Mulled Crockpot Apple Cider

  'Tis the season...

of warm apple pie, crunchy leaves, pumpkins galore, and of course...hot apple cider.

Don't get me wrong. Buying a jug of good quality apple cider

and simply heating it up is completely acceptable.

 But when it takes so little effort to make something soooo much better...why would we not?? :)

Mulled Apple Cider

Ingredients:

1/2 gallon apple cider

8 whole cloves

10 Allspice berries

6 cinnamon sticks

the peel of one orange

the peel of one lemon

1/4 cup-2/3 cup real maple syrup

  

Simply place the cloves, allspice berries, and cinnamon sticks in a large pot. Peel your lemon and orange, being careful to avoid the white "stuff" right under the peel. Add your peel to the pan.

 

Next measure your maple syrup. Use 1/4 cup to 2/3 cup, depending

 on the level of sweetness you would like. I prefer to use a 1/2 cup...plenty of sweetness for me.

Add the golden goodness, known as maple syrup, to your pot.

Note: You may lick the measuring cup. Nobody is watching.

Measure out a half gallon (8 cups) of apple cider.

Add the apple cider to your pot. Bring all ingredients to a boil. Remove from heat.

Transfer all the warm, steaming deliciousness to a crock pot. Put it on the lowest

setting for 2-3 hours....if you can wait that long. The beauty of the crock pot is

 that you can put this cider on for a party and it will keep warm with no effort by you.

It doesn't get much better than that. :)

*Before serving, you may strain the spices and peel if you would like.

When you are ready to enjoy, ladle it into your favorite mug.

 Mmmm....feels like autumn...My favorite time of the year.

You may notice the logo on my favoritest mug...

if you have never heard of the

THE OUTPOST MERCANTILE, check it out. You won't be sorry.

*********************************************************************************

I found this recipe from The Pioneer Woman (I love her) and tweaked it a bit.

Hot Cocoa Mix

This year my mom painted our kitchen so my sister could come decorate....

She made it as a coffee shop theme! So we wanted to make hot cocoa for the kids since the adults always have coffee to drink.

Ingredients

Sugar: 3 1/2 cups

Cocoa: 3 cups

Salt: 6 dashes

Powdered Milk: 8 cups
Miniature Marshmallows

Pour cocoa, sugar, salt and powdered milk in large bowl.

 Mix together...

Add marshmallows. 

I used a funnel to put it in a large jar.

We stored the rest in an airtight container.

Hope you enjoy!!! :)

Sarasota: A Moscato Punch

Happy New Year! 

I cannot believe it is already 2015. I have heard from sooo many people that time flies the older you get, but with the way time already seems to be flying by in my twenties, I swear I can pretty much blink twice and turn a year older at any given moment. I can't imagine how much faster it's going to go in the coming years. Eek.

As I freak out about how fast my life is flying by, I will tell you about the drink I made to celebrate the passing of 2014. It is called a Sarasota and it is pretty marvelous. If you don't like sweet drinks, I wouldn't suggest making a big pitcher of it. A few people that tried it said they really liked the flavor, but one glass would be plenty for them. Me, on the other hand, drank half the pitcher last night. Oops.

Ingredients

2 bottles moscato
1/2 can raspberry lemonade concentrate

2 c. Sprite
1 container fresh raspberries

Directions

Mix the moscato and concentrate in a pitcher.

Stir in the Sprite. (Use more or less, depending on preference.)

Slightly mash half of your raspberries then toss them all in the pitcher and gently stir.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.

One of the best parts about this drink is the fact that the raspberries have time to soak up all the yumminess before you eat them! So kick back, pour yourself a Sarasota, and reminisce about all the good things that happened to you over the last year. :)

Berry Lemon Iced Tea

Summer means beautiful weather, the beach, vacations, outdoor bbq's, and....iced tea! 

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a tall glass of plain iced tea, sweetened or not, but I was in the mood to try something a little different. This is what I came up with. :) 

Try it.... if it isn't quite what you are looking for, it is so easy to change it up...

Less (or more) honey, 

more (or less) lemonade, 

more (or less) tea bags...you get the idea! 

**********************************************************************

    In a slow cooker, combine the following:

    7 cups water

    3 cups natural lemonade

    1/4 cup honey

    2 cups frozen mixed berries

    9-10 tea bags

  After combining all ingredients in the slow cooker, heat on LOW for 3 hours. 

  Serve in a tall glass with lots of ice. 

Garnish with lemon slices :)

 Mmmm... refreshing!

Frozen Spinach Cubes

I love smoothies! And being able to add loads of spinach in my fruit smoothies has been awesome. You can't taste the spinach, but you get all those lovely nutrients. :)

The only bad thing is that I usually don't use it all up before the spinach goes bad. Then, I had an idea. If I can freeze my fruit in ready-to-go baggies, then why can't the spinach get thrown in there, too? 

We tried putting the spinach leaves straight in, but the got really crisp and papery and were a bit of a mess. So, instead we tried blending them into frozen cubes. It worked awesome!

*************************************

Just gather up your spinach and make sure it's clean.

Place it in a blender with 1-2 Tablespoons of water.

Start blending.

Add more spinach periodically until you've blended as much as you want.

Pour into a clean ice cube tray.

Freeze for about 2 hours, or until fully frozen.

Pop out and place in a freezer bag on their own, or divide them up with fruit so you have everything ready to go!

I've been using frozen pineapple, banana, blueberries, and chia seeds with 2-3 spinach cubes. I blend it up with 1/2 c. Greek yogurt and some water....delicious! :)

Strawberry and Lime Moscato Punch

 I wanted to make something special for Mom on Mother's Day so I decided to make her a drink she had talked about trying. I found the recipe, whipped it together and served it to her and my sister. 

They said it was delicious!! My brother tried it and even he thought it was good!

Prep time

5 mins

Total time

5 mins

Serves: 8

Ingredients

1.5 liter of Moscato wine

1 can frozen limeade concentrate, defrosted

1 c strawberries, diced plus 1 c strawberries sliced

1 lime, sliced

7 Up

Place 1 cup of diced strawberries and ¼ cup of limeade in a blender and mix until pureed.

Run the mixture through a strainer to remove most of the seeds...

Now, pour it into a pitcher...

Add the remaining limeade and the entire bottle of moscato into the pitcher.

Chill in the fridge until you're ready to serve.

When ready to serve, divide into 8 glasses. Top each glass with desired amount of 7 Up!!!



 Garnish with strawberry and lime slices.

Hope you enjoy!!! :)

Blended Chocolate Coffee

~BLENDED CHOCOLATE COFFEE~

Some of the simplest things in life are the best....coffee and chocolate.  Mix them together and it pretty much becomes heaven in a cup.  :)

This is one of my favorite treats that I mix up in less than 5 minutes.  All you need is:

FROZEN COFFEE CUBES

and 

(CHOCOLATY) CHOCOLATE 

MILK

and

A BLENDER (personal or full size)

I make it a daily habit to freeze any leftover coffee remaining in the coffee 

pot at the end of the afternoon.  I simply freeze it in ice cube trays 

and empty them into a container that I leave in 

the freezer. It really is a win-win. :)  Coffee cubes are ready anytime I am in the mood for a treat and no coffee goes to waste! :)

 

Now all you need to do is put about a dozen coffee cubes in your blender....

Now add 1 cup chocolate milk and blend until it is well blended and there are no chunks of coffee cubes remaining.

Now the last step is to pour it all into your favorite cup and ENJOY! Make sure to use a good quality straw. :)

*You can easily alter this... use more or less chocolate milk if you prefer a different consistency. 

* You can also make several servings at one time if you use a full size blender. Just be sure 

to have plenty to go around. .. trust me! ;)

Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix


 

******************************************

Winter is here and what warms the 

heart more than hot cocoa?

 

****************************************

I don't know about you, but I have tried many hot cocoa recipes, and I finally combined a couple of them to suit my taste.

This is the one the kids raved about and said it was their favorite! So, I thought I would share this simple recipe.

Mix Together in large bowl:

5 1/3 Cups notfat dry milk

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

3 oz. dry coffee creamer (about 3/4 cup)

1 lb. instant chocolate drink mix (about 2 1/2 cup)

1/2 tsp. salt

I use a large whisk to stir the ingredients.  

It seems to work better then a spoon.

Boil your water, so you can be ready to enjoy!  

I use 1/3 cup (give or take) of mix for each serving.  

I store the dry mix in a Tupperware container.

 I made sure I had it on hand during Christmas season, 
thus the reason for the picture with the candy cane below. 

 

 

******************************************************

Any time of year is great for hot cocoa... 

******************************************************

                             

 

******************************************************

 

and there is just something special about sitting down 

with an nice soothing cup of it!

 

******************************************************

anonionexposed.blogspot.com

Slow Cooker Apple Cider

What better way to keep your friends and family's bellies warm than to serve them a hot cup of orange & cinnamon infused apple cider. Since it's made and served straight from the crock pot, you can just put it all together and let it sit for the day. No worrying about it getting cold or boiling over on the stove top. Just a hot & yummy beverage ready to warm you when you come in from the cold. :)

Ingredients

 6 c. apple cider

2 large orange slices

2 cinnamon sticks

Directions

Pour apple cider in slow cooker.

Stir in orange slices and cinnamon sticks.

Cook on low 2 hours.

(You can leave it in the slow cooker longer to keep it hot & ready for your guests, just turn it down to warm after the 2 hours are up.)

While you can serve your cider in mugs the traditional way, we thought it would be a bit more "festive" to ladle it into martini glasses and garnish with cinnamon sticks. (If we had oranges left, we would have used orange curls, too.) Make it fun and stay warm! :)

Fruit Medley Smoothie

I am apologizing in advance.  My photography is horrible and I am too impatient to edit all my pictures!  I will try to "prettify" them in the future but for now, please bear with me. :)

What I am posting today is similar to a past post of my sister Renae's.  She made the Naked Inspired "Green Machine" Smoothie.  I wanted to play with it a little bit because I am partial to berry smoothies. 

After freezing several kinds of fruit, I mix and match what I want to put in my cold treat that day.  This morning's concoction ended up being a Fruit Medley Smoothie!  Delicious!

5 pieces of frozen pineapple

Small handful of frozen blueberries

6 slices of frozen bananas

10 pieces of frozen strawberries (cut in quarters)

A layer of spinach

2 heaping T. of plain yogurt

Approximately 1/3 c. POM juice

Using my bullet, I can make individual smoothies. I love it.  Throw a bunch of yummy ingredients in, pop it on, blend, and remove.  Place the little rim protector on and your good to go!  So handy!

I have been freezing my fruit--which works great!  I have been slicing them and placing them on a cookie sheet, lined with aluminum foil, and putting it in the freezer until fruit is firm.  Remove and throw in bags.  At this point, my sister Renae, mixes the berries and places the appropriate amount of fruit in small bags so they are ready to go.  I want to do that but I only had quart size Ziploc bags.  Next time. :)

Excuse all the fingerprints on my blender! :P

Naked Inspired "Green Machine" Smoothie

I'm starting to think that this whole healthy eating thing might actually be enjoyable. You're probably thinking "of course it is, you goof!", and I see where you're coming from. Don't get me wrong. Most of the time, I do like eating healthy and it makes me feel good, but then I see a chocolate chip cookie or french fries and all my healthy habits go flying out the window.

I have found that, for me to continue eating right, I also need to find ways to cure my cravings. I'm not one of those lucky people that can live without sweets. I love them! And I crave them often. But, unfortunately, I also crave salty, fried, sour & tangy foods. There is no pleasing me. :)

Now that I've been able to find some recipes for meals and snacks that are sweet or salty, yet still healthy, it helps me stay on track while curing those pesky cravings. (Check out my Easy & Healthy Ice Cream!)

For breakfast this morning, I made my hubby and I green smoothies for breakfast. It was the first time we've had homemade green smoothies and they were delicious! They reminded me a lot of the Naked Green Machine Smoothies (hence my title).

I put mine in a to-go cup for our drive to work, and he downed his while he got ready for the day. They were quick, easy, and a great way to have a healthy, filling breakfast. I think I'm going to try to fill freezer bags with all the ingredients (minus the liquid) and keep them in the freezer. That way we can just pull out a bag, dump it in the blender with the liquid, and we would be good to go!

Ingredients

2 large handfuls fresh spinach

1 large banana

1 c. pineapple

1 c. yogurt

1 c. filtered water

Directions

Toss everything in the blender & blend!

*Makes 2 smoothies. 

Drink both now, or cover one and put it in the fridge for later.

(Directions with Photos)

2 handfuls fresh spinach 

1 large banana

1 cup pineapple

(I had some fresh pineapple in the freezer which worked perfectly!)

1 cup yogurt

(If you're looking for some homemade yogurt, click here! It's really yummy and way cheaper!)

1 cup filtered water

Cover and turn on your blender.

I turned mine to the "liquify" setting which worked really well. 

Blend until all the little spinach pieces are gone.

Look at all that green, frothy goodness!

Now drink it up!

On the way to work, we were discussing all the possibilities with this smoothie. 

Here are some ideas we came up with:

Replace the spinach with:

kale

Add:

parsley

apples

blueberries

blackberries

strawberries

raspberries

mango

kiwi

carrots
broccoli

Replace the water with:

fruit juice

coconut water

So many options! :)