Horchata de Arroz (Rice Horchata)

Horchata (or-CHA-tah) is a sweet rice beverage, often seen in big jars beside other agua frescas like tamarindo, melon, strawberry, cucumber, etc. Agua Fresca translates to fresh water in Spanish and makes for a refreshing drink on warm summer days.

Portuguese Milk Liqueur

On our first (blind) date, when my gardener took me home, I invited him in and offered him some homemade cranberry liqueur. Over the years, we've made a few different liqueurs - irish cream, creme de menthe, cranberry and, coffee liqueur being the one we make most often. 

Pumpkin Spice Latte

With the cooler weather upon us, this is a perfect time of year for a pumpkin and spice flavored coffee drink. I'll just run down to Starbucks and get one!

Oh, the nearest Starbucks is 115 miles away! You may have one of the ubiquitous coffee houses nearer to you, but save yourself a few bucks and give this copycat recipe a try. I made this recipe twice and here are a few notes: 

I made this first using sugar and then Splenda. The recipe calls for 2T sugar, which was enough to send me on a sugar high shortly after drinking it. I preferred using 2 packets of Splenda.

The first time I made this, I put the steaming milk mixture in my blender. Knowing that the hot mixture would expand when I mixed it, I cracked the lid and put a towel over the top. It still exploded and wound up all over my counter. The next time I made it, I simply used a wire whisk to froth the milk mixture and it worked fine (and no blender or counters to wash)!

Pumpkin Spice Latte (makes 2 servings) PRINT RECIPE HERE
2 cups milk
2 T canned pumpkin
2 T sugar or sugar substitute
2 T vanilla extract
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup strong brewed hot coffee


In a saucepan combine milk, pumpkin and sugar. Cook on medium heat, stirring, until mixture is steaming. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and spice. Whisk well with wire whisk. Pour into 2 large mugs. Add hot coffee on top. Top with whipped cream and dust with pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon.

Bloody Maria

Bloody Maria with Shimp

The snow is falling today and we're ringing out the old and bringing in the new with this South of the Border Bloody Maria with Shrimp!

This recipe makes two tall glasses of goodness!  Seasonings may be adjusted to your taste.

Happy New Year!  Enjoy!  

24 oz Clamato

1 tsp prepared horseradish

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 T lemon juice

15 dashes hot sauce (Tabasco or your favorite)

Freshly ground pepper to taste

3 oz. Tequila

Ice cubes

4 cooked, chilled shrimp

Shake Clamato, horseradish, Worcestershire, lemon juice, hot sauce, pepper and tequila in a large glass jar with tight-fitting lid.  Fill two tall glasses with ice and divide the mixture between the glasses.  Garnish each drink with two shrimp, celery and lemon slice.

Homemade Coffee Liqueur

We like Kahlua.

We bought a bottle in Mexico for $5. The same size bottle cost $14 in California. Guess how surprised we were to discover that the same size bottle costs $28 in Montana!

We don't pay sales tax in Montana. Great!

Oh, wait a minute.

Montana is a controlled State... so don't think you're going to walk into any old grocery store and buy a bottle of booze, cuz it ain't gonna happen! Drive, you must, to a State Agency which sells liquor and fortified wines at nearly double the cost that you'd pay nearly anywhere else. But I digress...

We decided to make our own coffee liqueur!

6 c Sugar
6 c Water
20 tsp instant coffee
8 c vodka
12 tsp pure vanilla

Mix sugar, water, and coffee together and bring to a SLOW boil. (If you think you're going to put this concoction on the stove and then go into the living room to dust, you'll come back to a really brown, really sticky mess that has boiled over onto your stove and beyond. Really... trust me on this.)

After it has come to a SLOW boil, (I can't emphasize this enough... see above) turn the heat down and simmer for one hour. Remove from heat. Cover the liquid with plastic wrap (which will pick up film from the top of this yummy concoction). Let sit for 12 hours. Remove the wrap, add vodka and vanilla and stir well.

You can make your favorite coffee liqueur drink immediately, but this may turn bitter with time, so you might want to drink this like every chance you get. The recipe makes about 3 quarts (not including what you wiped up from the stovetop... and beyond... I tried to warn you...)

We use decaf instant coffee for this recipe, cuz we don't do caf. We do, however, do booze.
Don't go buying that expensive vodka with the geese flying all around the label or anything... the cheapest stuff will do just as well.
Oh, and did I tell you that I've been making my own vanilla extract for years now (even the label on that vodka bottle looks old!). About 25 years ago, I bought a pint of vodka and put some split vanilla beans in it. The longer is sits, the better it is! I use this vanilla for anything that calls for vanilla extract. When the bottle gets low, I just add more vodka (or whiskey, or rum, or whatever you have on hand... it'll all make the best vanilla extract you ever tasted!).
Oh yeah, and add some new vanilla beans when needed. You can get them here . I like the Madagascan beans.
Your homemade coffee liqueur should be stored in dark bottles, or at least in a dark place. We save Kahula bottles and fill them up again. Don't you just love that bottle in the middle?I like a simple Kahula and cream, but you can look here for other drinks using your homemade coffee liqueur.
And don't forget... there are lots of yummy recipes for baked goods using coffee liqueur. Just Google 'baking and kahlua'.

Enjoy!