I received a sample of the 100% Organic Partida Agave Nectar some time ago and it has been quite a journey as I developed recipes for this interesting product.

The Partida Tequila company makes their tequila, as you might expect, from blue agave plants, a succulent that dwells in the arid lands around Jalisco, Mexico. One can also make nectar from these interesting plants and let me assure you, this nectar is quite a wonder. For one, it is sweeter than table sugar. It looks like a thin honey as it is less viscous. It tastes a bit like honey although it’s flavor is not a dominant thing. The most important thing, ok – to me, is that it is fantastically low on the glycemic scale.

Get this, pure agave nectar has a GI of 11 while white sugar is 100. A 10th of the glycemic impact of sugar!

Today I have two drink recipes and one food recipe to show you just a very few possibilities for working with agave nectar.

The first is one I tested just today. Its a nod to the south of the border origin of the nectar as it uses chocolate and it’s consistency is something Montezuma would love – thick and potent.

Blue Agave Nectar Ghirardelli Hot Chocolate

Ingredients:

• 1/4 C chocolate powder
• 1/2 C hot water
• 4 tablespoons 100% Organic Partida Agave Nectar
• Pinch of cinnamon
• 3 squares Ghirardelli 100% Cacao Unsweetened Baking Chocolate
• 3/4 C Fat Free 1/2 and 1/2

Directions:

Combine agave nectar, cinnamon, chocolate powder and hot water in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Mix until incorporated. Add Ghirardelli chocolate squares and then the fat free 1/2 and 1/2, heat until its smooth. Froth with an immersion blender. Do not not add marshmallows if you want to keep the GI low.
I had my rather fussy toddler give it a try and she loved it, even though it was made with grown-up unsweetened chocolate. She liked it with and without the marshmallows.

The second recipe is one that you will see all over the web and I will repeat it here but, since I do not drink tequila, I have not taste tested it. Its not hard to imagine that it is delicious!

Partida Agave Margarita

• 1 oz fresh squeezed lime juice
• 3/4 oz 100% Organic Partida Agave Nectar
• 3/4 oz spring water
• 1.5 oz Partida Tequila Blanco, Reposado, or Anejo

Mix it all up in a bucket (or your favorite container), and serve over ice or chilled in a margarita glass.

The third and final recipe is one I developed a couple of weeks ago and, as you likely remember, covered in more detail at this post here.

Irish Steel Cut Oatmeal sweetened with agave nectar and passion fruit gastrique

Ingredients:

• 2 passion fruits
• 3 unsulfered dried organic apricots, sliced thinly
• 1 tablespoon 100% Organic Partida Agave Nectar
• 1 teaspoon Alessi White Balsamic Fig Infused Vinegar
• 3 tablespoons water

Directions:

In a small pan over medium heat, combine the scooped out pulpy seeds of the 2 passion fruits, the sliced apricots, 1 tablespoon of the Agave Nectar, 1 teaspoon of the fig vinegar, and 3 tablespoons of water. Simmer this down until it thickens to your desire consistency. You may need to add some water to thin or simmer longer to get it thicker, up to you! I put the syrup through a strainer to get rid of most of the midnight black seeds (which have these very interesting little divots across their surface) as they didn’t seem very edible to me.

When I served this all up, I put some agave nectar in the oatmeal and stirred it up. I put the oatmeal into the bacon round (secured with a bit of wooden skewer) and then drizzled it with the gastrique and added a bit of apricot. The remainder of apricots were put into a passion fruit rind. Do NOT eat raw passion fruit rind (has cyanide compounds in it).

I hope that these three recipes opened your eyes to the possibilities of agave nectar.

I plan on doing more work with chocolate because when I was making the hot chocolate, I saw how perfectly agave nectar married/melded with the chocolate (I feared it might seize but it didn’t).

Low GI chocolate sauce, oh how thou callest my name.

Products of Interest:

• Partida Tequila Blanco, Reposado, or Anejo
• 100% Organic Partida Agave Nectar
• Alessi White Balsamic Fig Infused Vinegar
• Ghirardelli 100% Cacao Unsweetened Baking Chocolate

Sites of Interest:

• Partida Tequila

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This soda had several good things going for it:

• The grapefruit flavor is very delicate, not overpowering or astringent. I am a great lover of ruby red grapefruit so a stronger flavor would have been fine by me but I appreciate the delicate nature of this drink’s flavor profile.
• Even though this drink is spiked with a variety of energy-promoting substances, it didn’t taste like a chemistry experiment.
• I definitely felt energetic as I did my modest walking workout.

I have tried other energy drinks, especially the sugar-free types, and I never cared for their face-puckering brain-walloping extreme nature. I recently picked up one on my drive to what promised to be an energy-zapping photo shoot and I had a hard time finishing it. By the time I got to the bottom of it’s slim little can, there was a sort of acidic, ascorbic, horrifying sludge that was worse than just about anything I have ever drank.

This Hi Ball grapefruit energy drink is like the polar opposite of that experience.

They make:

• Orange
• Wild Berry
• Lemon Lime
• Grapefruit
• Club soda
• Tonic Water

The ingredients you will find in the Ruby Red Grapefruit flavored drink includes:

• Taurine
• Caffeine
• Guarana
• Ginseng
• Vitamin-B
• No sweeteners – no sugar

You will also see a page on various athletes who are spokespeople for this company. I mention this because its a trip reading about these people and then thinking how I am so NOT like them. I have no illusions that this drink will turn me into a global-class olympic skier or skateboarder, but I do think its a good choice for the adult who needs some energy in the short term without the sugar crash that you get after the loathesome energy bars and drinks that are thrust at the public as if they were actually GOOD for the body.

I would not recommend any of these caffeine and herbal amended drinks for kids and young adults. There is time enough later for them to become addicted to caffeine. They should have enough energy to do the kid things they need to do.

Give the Ruby Red Grapefruit Energy drink and the other flavors a try!

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For this month’s designated driver drink, I had to stretch beyond the trite Saint Patrick’s day “stock drinks”. I also didnt want to explore virgin irish coffees, whats the point?!

Today’s nonalcoholic drink is a fusion between Colombia (my childhood influence) and a drink popular in the 1970s here in the US, the Grasshopper. I put this together because its green but also filled with tropical goodness.

Guanabana (Guanabanus muricatus) is the fruit base. It is called “soursop” by the British (not at all sure why, sour doesnt really describe the unique flavor of this fruit). It is related to the Paw-Paw and Cherimoya. If you live anywhere near an urban center, you may find latino food stores and in those stores, in the freezer section, you will likely find the guanabana pulp frozen into packages. Of course, the fresh fruit will never be replicated by frozen or concentrate, but these frozen pulps are a great stand in.

Regarding the taste. In the case of this fruit, texture is coupled to the flavor. I can not articulate it completely, but there is a textural heaviness or “grit” that coats the mouth while the flavor has a slight tingle/prickly ever-so-slightly sour bite that travels across the roof of the mouth and a bit on the back of the tongue.

If you have had guanabana and like to describe it differently, please comment because I would love to see how others experience this fruit.

I remember my parents making grasshoppers and pink panthers at home. My mom says it was a 70s thing. It marked my childhood, just like Elvis, skateboards, and Sha Na Na did.

The typical grasshopper contains Green Crème De Menthe, light cream, and Crème De Cacao. Yikes, talk about heavy. My parents would make non-alcoholic versions of it with ice cream.

This grasshopper that I have put together for you today is a more globalized version. It contains a lot more vitamin C and a lot less proccessed “Creme“, whatever THAT is.

Gobstopping Grasshoppers

Ingredients:

• 1 frozen package of Guanabana pulp
• 1 C cold skim milk (I used skim because thats what we had on hand, you use what you like)
• 1/2 C white granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon freshly minced ginger
• 1 tablespoon Key Lime Juice
• pinch of salt
• 2 large tablespoon dollops non-dairy whipped cream (Cool Whip)
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint (In this case, my fresh mint was “displaced” by a family member, I had to use a scant drop of mint extract)

Directions:

Blend all these ingredients into a frothy cold shake and serve in frozen mugs or goblets.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Spirit World, Well Fed Network, designated driver drink, Saint Patrick’s day, irish coffee, nonalcoholic, Colombia, Grasshopper, tropical, soursop, British, Paw-Paw, Cherimoya, latino, guanabana, pulp, fresh, pink panthers, Elvis, skateboard, Sha Na Na, Crème De Menthe, Crème De Cacao, ice cream, globalized, vitamin C, Creme, Gobstopping, ginger, Key Lime Juice, whipped cream, mint

(This is my latest article for The Spirit World, a blog in the Well Fed Network family)

To me, Valentine’s Day is vibrant red and cinnamon flavored. Without that bright and bracing flavor, I have not really DONE Valentine’s Day. As such, I feel that anything presented as Valentine’s specific should be dark red and filled with hot cinnamon-y goodness.

Today’s Designated Driver Drink (a Well Fed Network Spirit World blog category) delivers a fantastic dose of spicy red that is sure to delight kids and kid-at-heart adults.

Big Red Cinnamon Cocktail for the kids

Ingredients:

• Big Red Soda (you can substitute Mountain Dew Code Red if you can’t get Big Red)
• 2 small boxes cherry Jello gelatin
• 1 1/4 C boiling water
• 1 drop cinnamon oil (Lorann is a good source)

Directions:

1. Put two boxes of jello gelatin into 1 1/2 C boiling hot water and mix until dissolved.
2. Add drop of cinnamon oil.
3. Pour into your favorite mold or a flat pan to set up for 3 hours in the refrigerator.
4. Cut jello into desired shape and add to a serving glass.
5. Pour soda over the top of jello and serve with other Valentine’s decadence.

If you would like a cinnamon flavored drink for the over 21 age group try a “Big Red” Cocktail. This recipe uses Cinnamon Goldschlager, a liquor that has gold flakes floating lazily about in it’s depths, a schnapps I love because its so darn pretty.

Liquid Big Red

Ingredients:

• 2 oz Goldschlager cinnamon schnapps
• 2 oz Jagermeister herbal liqueur
• 12 oz Dr. Pepper soda

Directions:

1. Pour Goldschlager and Jagermeister over ice in your most festive glass.
2. Add Dr. Pepper until it reaches the top, taking care to not let it foam the cinnamon goodness over the top.

One bit of trivia for you: The company that makes Goldschlager had to reduce the amount of gold flecks it puts into the formulation because people were having reactions to the gold, an element that is supposed to have no effect on our bodies. (see this PubMed link for studies)

Drink in moderation as this mixture is sure to go to your head in a schnapp.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Technorati Tags: Valentine’s Day

Sparkling Cadaver Cider Cocktails

Without exploring all THAT could describe (this IS a site rated for all audiences), here I am talking about a gruesome cadaveric drink, floating jello fingers with veins included, that is actually composed of a delightful sparkling apple cider. Something about the jello with Twizzlers makes the cider turn a toxic yellow that will surely delight any child.

By letting the kids participate in the making of the jello fingers (or hand or foot or eyeballs or whatever floats their boats) as well as the suggested witches finger cookies (see below), they get to expand on the Halloween fun beyond one night of romping in the dark.

Sparkling Cadaver Cider Cocktails

Ingredients:

Sparkling apple cider (can substitute with apple cider and soda water or ginger ale)
Desired body part (we constructed jello fingers, do what makes you all gross out maximally)

Ingredients:

1 roll of prefab white sugar cookie dough from the dairy case
red fruit leather (for the nails)
extra all purpose flour

Directions:

Work some extra flour into the cookie dough to stiffen it so that it doesn’t flatten much during cooking.

Form into small finger sized logs and then shape them with knuckles and such. You can add food coloring to make them look even more disgusting if you feel the need.

Cut out nail shaped bits of fruit leather and apply to the fingers, where appropriate.

Bake as per directions on the dough package, until cookies are done.

Serve with the cadaver drinks above.

A good sangria can be deceptively mild in its intoxicating abilities. For those of us who are the designated teetotaler (as I usually am), a virginal sangria will have to suffice. I like the following recipe because it skirts somewhat closely to the “spirit” of a sangria, but is non-alcoholic.

To me, this means that I miss out on the truly amazing Spanish wine one should use in an alcoholic sangria, but it also means I can enjoy a very refreshing sangria all night long.

Directions:
The day before you wish to serve this sangria do the following:
In a large bowl place sliced fruits, cover with the cranberry juice and the pomegranate syrup.

Refrigerate overnight. Also have the ginger ale cooling in the fridge.

At service:
In an attractive serving pitcher add ice and the 4 cups of ginger ale.

To this add fruit chunks and the soaking liquid. Serve and enjoy.

You may wish to nibble on some quality olives, a strong sausage, and a favorite cheese. This snack would be a good culinary venue to buy some Spanish imports for experimentation. Don’t buy a lot and if you don’t like a certain product, you have given it a try but not spent the farm on it.

Cucumber, Ginger and Sake Sangria & Fresh Vegetable Spring Rolls

Sparkling Sangria and Seared Shrimp

White Wine Strawberry Sangria (aka Mom Juice)

Sangria: Fun and Festive Recipes

Sangria & Ribs

Enjoy!

Grenadine Lemonade

I also wanted to make a bit of a foray into the syrups that are used to make many classic cocktails. I chose Grenadine and set off to the liquor store to find it.

Let me tell you, you have to either be oblivious or have a big ego to not notice the stares you get when you walk into a liquor store 7 1/2 months pregnant with your 9 year old in tow.

To compensate for being there I bought all these extra non-alcoholic items like peppery bacon and cheeses and more. Didn’t help because people were looking at my tummy and not my bacon snacks in the cart!

Anyway, I look at the list of ingredients on the grenadine bottle when I get home and no where is there mention of actual juice, let alone pomegranate juice.

This was a sad thing for me because I was under the impression that grenadine was a pomegranate syrup. This syrup sure didn’t taste very good either. It reminded me of a really cheap snow cone.

At this point I decided that pomegranate juice is not that hard to get a hold of and I set out to make my own grenadine. It is well worth the small trouble as it tastes completely different.

To make homemade Grenadine do the following:

Ingredients:

white sugar
100% pomegranate juice

Directions:

Simmer 1 part sugar and 1 part pomegranate juice for about 10 minutes on medium. You want the sugar to dissolve and for the syrup to reduce slightly.

Allow to cool and then experiment with your favorites. Some of the almost 600 cocktails using grenadine, with recipes, can be found here on The Spirit World or at this WebTender link.

Ingredients:

1/2 C fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 C freshly made and cooled grenadine syrup
ice cubes
1 C cold sprite, seltzer water, or ginger ale to taste. (amount depends on size of serving glass, mine was a pub glass)
lemon slices, lime slices and frozen blueberries to garnish.

Directions:

Chill all juice, syrup, and soda.
Fill glass with ice cubes (I froze some blueberries into my cubes), add soda to 1/2 point, add juice and grenadine and then top off with soda. Mix gently. Add garnishes if desired.

In this post I am sharing my latest Well Fed Network The Spirit World blog article with you.

Radiant Bloody Marys

Radiant Bloody Marys

Ingredients:

Freshly juiced tomato juice, 4 oz. (red, yellow, and orange, as you desire)
Horseradish 1/8 tsp
Minced garlic 1/8 tsp
Fresh squeezed lemon juice, 1/2 tsp
Sea salt, pinch
Chopped cilantro, 1/4 tsp, to taste
Tabasco, to taste
Bunch of fresh cilantro

Directions:

I used our juicer for the tomato juice but if you do not have one do the following. Cut up the tomatoes, run through the blender, and filter out skins and seeds. With the juicer there may be some separation of the lighter stuff from clear liquid. Mix the juice before serving.

Combine tomato juice, horseradish, garlic, lemon juice, chopped cilantro leaves, Tabasco sauce to taste, and pinch of salt; mix well. A blender is not really necessary. Pour into serving glass (ice is up to you) and garnish with cilantro.

Seen below served with my summertime tomato tarts.

The drink, Tart Summertime Kiwi-Lime-Ginger Cocktail, is also featured as a Well Fed Network article!

Let me know if you like these!

Ingredients:

Crepes
Either homemade (wiki, franco-centric crepe site) or storebought (mine were storebought).

Sauce
1/2 c white sugar
4 tbls unsalted butter
2 tbls apricot preserves
Dash of sea salt
Zest from 1/4 of an orange, minced
Juice of 2 medium sized navel oranges, fresh squeezed
1/8 tsp minced ginger
1 tbl minced kiwi

Filling
Sliced oranges
Sliced kiwi fruits
Sliced strawberries

Strawberry Whipped Crème filling
Strawberry crème, either home made or store
Out (mine is store bought – tastes like a sweet strawberry yogurt)

Directions:

In a small sauce pan add sugar, butter, preserves, kiwi, salt, zest, and ginger, bring to a simmer. Once well dissolved, add juice and turn down to low or even off.

Make the strawberry crème as directed on package. To make some homemade, try this recipe:

Ingredients:
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons powdered sugar
4 large ripe strawberries, mashed

Preparation:
Whip cream with sugar to soft peaks. Add berries and continue whipping until stiff peaks. Can be used immediately.

If you wish you can warm up your crepes in butter but mine got really hard after that so I used them straight from the package.

Assembly:
Lay out crepe on serving dish, add strawberry cream, layer in sliced strawberries and kiwi, add more cream to taste, fold edges of crepe over and then drizzle sauce overtop. The sauce will soak into the crepe and make it even more delicious.

Serve and enjoy!

This is an original recipe so please do not cut and paste without permission and attribution.

And now for this very refreshing cocktail.

Well Fed Network Article – Tart Summertime Kiwi-Lime-Ginger Cocktail

Nevertheless, it would be great to offer your guests a tropical alternative to the beer and I propose the following cocktail as one that could just as easily be served with or without alcohol. It is a tart drink that can be sweetened to taste, experiment with it!

Tart Summertime Kiwi-Lime-Ginger Cocktail

Ingredients:

Juice of 1/2 a lime, freshly squeezed
1 kiwi fruit, diced with some larger chunks for garnish
1\4 tsp finely minced ginger
Dash of salt (if desired)
slightly crushed small piece of ginger
3 Tablespoons simple sugar syrup (1:1)
8 oz. Ginger Ale
Ice
Kiwi and lime rind for garnish

Directions:

Rub lip of chilled tumbler with ginger, drop into cup. Add ice. In a separate mixing container, add sugar syrup, dash of salt, minced ginger, diced kiwi, and lime juice; mix well. Pour ginger ale into chilled tumbler, and pour juice mix over soda, making sure to swirl minced ginger and kiwi back into suspension first. Garnish with kiwi and/or lime rind. Enjoy!

These are original recipes so please do not cut and paste without permission and attribution.

Copyright 2006 Nika

If you try these out, let me know how it goes for you!

I imagine there is a place in these United States where it is warm in May and it is not raining like the end of the world. I imagine a place where the sun shines bright and warm breezes dance through the trees instead of the dense fog and drilling drizzle that has hovered over Massachusetts for weeks on end.

In such a place, you are likely to need cooling libations that bring relief to a perspiring (never sweating) brow and an excuse to sit on the porch and relax after weeding the garden.

For such a moment and such a far-away place, I recommend a non-alcoholic drink -

Pineapple Mint Tulip

Ingredients:
1 C Pineapple juice (make it fresh for better flavor)
2 TBS sugar, powdered
1 TBS grenadine*
1 small bunch of fresh Mint, as much as desired
Ice cubes, as many as desired

Directions:
Mix juice, sugar, and grenadine together well. Rub mint leaves on the inside of your glass, fill 1/2 way with ice and top off with your juice mix.

* About Grenadine (grenadine syrup) is a blood-red, strong syrup made from pomegranates. It is the number one among fruit syrups, and is used in many cocktails not only for sweetening, but also to give them a red color.

Grenadine syrup for use in a bar is usually bought on bottles, but you can also make your own:

Use 4 pomegranates to make about 2 cups of pomegranate syrup. After removing seeds, process with food processor knife blade. Simmer pulp with 1/4 cup honey over low heat 3 minutes. Stir well. Strain to remove seeds. (Source: The Webtender)

For the rest of us cold and wet huddling masses in New England, I might suggest a Hot Toddy to help with the moldy frostbite of our lovely northern spring.

Cookbooks used:

Great American Favorite Brand Name Cookbook

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