Tis The Season

The parties are starting and the drinks are starting to flow. I made this a couple of weeks ago and it went SO quickly that I didn't have time to take a picture.

It actually comes from Cooking Light, which is not the publication I usually get my drinks from.

I will be making this OVER and OVER again! And you should too!


Pomegranate-Rosemary Royale

This simple twist on the traditional kir royale blends tart-sweet pomegranate juice with subtle herbal notes from a rosemary-infused syrup. Float rosemary leaves on the drinks for a pretty garnish.

Ingrediants:
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary leaves
1/2 cup pomegranate juice
2 cups Champagne or sparkling wine

Directions:
1. Combine 1/4 cup water and sugar in a small saucepan; bring to a simmer, stirring until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Add rosemary; let stand 30 minutes. Strain through a sieve into a bowl; discard solids.
2. Pour 2 tablespoons pomegranate juice and 1 tablespoon rosemary syrup into 4 Champagne glasses. Top each serving with 1/2 cup Champagne. Serve immediately.

Yield: 4 servings

CALORIES 115 ; FAT 0.0g (sat 0.0g,mono 0.0g,poly 0.0g); CHOLESTEROL 0.0mg; CALCIUM 5mg; CARBOHYDRATE 9.5g; SODIUM 4mg; PROTEIN 0.1g; FIBER 0.0g; IRON 0.1mg

Cooking Light, NOVEMBER 2009

Watermelon

I bought 2 watermelons before I got my wisdom teeth out. One was 15 lbs and I decided to crack it open today. Instead of eating it after dinner, in a fruit salad, I decided to look up some recipes.

I didn't take any pictures of the finished products, but trust me, they looked great, and tasted great as well.

Watermelon Mojito ( I made it non-alcoholic although it will be kick ass with the rum)
Recipe courtesy Sunny Anderson, 2009
Prep Time: 10 min
Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients
2 1/2 to 3 pounds watermelon flesh, pits removed
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup packed mint leaves, plus more for garnish
2 1/2 cups white rum (omitted, obviously)
1/4 cup agave syrup

Directions
In a blender (I used a food processor), puree watermelon, fresh lime juice and mint in batches until smooth. Strain into a pitcher (I omitted because I was lazy). Mix in rum and syrup. Serve in glasses filled with ice and garnish with mint leaves.

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Watermelon Salsa
Adapted from (Sesame Chile Chicken with Gingered Watermelon Salsa, CL 6/05 )

Instructions
2 cups diced seeded watermelon
1/4 cup diced yellow bell pepper (I used red)
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger (omitted because I couldn’t find the ginger until after I completed the dish)
2 teaspoons mirin (sweet rice wine)
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (I used about ½ of the can of green chiles from Trader Joes)

Directions
Mix all together and chill until ready to serve.

So if you're over inundated with watermelon, try using it in some forms you normally wouldn't think of.