Mocktails

The best parts of a cocktail are a beautiful chilled glass and the garnishes.

 

But, you can make Mocktails and enjoy a beautiful drink without the hangover.

These are simple Mocktail recipes, so treat yourself!

Faux Sparkling Rose Champagne

Regular 8 oz glass

Champagne glass

1/2  cup cranberry juice, chilled

1/2 cup club soda or carbonated water, chilled

Pour ingredients into a regular glass.

Stir and pour into champagne glass.

^^^^^^^^^^

Cremesicle

Regular 8 oz glass

Champagne glass

1/2 cup orange juice, chilled

1/4 cup plain yogurt, chilled

1/4 cup ginger ale, chilled

a dash of vanilla

Pour ingredients into a regular glass.

Stir vigorously.

Pour into champagne glass

^^^^^^^^^^^

Shirley Temple

Regular 8 oz glass

water

sugar

small bowl

small plate

Champagne glass

6 oz lemon-lime carbonated beverage, chilled

a dash concentrated jamaica juice or cherry juice, chilled

1 slice of lime

First, dip rim of Champagne glass into shallow bowl of water.

Then, dip rim into a small plate of sugar and set aside.

In regular glass, mix ingredients.

Stir well.

Pour into champagne glass.

Garnish with a slice of lime.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

Virgin Mary

8 oz tall glass

Tomato juice

dash of salt

dash of black pepper

1-2 dashes of tabasco sauce

2-4 dashes Worcestershire sauce

dash of lime juice

ice

garnish: celery stick

Add 6 oz of tomato juice to glass.

Add salt, pepper, tabasco Worcestershire sauce, season to taste.

Add dash of lime juice.

Stir.

Add ice.

Garnish with celery stick.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

Sunset Cooler

Fancy 8 oz glass

5 oz orange juice, chilled

Ginger ale, chilled

juice from slice of lime

a dollop of cranberry juice concentrate (or grenadine, or jamaica concentrate), chilled

Pour orange juice into glass.

Pour in ginger ale.

Run lime slice around rim of glass.

Squeeze juice from lime slice into glass.

Stir.

Add  dollop of jamica concentrate.

Do not stir.

Option: add ice

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Notes

I am currently short on garnishes. Look for updates.

Mug: No Cook Fruit Oatmeal Treat

This recipe needs a new name.

I could not resist a recipe with the term "No Cook" in the title.

Mug: No Cook Fruit Oatmeal Treat

This recipe is a good example of how recipes evolve. I adapted this recipe from an idea I found on: http://realmomkitchen.com/11339/no-cook-berry-oatmeal/and the author of that recipe adapted her recipe from a recipe from another source.

In most cases, I struggle to make substitutions in recipes. But, various fruit and yogurt combinations seem suited to this recipe. I also try to use what I have on hand.

Ingredients

One 12 oz mug

6 oz of pineapple yogurt or plain yogurt

2/3 cup of oats (about 5 ounces based on an 8 ounce cup)

2.5 tablespoons of pineapple chunks, canned, or other fruit (3/4 ounce)

1.5 tablespoons of pineapple juice or other fruit juice (3/4 ounce)

1/2 banana, sliced (slice banana in the morning)

1 tablespoon peanuts, crushed

honey

Process

Reserve 1 tablespoon of pineapple chunks and banana slices.

Stir remaining ingredients together in mug.

Refrigerator mug overnight.

In the morning, top with additional pineapple chunks, banana slices, nuts, and a drizzle of honey.

Imagine banana slices and a drizzle of honey.

Notes

Yogurt containers vary in size. My yogurt container was 242 grams or about 8.5 ounces, so I had to save about 2.5 ounces.

This is supposed to be a breakfast dish. I found it filling and sweet; I would consider also it a dessert.

Note: because I forgot to put the banana in the ingredients picture or to top off the dish with the slices and a drizzle of honey, my pictures are not accurate.

Minor edit: 9/11/2019

If My Mother Could See Me Now -- Chicken Picadillo -- My Way

My mother was a good cook. I could hardly boil water. But, as I work on this new cookbook, I am tackling more complicated recipes.

I think that mom would have liked this dish.

Adapted from original recipe from Dinners_Cookbook_508-compliant

Ingredients

2 tblspns olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

4 chicken thighs, if possible remove skin

1/3 cup tomato sauce (no salt)

1/3 cup low-sodium chicken broth (use 1/2 cube chicken or vegetable bouillon)

1/3 cup lemon juice or lime juice

1/4 tspn ground cumin

a few raisins

Garnish of choice

Parmesan cheese

Garnish choices: fresh cilantro, capers, green olives, chopped

Process

Gather all the ingredients together.

Make spaghetti or rice, first.

Save the spaghetti water, if possible after draining.

Add olive oil in skillet, set at medium heat.

Add onion, bell peppers, garlic, cook until soft about 5 minutes. Note, I added a little of the spaghetti water to keep the vegetables from burning.

Add chicken, cook for 5-10 minutes until chicken is cooked (no longer pink inside).

Add tomato sauce, broth, lemon juice.

(I used a coffee cup and added the tomato sauce, then the broth using 1/2 a bullion cube and spaghetti water, then the juice of 1/2 a lime and topped it off with more spaghetti water.)

Add cumin and raisins.

Cover, reduce heat to a simmer, cook for 10 minutes.

Serve with rice or spaghetti and black beans.

Add garnish and parmesan cheese.

Notes

I got off to a good start by collecting all the ingredients in the same place. Plus, I started chopping the onion and green pepper as I made the spaghetti.

Unfortunately, my electric stove top seems to have two temperatures, boiling hot and warm.

While I think the dish came out good and I love olives, they were a nice touch, next time, I think I will punch up the curry powder.

But, I am beginning to see a problem. I am making too much food for me to eat, better start calling friends over for lunch or dinner.

My First Dry Bean Dish

As a good tightwad, I should have a repertoire of dry bean dishes. I don’t.

Beans provide fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals and no saturated or trans fat. Also, dry beans are easy to store.

I do like beans but I use canned beans. Also, I have a few crock-pot recipes that call for canned beans, but I don’t have a dry bean recipe.

So, I began a search for a dry bean recipe I could make. In my research, I found two bean soup recipes that have been on the U.S. Senate menu every day for over 100 years and decided to use it as a guide to making my own bean soup.

Here is the original recipe:

The Famous Senate Restaurant Bean Soup Recipe

2 pounds dried navy beans

four quarts hot water

1/2 pounds smoked ham hocks

1 onion, chopped

2 tablespoons butter

salt and pepper to taste

Wash the navy beans and run hot water through them until they are slightly whitened.

Place beans into pot with hot water. Add ham hocks and simmer approximately three hours in a covered pot, stirring occasionally.

Remove ham hocks and set aside to cool. Dice meat and return to soup.

Lightly brown the onion in butter. Add to soup. Before serving, bring to a boil and season with salt and pepper.

Serves 8.

Source: U.S. Senate: Reference Home > Senate Bean Soup http://www.senate.gov/reference/reference_item/bean_soup.htm

Ria Stone’s Bean Soup

Note: Dry beans expand during cooking, so when you choose a quantity of beans to cook, consider the size of your cooking dish. Add enough beans to fill about 1/3 or less of the casserole dish. Also, the type of bean and the length of the soaking time will affect the cooking time.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 of a kg bag of frijoles (generic Mexican beans), or use navy beans or white beans, rinse and sort -- remove unsightly beans and debris like rocks
• 4 - 12 cups water
• two shakes garlic powder
• two shakes black pepper
• one garlic clove, chopped
• 1/4 can of Spam, chopped

Alternative spices: sage, or rosemary and thyme, or bacon, or ham, or ham bones.

Mexican Frijoles (Beans)

Process:

Put cleaned beans in casserole dish with a lid.

Add four cups of water to cover beans and a little more.

Cover and put in refrigerator overnight.

The next day, season with garlic powder, black pepper and olive oil.

Cover. Microwave 7-10 minutes on high, bring to a boil.

Remove, stir, add two - three more cups of water, return to microwave, cook for 7-10 minutes.

In a saucepan, brown onions and garlic in olive oil, add to beans.

Add Spam.

Cook additional 7 minutes.

Check beans. Stir. Cook for 7 minutes.

The beans are obviously soaking up the liquid because there is very little soup.

Check beans. Add 3 cups water, if needed. Stir.

Check beans. Stir. Cook another 10 minutes.

How do you tell the difference between an undercooked bean and an overcooked bean? Some of the beans seem shriveled, others hard.

Check beans. Add 2 cups water. Stir. Cook for another 10 minutes. The reason for adding water as the beans cook is to avoid having the liquid boiling over and out of the casserole dish.

Check beans. I got it. The beans are full and soft.

Take one cup of beans from casserole dish, mash with a fork and return to casserole dish to thicken soup.

Season to taste.

Remarks

This is a troublesome recipe for me. I am short. The microwave hangs on the wall. It is a reach to put in or take out the casserole dish.

I spilled liquid when I took out or put the casserole dish in the microwave. This is an additional reason why I don’t do dry beans. Too much time, too much trouble.

This dish like many become more flavorful if they are stored in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.

Note: 1/4 pkg of beans in a medium casserole dish filled the dish 3/4 full.

My future goal is to soak enough beans (less than 1/4 pkg) to make a single or double serving of a bean dish. Also, a smaller casserole dish would make things easier.

The Math

For me, the math of cooking is always a surprising hurdle.

For this recipe I had a kg bag of frijol beans.

The recipe called for 2 pounds of dried beans and 4 quarts of water or one gallon of water.

One kg is roughly 2 pounds. So, I would need a gallon of water for one bag.

1/2 a bag would need 1/2 gallon of water or 2 quarts of water.

I wanted to use 1/4 a bag, so I would need 1 quart of water or 2 pints.

A pint is 32 ounces or 4 (8 ounces) cups of water. So, I would need 8 cups of water. In the end, I used 12 cups of water.