I figured I'd jump right into our first blog post with one of our favorite winter beverages, the warm and toasty hot toddy, mmm. Its been snowing all morning on Long Island and John is home from work today (snow day!), and since I work from home not much of my routine has changed except for having to share the kitchen Keurig with the hubby this morning. The minute I woke up and peeked outside I instantly felt the need for something warm. I guess 9 a.m. is a bit early for a toddy, but that doesn't mean they aren't in order for this evening. While John got the coffee going I toasted up a zucchini-chocolate chip muffin (delish) and made him a smoothie with some frozen fruit, sliced bananas and a splash of coconut almond milk. He said it was the best one I've made yet, which I would assume would be the vanilla almond/coconut blend. I typically buy unsweetened vanilla almond milk, but our local grocery store ran out this time. I guess that's what I get for waiting until Sunday afternoon to do our weekly food shopping. Oops.
Back to the hot toddy. One of our favorite past time hobbies during the weekend is making cocktails with ingredients we already have handy in the house. While I do admit, I tend to feel at ease knowing I have all of the ingredients I need when following a recipe, but John is much better at using whatever we have in the cupboards or fridge. I guess its a good reflection of our personalities. One evening while sitting in front of the fire cozy upped on the couch and most likely indulging in some Netflix favorites, we had the craving for something sweet and warm. We could have easily made some hot cocoa or opened a bottle of our favorite red wine, but I knew we had cinnamon sticks from baking I did earlier in the week and cider left over from the holidays. And lets be honest, the weekend is for unwinding and enjoying small indulgences, so we knew we needed some tasty alcohol in the mix. I decided to quickly Pinterest search "hot toddy recipe" and was able to make up one of our own from what we had available and what was recommended. Here goes:
Ingredients:
-cinnamon sticks
-apple cider
-bourbon
-whipped cream or caramel flavored vodka
-cool whip
Directions:
Simmer 1.5 cups of whipped cream vodka, 1/2 gallon of apple cider, 1/4 cup of bourbon (we threw in more to cut the sweetness and we also L-O-V-E bourbon) and 2-3 cinnamon sticks. Heat and simmer in a stove-top pan for about five minutes so all of the alcohol heats up and melts together. When ready to drink, pour the hot toddy mixture into your favorite mug (we prefer tea mugs, the bigger the better!) and place a large dollop of cool whip on top. We garnished ours with the bourbon/vodka soaked cinnamon stick and a little bit of cinnamon sugar.
Even the Long Island geese are over all of this snow. To attempt getting out of this winter slump I decided to light some spring scented candles around the house in lemon and coconut scents. I figured they'd bring some tropical "sunshine" into the house while the gloom outside continues. Anyone else have a case of the winter blues like us?
Comments
Post a Comment