t happen again!

‘Twas a great weekend!! :)

Congrats on graduating Sheeter, Nicole, Marcus, and Jaime!

We get excited!! These pictures are from two weekends ago (Cinco de Mayo weekend) but I just had to share them. The weather was insanely gorgeous and there was just so much going on! With the entire city of San Francisco celebrating Cinco de Mayo and the Kentucky Derby, it was hard to choose which events to attend! We opted to just hang out around the Mission District with friends and head to Dolores Park because there was a huge Cinco de Mayo event going on there.

Then on Sunday, we decided to walk around the Mission for Sunday Streets! Sunday Streets is a neighborhood festival where they close down the roads in a SF neighborhood every first Sunday of the month for live music, booths, food specials, and other fun stuff.

Here’s a glimpse of what happens when it’s sunny in SF:

I think everyone else had the same idea to go to the park because there were so many people! Including this dog that has a balloon tied to it so its owner can find it easily…