Lemonade drinks

New drink ideas:

Pink lemonade. I am totally enamored of the bizarre libation that is pink lemonade. The one we are most familiar with comes frozen in a can, or perhaps out of a powdered packet. In my recipe perusings, I came across a number of recipes for "old fashioned" pink lemonades. Most of these involved cranberry juice, fresh lemon juice, and lots and lots of sugar.

I, of course, became deeply concerned with the origins of this titillating drink. According to good ol' Wikipedia, a variety of things are used to pinken your lemonade, including the juices of various red fruits (cherry, strawberry, raspberry, grapes, grapefruit, etc), grenadine, or artificial colorings. So a wide variety to choose from! But how did it start? Surely it didn't begin with the frozen cans? Was it originally made with cranberry juice as all those recipes suggested? Wiki has two bizarre attribution: some guy dropped his Red Hots into his lemonade by accident, and another dude allegedly, "used water dyed pink from a horse rider's red tights to make his lemonade." Ooook. So let's just pretend Julia Child's invented it by simply adding cranberry juice to lemonade. Problem solved. 

I also found a nice recipe on pinterest for a turquoise lemonade made with powdered lemonade mix, sugar, and blue raspberry Kool-Aid. It was kinda purty. Which got me to thinking, you need to add a bunch of sugar anyway to fresh lemon juice, so why not add Kool-Aid and make some lovely colored lemonades! It also reminded me of one of my favorite drinks as a youngster: lemonade and UV blue vodka.

Cupid can suck it

I’ve never been a huge fan of Valentine’s Day. Though I do love most holidays, mainly for the excuse to overindulge in food and drink in a hedonistic fashion, this one really stuck in my craw. Shouldn’t we appreciate our loved ones year round? It’s simple really. If you love someone, treat them well.  

Raised by an amazing and independent working lady--my strong single mom--I had always planned to make it on my own. And if I found love on the side, well so be it. Marriage? That was a sucker’s game. I didn’t need it.

But then I found someone I loved very deeply, and more importantly who didn’t bore me, even after 4 years together, cohabitating for the majority of that time. I was happy, and didn’t mind the idea of marriage anymore. Valentine’s Day became more exciting than depressing and I thought of fun, non-cliche ways to celebrate it: Bacontine’s Day for example. Maybe it was more romantic than I thought.

Imagine my surprise when he had other plans. Things had been kind of rocky since New Years when I discovered he had been getting back in touch with an ex-girlfriend and hiding it from me. We’d been bickering a lot too, though at the time I thought it was in an old married couple sort of way. So I wasn’t incredibly surprised when he broke up with me on Valentine’s Day, saying he just couldn’t see spending the rest of his life with me. Not surprised, just a little pissed at the timing. And heartbroken. Just when I thought I could get behind the whole V-day hoopla. Get bent, Cupid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tn0PMCwIUxI

Enchilada Pasta

Enchilada Pasta!!

Holy shit is this good. One of my internet friends introduced me to this concept a while back, but most of the recipes call for canned enchilada sauce. Gross. No. So here’s how I do it.

I like to occasionally make my own sauces (enchilada, bolognese, etc) in large double batches and freeze some for later. But if you want, you can do it the boring way and use gross pre-made enchilada sauce, some chicken beef or pork, and cheese with your pasta. It just won’t taste as good.

In addition to the sauce and meats, you will need a bunch of pasta- about a box- and one cup of melty cheese!

Basic enchilada sauce

1 large onion, chopped
5-8 cloves garlic, minced
1 large bell pepper, diced
¼-1 cup of hot peppers, I like to use poblano and anaheims a lot as they are milder and bigger than many of the other widely available peppers (I’m looking at you, jalapenoes and fresnos!)
2-4 chipotle peppers (if you like spicy things, this is great! Otherwise omit)
1 28 oz can petite diced (or whatever) tomatoes
½ tsp cumin
1 TB chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
opt: 1 TB chile powder such as chilaca, ancho or cayenne for spice lovers
salt pepper

Saute the onion in a large saucepan until translucent, add garlic and peppers and saute on medium/low for a few minutes and then add the tomatoes and seasonings and turn the heat to high. When it starts to bubble, bring the burner to low and let it simmer for about a half hour.

Meanwhile, make your non sauce stuff. I have been enjoying ground beef, mushrooms, and corn as a nice addition, but you can use chicken, or pork, or even steak cut up into pieces. You could even just serve it on the side! Who cares! Isn’t it liberating? Make your pasta in this interim as well.

1 lb ground beef
8 oz container sliced mushrooms
1 15 oz can corn
1 TB chili powder
opt: several tablespoons salsa
4 scallions, sliced
(I always add more garlic as well, but you don’t have to)


Saute the beef and the mushrooms with some garlic and the scallions (if you are so inclined) until the beef is only a little pink. Add the chili powder and the corn. Add some salsa if you want, it’s all good. This can be as fancy or as threadbare as your pantry wishes. Now cook until the beef is no longer pink at all.

Mix it with the sauce stuff! You should’ve been cooking your pasta while all this was happening, but if not, do it now!

Now you just mix your pasta with enough sauce to make it delicious. Like a lot of sauce? Then use a bunch! Don’t like it super saucey? Don’t use so much sauce, stupid! Oh, and be sure to use some cheese. About 1 cup. I like to use a mix of shredded Mexican cheese and cream cheese.