Horchata

Woah, it's been almost 2 months since my last post- sorry! 

Have you ever had horchata?  I had always heard about how awesome it was, but never tried it...until about 2 months ago.  Dave and I were having some lunch at a Mexican place outside of the city, and I saw it on the menu-so of course I had to try it!

It tasted kind of like liquid rice pudding- and I loved it!  It has been on my recipe to-do list ever since, and I think I finally found a winner!

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked white long-grain rice
5 cups water
3 cinnamon sticks
1/2 cup milk (I used 1%, but whole is probably best)
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
approx 1/4 cup white sugar (add this to taste...I used just over 1/4 c)

Directions:

• Pour the rice and water into a blender.  I had to do this in batches because we have a lame Magic Bullet rip-off.  (if anyone feels like spending hundreds of dollars, please buy us a Vitamix!)
• Blend until the rice just begins to break up, about 1-2 minutes.

 blend, baby, blend!

• Transfer to a sealable container, add cinnamon sticks, and let mixture stand at room temperature for 3 hours.

• Refrigerate overnight (this is optional, but helps infuse more flavor!)
• Strain the rice water into a pitcher and discard the rice and cinnamon stick.

• Stir the milk, vanilla, and sugar into the rice water until all of the sugar has dissolved.

 We poured the horchata into this cool pitcher we got at Whole Foods.

 Of course, Dave wanted to see how high he could pour the liquid without spilling.  He got about 5 inches higher than shown below :)

• Serve over ice

Directions:

1. Pour the rice and water into a blender. 
2. Blend until the rice just begins to break up, about 1-2 minutes. 
3. Transfer to a sealable container, add cinnamon sticks, and let mixture stand at room temperature for 3 hours.
4. Refrigerate overnight (this is optional, but helps infuse more flavor!)
5. Strain the rice water into a pitcher and discard the rice and cinnamon stick. 
6. Stir the milk, vanilla, and sugar into the rice water until all of the sugar has dissolved.
7. Serve over ice

recipe adapted from allrecipes

Raspberry Bourbon Smash

I just posted about our New Year's Eve festivities, and thought you might like to have the recipe for our delicious cocktail of the night!

Ingredients (per drink):
1 tbs raspberry jam (we used preserves from Trader Joe's)
1 tbs triple sec
2 tbs orange juice
bourbon and lime seltzer to taste (I like just under 2 tbs bourbon)

Directions:

1. Mix well and pour over ice

Easy!

recipe adapted from Minimalist Baker

Pumpkin Frappuchino

Sorry, no pic for this one!  (at least not yet)

This is a really simple recipe for a delicious smoothie.  The only thing- you need to make the frozen pumpkin cubes ahead of time, so make sure to plan for that!

Ingredients
1 c cold brew coffee (We used instant coffee)
1 c milk (we used almond milk)
1/4 c pumpkin butter
2 Tbsp agave nectar
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Instructions

1. To prepare cold brew coffee, place 2 cup ground coffee – the bolder the better – into a bowl, top it with 4 cups of water and place it in the refrigerator overnight. Strain in the morning and reserve the leftover in the fridge. (since we used instant coffee, I dissolved it in a small bit of hot water, then added enough cold water to make 1 cup of coffee)
2.  Prepare milk ice cubes in advance by pouring your milk of choice into a bowl and mixing in pumpkin butter, agave nectar and pumpkin pie spice. Whisk to ensure even distribution.
3. Pour mixture into an ice cube tray, covering lightly with saran wrap, and freezing overnight. (we froze ours for a few hours, and that was good enough!)
4. Place 1 cup coffee and 8-10 pumpkin ice cubes in a blender and blend until smooth. Taste and add extra agave if you prefer a sweeter beverage (This was not needed). Additionally, add more pumpkin pie spice or pumpkin butter if you prefer a spicier flavor.

Recipe from Minimalist Baker