Your new favorite summer drink couldn't be simpler! Just mix 1 part Campari with 2 parts soda water. Add ice and a slice of fresh, sweet summer nectarine. Cheers!
Strawberry-Maple Fizz
I'm so happy it's summer!! We are just back from a 3-week road trip on the east coast that started in New York City (where we had cocktails on the Hudson and saw the Broadway play Come From Away, so good!) and ended with a family wedding in Maine, where we stayed in a beach house and had sunset dinners on the water.
But in between, we went to the family house in Vermont, which was so relaxing. We BBQed dinner, went swimming in ponds and lakes and went strawberry picking.
After eating as many strawberries as we could, we decided they needed to be a part of daily cocktail hour on the deck. And what's more Vermont than maple syrup?! Combine the two and you have a surprisingly refreshing (and simple!) drink for a warm evening.
STRAWBERRY-MAPLE FIZZ
makes 1 drink, but is easily doubled or tripled, or...
3 whole strawberries, hulled, the riper the better!, plus one extra for garnish
1 shot (about 3 T) Vodka
1 t maple syrup (or more if you like it sweet!)
ice
seltzer
Place the trimmed strawberries in a small bowl with the vodka and syrup. Muddle by mashing it all together with the bottom of a cup. Strain this mixture and pour it into a glass, over ice. Top it off with seltzer, garnish with a fresh strawberry (sliced or not) and enjoy!
(note: this is a great way to use strawberries that are getting overripe, ugly, and extra juicy! Also, I imagine this might be delicious with whiskey or rum. If you try something different, let me know how it turns out!)
Cheers!
Sparkling Cucumber Basil Lemonade Cocktail
I have been following Lily Diamond's blog, Kale & Caramel, and Instagram (@kaleandcaramel) for years and so enjoy it. Her unique kitchen approach includes recipes not only for deliciously fresh food (like these Crispy Lentil Smashed Potatoes) and drinks (like the cocktail below), but also for DIY beauty products (like this Blackberry Basil Healing Face Mask).
Her first book, Kale & Caramel, just came out and it is BEAUTIFUL. Having grown up in an apple orchard in California where we grew a lot of our own vegetables, I think there's something so valuable about connecting to plants in the place that you live; watering them, feeling their leaves, watching them grow, picking them, eating them, having your hands and feet in the dirt. Lily grew up in Hawaii among a bounty of edible flowers, herbs, fruits and vegetables in her backyard which informs her kitchen approach. This connection to plants and dirt and place is often difficult to maintain when you live in a more urban area without things readily growing around you, but Lily talks about how using fresh herbs, flowers and other plants in the kitchen can help you retrieve that connection. She calls it a "return to wildness", which I think is so valuable, grounding, and healthy.
Here's Lily's recipe for Sparkling Cucumber Basil Lemonade from her new book. (her pic below, plus my little watercolor illustration above.)
Sparkling Cucumber Basil Lemonade
serves 2
preparation time: 5 minutes
3-inch length of cucumber, chilled and coarsely chopped (about ⅓ cup), plus cucumber slices for garnish 2 to 3 fresh basil leaves, plus more for garnish
1⁄4 cup fresh lemon juice, plus lemon slices for garnish
Add the chopped cucumber to a blender or food processor with the basil, lemon juice,still water, and honey. Blend until smooth,then distribute evenly between 2 glasses.
Add the sparkling water, again splitting evenly between the glasses. Drop in a few ice cubes, and garnish with cucumber slices, lemon slices, and basil as desired.
1⁄4 cup still water 1 tablespoon honey or agave nectar
3⁄4 cup sparkling water, or more to taste Ice cubes, for serving
* * *
Lily suggests making it a cocktail by adding gin, vodka, light rum, or cachaça. Yes, please. Cheers!
Recipe and drink photo copyright © 2017 by Lily Diamond from KALE & CARAMEL: Recipes for Body, Heart, and Table published by Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Photos copyright © 2017, Lily Diamond
Pomegranate Punch & Oprah!
I'm super excited to have 4 Forest Feast recipes in the current holiday issue of O, the Oprah Magazine (Dec. 2016)! I LOVE Oprah and was so excited to be included in her annual "favorite things" issue. They chose a couple from my new book and a couple from my blog that are great for holiday entertaining.
There's a Pomegranate punch adapted from The Forest Feast Gatherings (see below), plus a Sparkling Old-Fashioned Punch, a Cran-Rosemary Punch and a Hot Chai Nog that is spiked with rum.
Cheers!
Happy Halloween! Pumpkin Smoothies
We had so much fun taking Ezra to the pumpkin patch this year! This is the first year he was old enough to really enjoy it and pick a pumpkin himself. Today he is dressed up as a little cow (he loves farm animals). We don't really get trick-or-treaters up here in the woods so we are heading to town for some festivities this evening.
Just a little #tbt to these Pumpkin Smoothies from a few years ago.
Happy Halloween!
Pumpkin Smoothies
3/4 c milk (I use almond)
1 frozen banana
1/2 c pumpkin purée
a pinch of cinnamon & nutmeg
honey
a few ice cubes
Blend and enjoy! Makes 2 or 3 small smoothies.