New Video: Mint Juleps

So with mint growing wild in the summer garden, why not use it for a drink or two? Mint juleps and mojitos are my go to Southern summer drinks. I love to collect julep cups and relish in the cold silver in my hands on a hot summer day. As for mojitos, well, this south of the border flavor is perfect for a south of the Mason/Dixon line too!

A big shout out of thanks to my friends at Onward Reserve for hosting this Farmer (and outfitting too!!!) for this segment. It sure is handy to have friends whose store has a bar too!

I hope your summertime has been filled with fantastic flavors like mint. It is easy to grow, delicious in salads and the perfect drink all summer long! From this Farmer’s garden and table, enjoy ya’ll!


Athens- Part 3 from Dynes Media on Vimeo.

Sip and Savor Apple Cider

 Recipe found in Sip and Savor


Baby, its cold outside! I’ve found myself sippin’ and savorin’ a warm drink of sorts all day – Earl Grey this morning, Orange Zinger later on, the latter two combined and then for my nightcap, this warm cider was just the ticket.

 

Every year, my fair peach state yields the last of its famed crop towards summer’s end. Afterwards, apples from our northern mountain counties’ orchards start coming in, giving us another fabulous fruit for a season. Pies, cakes, tarts, butter, and sauce all come from the apple crop, but one apple product in particular is nostalgic with the crisp autumn days – apple cider.

Gentlemen Prefer… Strawberry Blondes!

So strawberry season is upon us. These sweet treats have been zipping up I-75 from Florida for a while now and Middle Georgia’s very own crop is coming! Places such as Lane’s  has a strawberry patch and, well, if by chance one finds themselves pickin’ in the patch, one might as well stay for ice cream!

Sip and Savor is out ya’ll!!  Book signings and some touring is about to commence so I wanted to combine my favorite spring berry and spring berry drink with an excerpt from the book. Some of these photos are in the book but there were just so many lovely shots we couldn’t include them all. My sister Maggie photographed this book and we had a ball! Working with siblings can be quite fun and she has photographed my wreath book due out this fall!

Here’s my Strawberry Blonde recipe and whipped cream too. Since spring is upon us, let us enjoy the fruits of the season!

Strawberry Blonde

What a perfect name for a lovely drink! Taking the fiery redness of strawberries and blending it with the calming color of cream, one will find the most beautiful pink drink to serve your friends and family. When strawberry season is at its peak, this drink is fabulously delicious. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream and you have strawberries and cream in a drink!

They say gentlemen prefer blondes… well, this gentlemen will take this Strawberry Blonde any day!

2 cups of strawberries, tops removed
1 cup of milk (I use 2%)
3 cups of heavy whipping cream (for drink and garnish respectively)
¼ cup of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon of good vanilla

Blend strawberries, milk, 1 ½ cups of cream, sugar, and vanilla together until fluffy and smooth. Add ice to the blender for slush.

The Farmer’s Whipped Vanilla Bean Crème Fraiche… Whipped Cream, Ya’ll

So whipping cream is delicious. It, like butter, just amazes me how many things can come from milk. It’s life’s first beverage. It’s a must on every trip to the grocery store. It’s milk! If you haven’t hooked onto organic milk and cream yet, you are missing out! The lactose free milk is about the best glass of anything you’ll ever drink! I digress…

Whipped cream is simply divine. The science of physically changing a liquid into a solid is astounding, but what is so amazing to me is the taste. With a scant bit of sugar, some good vanilla, and the inside of a vanilla bean pod, you can have the best of dessert toppings in a matter of minutes.

I inherited my great, great Aunt Irene’s “whipper,” a wiry paddle that takes the strongest of arms a long time to whip up a batch of this heavenly topping. Want a workout? Trust me, you’ll burn off the calories you’ll consume by whipping cream by hand. Use an electric mixer for time and bicep’s sake. It’s a fun tool to have though and I treasure it and my memories of her. I can only imagine how many times Aunt Irene or her cook Ida Mae whipped cream with that “whipper.” They deserve sainthood for such a feat… Ida Mae more so I’m sure!!!

There is a bit of art to whipping cream. Here are a few of this Farmer’s tips and my recipe… master this and you’ll have so many friends and family wanting a finger licking taste, you’ll have to give out numbers!

• ALWAYS use a metal (copper or stainless steel) or glass bowl. Ceramic is fine too. Plastic won’t cut it.
• ALWAYS use cold cream and GOOD vanilla beans and vanilla extract. This is one delicacy you’ll truly taste the vanilla and you want the best.
• I use my vanilla sugar (vanilla bean pod infused sugar) for that added richness and depth of flavor.
• Whip, mix, whisk until the cream forms soft peaks and just looks right… It shouldn’t be runny in the least after mixing and can be stored in the fridge for a few days. It will get runny on a hot piece of pie, but that’s perfectly apropos!

The Farmer’s Whipped Vanilla Bean Crème Fraiche

• 2 cups of heavy whipping cream or crème fraiche… Whipping cream is more of a liquid and crème fraiche can be more solid. Use more sugar if using crème fraiche and a scant less for whipping cream since it is slightly sweeter.
• Tablespoon of good vanilla
• Scant teaspoon of scraped vanilla bean pod’s inside. We eat with our eyes first, so seeing those vanilla bean specks is a visual appetizer of the glory divine to come.
• Scant tablespoon of vanilla sugar. Cook’s note – I don’t like heavily sweetened whipped cream. I love the taste of whipped cream by itself…the sugar just sweetens the pot, literally! Add more sugar if you prefer, but, trust me, the actual taste of whipped cream on its own is delicious!
• Beat until it begins to form soft peaks that can stand on their own and no longer runny!
• Serve with just about anything and it will be delicious I’m sure! Enjoy!

Orange Spooner

Some drinks are just good. Some drinks are good stories with provenance. Some drinks are all the above! 

 

My Mimi’s people are from the southwest corner of Georgia. Many of her Bainbridge cookbooks are part of my treasured library of culinary literature. Mimi loves to read them and be reminded of all the loved ones she knew growing up and the delicacies they served from their sideboards. This recipe comes from one of these beloved bindings of culinary delights.

 

But like any good Southern dish, there is a story with this one. Mimi has made this drink for us many a time while growing up and particularly in the wintertime. With truckloads of Florida’s citrus crop crossing the state line and popping up for sale on street corner, farm stands, and markets, oranges and other various and sundry citruses are at their peak. This drink is fantastic with the freshest of Florida’s finest, and I now serve it with a bit of history too.

 

My very first Friday night in Auburn, I met a guy with the last name of Spooner. I didn’t just meet him and chock him up as someone I should grab lunch with someday – I’d met a real buddy. From farming to land to timber to his way cool belt with his initials (I had to get one thereafter), we hit it off. One weekend, this chap was brave enough to come home and eat Sunday dinner with my family. Immediately, my grandmother, Mimi, was enthralled with my friend Stephen’s surname, for her grandparents were best of friends with the Spooners from Donaldsonville, not far from Bainbridge.

 

Who would have ever thought that this Spooner was a descendent of those Spooners? His father’s family is from the town and his grandparents live there still. Amazing how the generations before us were so close. Stephen and I were best of buddies throughout school and he and his wife, Sarah Barry, are some of my dearest friends. I’m dubbed “Uncle” James by their babies and love it! Way cool even more so, I called Sarah Barry “Spoonful” at Auburn before she became Mrs. Spooner, because, well, she’s just that! A spoonful!

 

Getting back to the drink part of this tale, one of Mimi’s old cookbooks from her family’s neck of the woods has a drink I love called an Orange Spooner. A good drink with a good name that I love to share with my generation of Spooner friends – I can’t help but wonder if our families ever had this drink together. I like to think so!

Orange Spooner
2 cups of orange juice
Thin strip of lime rind
¼ cup of confectioners’ sugar
2 sprigs of mint

Cover and blend for 10 seconds

Add 3 cups of crushed ice and blend until smooth. Serve with spoons if need be. Maybe that’s where the name comes from?  Enjoy!

Indian Summer’s Apple-Ginger Sparkler

While apples are rolling in - out of Georgia’s orchards in lieu of peaches, this fizzy drink makes for a cool refreshment on an Indian summer day. After the first frost of autumn, our Southern climate often experiences warm days reminiscent of summertime before the onset of winter proper.

I love this time of year for its warm during the day and crisp at night and in the early morning. This drink is reflective of those temperatures. For if the day has a briskness in the air, serve it at room temperature. If it is a warm Indian summer day, then serve over ice. Cinnamon sticks and candied ginger make for lovely garnishes and the ginger is a delightful snack too.

5 cups of good apple cider
¼ cup of ginger syrup
One can of ginger ale (you can use sparkling cider instead of ginger ale if desired) --- or even sparkling mineral water for a less sweet drink
Cinnamon sticks and candied ginger for garnish

In six glasses, place 2 tablespoons of the ginger syrup in each glass. Fill the glasses with ice cubes. 

Mix the cider and ginger ale and pour over the ice. Stir so it becomes cold and garnish with cinnamon sticks and candied ginger.

Mayflower

Too much of a good thing is a really good thing, right? For my sister Sarah Margaret, who we called “Maggie May” in honor of the month she was born and as a nickname of Margaret, a drink fit for a Southern Belle is apropos.

May’s drink of choice, a Mayflower, is a combo of good things she treasures and I dare not say it’s too much! Just the right amount of goodness mixed together for an absolutely lovely drink.

Playing off the colors of zinnias, hydrangeas, and even some Poke Sal, such a pretty little drink is totally in key with vintage tea towels and garden flowers – much like Maggie May herself. This Mayflower totes no Pilgrims but carries notes of sweet summer fruit juices and a garnish almost too pretty to eat – do eat it though, for it plays on the floral and fruit essence found in this Mayflower. Enjoy a simple, elegant Mayflower for a nod to sipping and savoring the delights of fruit juice and nectar. 

Equal Parts (1 cup to start):
Peach Nectar
Pineapple juice
Cranberry juice
Green tea
1/3 cup rosemary syrup

Blackberries, peach wedges, pineapple chunks and rosemary sprigs for garnish
Mix the juices, green tea and syrup together and chill or serve over ice. Fresh flowers and fun linens make it all that more special and festive.

***Rosemary Syrup***

This can also be done with thyme, mint, basil, etc… 
Dissolve one cup of sugar with one cup of water over medium heat. Add a few sprigs of rosemary and allow the herb to steep with the syrup until the sugar is completely dissolved and the syrup clear – about 5 minutes. Don’t boil for you may make candy!

Georgia Sunrise

Here is a SNEAK PEAK at another upcoming book! It’s about drinks, ya’ll! Thought I’d share a bit with my friends… This book will be out Spring 2012!


Upon meeting me, one quickly learns I’m from Georgia and I love peaches. Yet, one fact you may not know upon first meeting me is that I love sunrises too. Sunsets are fabulous and are spellbinding but a sunrise is the start of a new day, the literally dawning of newness and that breaking of nightly silence. Darkness is torn by streams of red, orange, and yellow light, and these colors are caught in a drink I call a Georgia Sunrise.



Sunrises are full of hope and promise and I hope and promise you this drink will surely make the beginning of a new day simply marvelous. Might as well start breakfast with a peach tart as well! The breakfast of champions I’m sure!


Recipe
3 peaches pitted and sliced into wedges. The skin is fine to leave on but you may peel if desired.
2 cups of peach nectar
1 cup of cranberry juice (pure cranberry or your favorite cranberry mix)
Puree the peaches. Pour nectar and cranberry juice into blender and mix well. Serve chilled or over ice. A new day has broken and celebrate with this sunrise!