Cool Lemonade

                                                           

Ah! It’s been two weeks again. I think the heat has gotten to me. We have had some very hot days and then it’s been busy with back to work as well. It’s important to be drinking lots of water in such heat but it is also nice to have a cool sweet drink every once in awhile as well. I’ve been loving Gerolsteiner. It’s not a sweet drink but a sparkling mineral water that has lots of magnesium in it for my sore and aching body at the end of the day. Plain, it’s kind of boring and like any bubbly water but if you add it to some juice it’s very refreshing on a hot Summer day. Try some of the combinations that I did and relax with the feet up.

I love lemonade on a hot day but it can be a little too sweet so I like to dilute it with the Gerolsteiner. If I don’t make my own I like the Simply Lemonade. I like to add different things to it. Try lemon, lime, or orange slices, sliced strawberries, and frozen or fresh mixed berries.  

I also love the Simple Raspberry Lemonade and adding Gerolsteiner to that is a delicious combination.

Try out this fresh lemonade recipe if you prefer to make your own. Adjust the sweetness accordingly.

                                                         

1 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice

8-10 cups of water

½ cups of sugar

In a large pot, combine the water and sugar. Stir and heat until the sugar just melts.

Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice.

Mix well and then chill.

You can serve this with lemon, lime, or orange slices as a garnish.

Sweetheart Cheesecake

I can’t believe that another month has already flown by. It’s June in a few days! All the days have really been blending together and now with the kitchen being worked on, it seems like it has been a very long time since I last baked anything or had a kitchen to use.

A little while back, I think it was for Easter, I made my chocolate cheesecake, or Sweetheart cheesecake. I hadn’t made it in ages but I had a craving and I thought it might be a yummy dessert for an isolating Easter dinner and it definitely was. It was so good, yet another cake that I could eat for breakfast, haha. So take a look below and see how I made Sweetheart cheesecake and try one out while you isolate and to ring in the month of June!  

Sweetheart Cheesecake Recipe

Crust:

1 cup of graham wafers

3-3  ½ tsp. of cocoa powder

2 tbsp. of sugar

3-3 ½ tsp. of melted butter

Filling:

3 pkgs. (250g) of cream cheese

1 cup of sugar

3eggs

½ cup of cocoa powder

Whipping cream for the top

Combine the crumbs along with the sugar, butter, and cocoa. 

Mix well and press into 1.5 l spring form pan. I suggest lining the bottom with parchment paper first.

Now in your mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Then beat in the sugar gradually.

Now add in the eggs one at a time at a low speed.

Add in cocoa and beat until smooth.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake at 325 degrees for about 40 minutes. It usually take a few minutes longer. You want it to be moist-ish but not dry and cracked. Mine does always tend to crack but I hide it with whipped cream and it’s fine.

Allow it to cool. I like to make this the day before. This cake is best served nice and cold. You can top it with whipped cream and berries (strawberries and raspberries are the best). I also added on some white chocolate shavings for an extra added touch.

Mimosa Sunrise

A few weeks back we glass etched some champagne glasses and this week we are going to make something that can go in them...Mimosas. Our colour is called “Mimosa Sunrise” and it’s in one of the Fenty palettes and is described as a “tangerine metallic.”

Mimosas are great for so many occasions. You don’t just have to have them for breakfast! Plus there are so many varieties so you can experiment and try something a little different from your typical orange juice and champagne mix, you can add some other additions too.

Original Mimosa – Basically you need two ingredients...orange juice and champagne. Fill half your glasses with orange juice and the other half with champagne and you’re set! Here's ours in our etched glasses.

Pomegranate Mimosas – Fill your champagne flute ¼ of the way full of pomegranate juice and top it off with champagne. Then add some pomegranate seeds for a garnish on top.

Pineapple Mimosa Slushies – This one serves four but you can add more if you have more people to serve. In a blender, add 3 cups of Prosecco, 1 cup of frozen mango, 1 cup of pineapple, juice of half of a lemon, and 2 cups of ice. Then blend it all together. Fill your flutes and garnish with fresh pineapple.

Strawberry Mango Mimosa – You’ll need 1 diced mango, 1 cup of diced strawberries, 1 cup of orange juice, and 1 bottle of champagne. Blend the fruit together then add the fruit mix to each flute, fill them half way. Then add in the champagne and enjoy.

Sparkling Raspberry Lemon Mimosa – Pour chilled champagne into your flute (2/3s full is good). Then add some raspberry lemonade in so that it’s filled to the top. Top with fresh raspberries.

Cinnamon Pear Mimosa – Heat 2 cups of pear juice up on the stove. Add in 2 cinnamon sticks after the juice has boiled and cover with the heat turned off.  Let it steep in the pan for 30 minutes first then put into a sealed container and refrigerate overnight. Fill your flute half full of the pear juice and fill up the rest with champagne and top it off with a slice of fresh pear.

Sherbet Mimosa – Add four small scoops of your favourite sherbet to a champagne glass. Add a tablespoon of clementine vodka and top with champagne. Add some fresh fruit on top if you like.

Single Serve Peach and Raspberry Sangria

Since we are now fully into Summer, we thought it’d be a perfect time to talk about a nice and refreshing drink...the Sangria. Our inspiration is this week’s chosen shade which is called “Sangria Sunset” by Fenty beauty and it’s a metallic magenta shade.

When we were thinking about Sangrias we thought about all the different varieties you can try out. We were used to the typical berry ones so we thought that a peach one might be yummy to try, but then we thought about different ways to make a Sangria as well. You can make a big pitcher of it and serve it to all of your guests, but what if you or only a few of you want some and what if you all want different flavours? So we decided that we would do single serve Sangrias.

For ours, we went with a peach raspberry flavour, but you can even set up a make it yourself single serving Sangria bar too. You can include different fruits, juices, pops, and wines so that each guest can make their own drink unique. The only thing is that you wouldn’t be able to let the Sangria sit in the fridge for hours getting all the flavours worked in.  

First we cut up some fresh juicy peaches and washed up some fresh raspberries. 

Everyone got their own glass and filled it with the fruit. 

To get some more of the flavours going, you can mush up the fruit a bit. Then you can pour in the wine (we used white) along with the bubbly element (7 UP is what we decided on). 

If you want to add some extra sweetness, you can add in some fruit juice (some people will do a simple syrup or just use some sugar). We used peach juice to make it even more peachier.

Here’s our finished Sangrias.

For some more inspiration check out these websites and their Sangria recipes...

https://www.lovebakesgoodcakes.com/non-alcoholic-sangria/ (non-alcoholic, cranberry citrus)

https://www.crazyforcrust.com/single-serve-sangria-for-one/ (single serve, strawberry orange)

https://www.asweetpeachef.com/virgin-sangria/ (non-alcoholic, apple, plum, orange)

https://tasty.co/recipe/raspberry-peach-sangria (peach and raspberry)

https://celebratingsweets.com/peach-sangria/ (peach and raspberry)

Red Wine Chocolate Bundt Cake

Usually January is a recovery month after eating and drinking too much over the holidays but we believe that a treat is needed every once in a while and this one includes wine and chocolate. Many people claim that red wine and dark chocolate in moderation are good for you and this sweet treat includes both.

Today we are trying out a red wine and chocolate Bundt cake. The picture in the local grocery add caught my eye and I knew I had to try it out. So we did and here is how it went.

To make this cake you will need...

1 ½ cups of flour

1 ¼ cup of sugar

1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. of baking powder

2 eggs

1 cup of dry red wine

½ cup of olive oil

1 tsp. of vanilla

½ cup of whipping cream

½ cup of dark or semisweet chocolate chips or finely chopped chocolate

1 tsp. of honey

Fresh berries of choice for topping

First off, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9-10 inch bundt pan.

Whisk together the dry ingredients in your mixer’s bowl. Add in the eggs, olive oil, wine and vanilla. Mix well. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Turn your mixer on high and beat the batter for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy.

Pour into the greased pan and flatten the top.

Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for 15 minutes. After cooling in the pan, invert on a plate until cooled completely.

While your cake is cooling, you can make the glaze. In a sauce pan over medium heat, bring  the cream to a simmer. Stir occasionally.

Pour the cream over the chocolate in a heat proof bowl. Let it stand for 1 minute.

Stir in the honey and the salt.

Allow it to cool and to thicken a bit. Then pour over the cooled cake.

Let the drizzle to harden for at least 10 minutes.

Serve with fresh fruit, berries are best. You can also dust with icing sugar if you like or whip up some cream to put on it as well. I really liked this cake a lot. It was moist and chocolatey and thought the flavour was nice; I didn’t really taste wine, but some others noticed the wine flavour more. 

Enjoy.