Category: Food/Beverage

Food/Beverage, Recipes

5 Cocktail Recipes Using Beer or Hard Cider

Erin Sluka
5 Cocktail Recipes Using Hard Cider or Beer

With so many beer and cider flavors on the market it is easy to get creative and impress your guests with some cocktail recipes using beer, ciders, wines and liquor that transform these ingredients to a brand new level. It’s like making one drink that will satisfy everyone from the beer lover to the cocktail lover.

There are some go-to items to grab at the grocery store when you plan on entertaining guests that will be handy for any recipe creation whether you are using beer, cider or hard liquor. So, make sure you grab fresh berries, citrus fruits and some bottles of Sparkling Ice!

Summer Shandy

Summer Shandy

INGREDIENTS

DIRECTIONS

In an ice filled glass, combine light beer and Sparkling Ice Peach Nectarine. Garnish with a strawberry slice and serve. 

Sunshine Boilermaker

Boilermaker

INGREDIENTS

DIRECTIONS

In a pint glass, pour beer at an angle to eliminate head. Add 1.5 oz of bourbon. Top with Sparkling Ice Lemon Lime. Garnish with lemon wedge. 

Gold Apple Cider Martini

martini
  • For Anise Simple Syrup:
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ cup water
  • 2 whole stars of anise

Directions 
To make the Anise Simple Syrup:
Put all ingredients in a small pot & cook until sugar dissolves. Set aside until cool. Cocktail: In a shaker filled with ice, mix the martini ingredients and stir until chilled. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a floating star anise on top.

Pear Secco Rum Blush

rum blush

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2-ounce pear juice
  • 3/4-ounce dark rum
  • 1-tablespoon cherry grenadine
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • (1) 8 oz. cold can of Strongbow Pear Secco CiderPear slice and cherry for garnish (optional)

Directions 
Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Serve in a tumbler over ice with a slice of pear and a cherry.

Original Dry Spritz

dry spritz

Ingredients

Directions 
Build all ingredients sequentially in a large wine goblet, topping with Strongbow. Add ice and garnish with a lemon.

The reason why I am featuring Strongbow Ciders is that they are a personal favorite of mine. The Strongbow 100 calorie slim cans are also a 2019 Product of the Year award winner. I was sent some samples for this feature so I have tasted and recommend the brand.

Comment: I was sent product for this authentic feature. All opinions are my own

Food/Beverage, Recipes

Simple Tequila Cocktail: 4 Ingredients – Parenting Healthy

Erin Sluka

Let me start by saying that I am not a tequila fan. It is bitter and in order to drink it it needs to be heavily disguised with other flavors. I am the same way with gin also.

Buying mixers is an easy way to add flavor to your liquor, but just adding a margarita mixer still didn’t cut that taste for me. Then one day I remember seeing a recipe a while back and although I didn’t like the heat element of this cocktail recipe I remember that it gave instructions to make a honey syrup.

I knew that my tequila and margarita mixture was missing something sweet so I whipped up some honey syrup to add and it made a world of difference. Not only that, I use the Grapefruit Margarita Cocktail Mix from Collins. I suppose you can just call it a Paloma, but I don’t ever salt my glass when I have this drink because that salt just cut the sweetness I needed too much.

You can get fancy and add fruit slices too (lime is good), but I like to whip up a quick nightcap and since I am not juicing my rim I don’t slice fruit on an average night.

Erin Sluka

Simple Sweet Grapefruit Margarita

5 from 1 vote
This is an easy recipe especially for those who may not appreciate the taste of tequila. Just the right amount of added sweetness and so easy to make. This recipe also tastes great with Strawberry Collins Mix.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Servings: 1 drink
Course: Drinks
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1/4 Cup Honey
  • 1/4 Cup Water
  • 3 OZ Collins Grapefruit Margarita Mix
  • 1.5 OZ Tequila

Method
 

  1. Mix Honey and Water in a small saucepan over low heat and stir until mixed well and smooth. Set aside to cool
  2. In a shaker (or stir cup) add 2 TSP of the cooled honey mixture, tequila, mixer and more than half way with ice and shake/stir.
  3. Pour into a glass filled halfway with ice and enjoy!

Collins Cocktail Mixers are a great way to whip up a quick cocktail for any occasion. Since 1934 they have been bringing us great flavors for cocktails and every bottle offers a written recipe.

The syrups are made with real sugar, contains juice and does not contain high fructose corn syrup. Just add your liquor and serve.

Food/Beverage, Healthy Living

Healthy Energy Snacks from SimplyProtein

Erin Sluka

What do you want in your snack bar? 11 grams of protein or more
and 0-3 grams of sugar? That;’s what SimplyProtein offers in their snacks! SimplyProtein means simple ingredients and the amount of protein means it can be your healthy energy snacks to get you through your day.

You can find baked or crunchy bars in delicious flavors. They aren’t kidding about being packed with protein There are days I cannot finish a whole bar.

The lemon is my favorite flavor and it is a crispy bar flavor. 150 calories is a good snack size too and because of the simple ingredients you also get a good amount of fiber too.

For a crunchy, salty craving there are SimplyProtein Bites in Barbeque and Sea Salt/Cracked Pepper. 1 bag is plenty filling of a snack! My son loves them so they are great for between school and dinner sports practice snacks!

You can shop SimplyProtein snacks at https://shop.simplyprotein.com/ or H-E-B, Shoprite, Bed Bath and Beyond and more stores near you as well as on Amazon. Also SimplyProtein is now available at Target locations nationwide!

Food/Beverage, Recipes

3 Cinco de Mayo Cocktail Recipes using Sparkling Ice Waters

Erin Sluka

I have always loved partnering with Sparkling Ice throughout the year. Did you know that there are recipes at the Sparkling Ice website? Here are a few recipes using these low-cal sparkling beverages! These are Cinco de Mayo Cocktail Recipes for the weekend!

Orange Mango Sunrise

INGREDIENTS
Ice
1 lime wedge|
1 oz tequila
1 oz triple sec
Sparkling Ice Orange Mango
1 orange slice

DIRECTIONS
In a cocktail shaker, muddle orange and lime slice. Add tequila, triple sec, and ice and shake. Pour into a margarita glass and top with Sparkling Ice Orange Mango. Garnish with an orange slice and serve. 

Pomegranate Margarita

INGREDIENTS

2oz tequila
2oz pomegranate juice
1oz lime juice
1oz simple syrup
Sparkling Ice Classic Lemonade
Vanilla flake salt rim, for garnish
Lime wedge, for garnish

DIRECTIONS
Rim glass with a lime and dip into salt, fill glass with ice and set to the side. In an ice filled cocktail shaker, combine tequila, pomegranate juice, lime juice, simple syrup, and shake. Strain into glasses and top with Sparkling Ice Classic Lemonade, stir lightly to combine. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Spicy Sparkling Margarita

INGREDIENTS

2 parts Blanco Tequila
½ part Cointreau
3 slices of Jalapeño pepper
Juice of 1/8 lime
1 ½ parts Sparkling Ice Lemon Lime

DIRECTIONS
Shake Tequila, Cointreau, lime juice and peppers with ice. Pour into rocks glass with salted rim and lime wedge. Top with Sparkling Ice Lemon Lime