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With holidays around the corner lets prepare some cocktails :)  Ingredients Hendrick's Gin : 2 oz  ruby red grapefruit juice: 1 oz  lemon juice: 1 oz  rose simple syrup: 1/2 oz  Peychaud's Bitters: 2 dashes  cardamom pod: 1 (if you want to intensify the flavor, toast in a dry pan for a couple of minutes) Instructions Put the cardamom pod in a cocktail shaker and gently muddle, or crush, it.  Give it just enough pressure to crack the pod and a few of the inner seeds. Add the rest of the ingredients and then shake well with ice. Strain over ice into an old fashioned glass and garnish with a rose petal. Substitutes: I could not find rose simple syrup so I used rose water and grenadine syrup mixed together. Try experimenting with other alcohols like Tequila / Vodka. I have tried Tequila and it was good. Give it a try and do let me know. Till then happy blogging  Rakhee 

It has been a really hot summer and one being locked at home on thing I really miss is getting my colorful cold beverages :)  Now I can go out and get a Starbucks but that is nothing compared to sitting in a restaurant and drinking a colorful drink. Few weeks back a friend of ours invited us home for BBQ and she served the most refreshing drink ,I had in a long time. She said she winged it and and didn't have a specific recipe for me. So I decided to try it too and dare I say it turned out pretty awesome. Ingredients : Coconut water : 2  Blueberry : 1/2 cup and some extra for garnish  Mint: handful  Lemon: 1 large juiced  Sugar Syrup: 1/4 cup (adjust as per taste)  Steps: Muddle the blueberries and add to the pitcher. Muddle the mint leaves and add to the pitcher. Pour coconut water, lemon juice and syrup. stir all together and store in the freeze for few hours before serving. Serving : In a glass pour ice cubes. Stir in the mix and pour into the glass. ...

Christmas is upon us and like me am sure you all must be on the look out for a delicious pouch to entrain your guests. So here is one, that is delicious and easy and goes great with christmas theme. It can be enjoyed with or without alcohol equally. Ingredients: Pomegranate juice: A whole bottle of POM Pulp-free fresh orange juice: 2 cups  Fresh Lemon juice:  2 cups Mango Juice: 2 cups 1 bottle (25 oz.) soda water or ginger ale Optional: Vodka / tequila (as per your taste) Lime and orange slices Procedure: In a large punch bowl, combine pomegranate juice, orange juice, lemon juice and mango juice and chill. Float lime and orange slices on top as garnish.  As your guest arrive add soda water and ice cubes. When serving, sprinkle pomegranate seeds in each glass with punch and ice. Also if your guests prefer alcoholic version add about alcohol of your choice to the bottom of the glass and add the punch on top stir and serve. I am sure...

Its the beginning of a hot hot summer. The season of coolers, cold coffees, slushy and lemonades has started. The mint in my garden is flourishing like never before so I decided to use some in my lemonade and it was as  refreshing as it was yummy. Ingredients: Water: 1/2 cup (hot) Lemon: 4 ( juiced) Sugar: 1/2 cup Mint Springs: 6-7 Ice Cubes: 2 cups Procedure: Mix the sugar in the hot water till it is dissolved. Place the ice in a blender, to it add the lemonade and mint leaves and blend till all is blended and slushy. Pour into 2 glasses and garnish with a mint spring and serve. Enjoy this cold refreshing drink and enjoy the summer. Till then happy blogging Rakhee

What is a holiday celebration without a beautiful cocktail. This is what I prepared for my annual Christmas party this year. It was a great hit with all my friends. Ingredients: Pomegranate Juice: 1 bottle POM Mint Leaves: handfull Sugar: 2 tbsp Club soda: As required Liquor : Tequila / Vodka as per your preference  Procedure: In a punch bowl mudle the mint leaves with 1 tbsp of sugar. Add the pomegranate juice to the bowl and cover and let it sit for couple of ours. You can adjust the amount of juice by the number of servings. Its 1/2 the number servings you are preparing. I used about 3 - 4 martini glasses of POM. When ready to serve add ice cubes to the punch bowl and stir well. Use rest of the sugar to coat the rim of the serving glass before serving. Add same amount of vodka or tequila to the punch bowl and mix well. Adjust the amount of alcohol as per your preference. Fill 3/4th  of the sugar rimed glass with the cockta...

When Sahajahan saw Kashmir for the first time he said "Agar swarg hai to yehi hai ye hai yehi hai" which means he called Kashmir the Paradise on earth. I felt the same way when I for the first time taste Nutella, if there is heaven and it has food there then Nutella must be one of them. Nutella is a chocolate hazelnut spread and it is heavenly. If you have never tried this then you are missing out on a lot. Its quiet hot and any fried snacks is really not our list of snacks for the day. Mostly its something chilled like lassi, lemonades or shakes. So I decided to try nutella in on of my shakes and turned out amazing. So here goes the secret to Heavens chilled beverage ;) Ingredients: Milk: 2 cups  Nutellla: 2 heaped tbsp ( increase the quanitiy if you want your shake to be sweeter) Cinnamon Powder: 1 pinch Ice: 6-8 cubes Whipping cream (optional) Procedure: In a saucepan heat 1cup of milk , nutella and cinnamon powder string continuously till the nu...

Now there can never be a 4th July party with out some yummy cold drinks. But not all my friends prefer drinking and every time we have a party I feel they are deprived of the yummy taste of the drinks.  So this time I decided to make a lemonade that would solve the problem for both the groups. The ones who prefer little alcohol can add there preferred alcohol and the non-alcholics can still enjoy the taste without breaking their principals. And I can serve everybody the same drink and adhere to my theme :) This is my 3rd post towards 4th July Weekend. Ingredients: water: 3  cups superfine sugar or granulated sugar: 3  cups lemons: 8 oranges: 3   limes: 3   fresh mint sprigs: 10  to 12 (optional) Lemon, orange and lime slices and/or thin Water, chilled Ice Cubes Vodka, gin, white rum or tequila: for the alcholic version Lemon slices : for garnish Small mint sprigs: for garnish Procedure: For sugar syrup: In a large saucepan, heat and...

Any body who knows me knows that  I don't drink tea and always prefer coffee over tea. But I read some where tea is really good for health and specially when taken dark that is without any milk, so for a person who does not drink regular tea its even difficult to drink tea without milk, so I tried to give a shot to iced tea and even though it did not change my opinion regarding tea but would surely love to share the recipe with my dear readers who love to drink tea. Ingredients: Water: 3 cups Tea Leaves: 1 tbsp Mint Leaves: 4 tbsp Iced Water: 3 cups Lemon Juice: 3 lemons Honey: to taste Ice Cubes Fresh Mint Leaves : for garnishing Procedure: Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan and remove from heat. Add tea leaves  and mint leaves. Cover the pot and steep for 5 minutes. Remove tea leaves and mint leaves by straining through a strainer. Stir in honey or sugar (about 1/2 cup) until dissolved.  Add ice water and lemon or lime juice.  Sti...

Watermelon, is a special kind referred to by botanists as a pepo, a berry which has a thick rind and fleshy center (mesocarp and endocarp). Watermelon is thought to have originated in southern Africa, where it is found growing wild, because it reaches maximum there genetic diversity, resulting in sweet, bland and bitter forms. It contains 6% sugar and 92% water by weight. It is a great source of vitamin C.  Eating watermelon after dinner helps you have a sound sleep. As much as it is enjoyed as nature made it, it is also enjoyed in salads, cocktails and fruity drinks. Ingredients: Seedless Watermelon: 8 cups cubed Water: 1 cup Sugar: 1/3 cup Lemon Juice: 1/4 cup Club Soda: 4 cups Procedure: Combine the watermelon, sugar and water in a mixer into a puree. Pour through a strainer into a pitcher. Add the chilled club soda and stir. Serve garnished with fresh watermelon cubes and fresh mint leaves. It serves as a great drink for bot...

As I have mentioned in my earlier post, there are so many different variations of lassi. So today I am sharing the recipe for mango lassi. You can either use fresh mango pulp or even canned ones. I used canned mango pulp. Ingredient: Curd: 2 cup Mango Pulp: 1 cup canned/fresh mango pulp Milk: 1 cup Ice cubes: 1 cup Sugar : as per taste. Procedure: Blend all the ingredients in a blender till its smooth. I did not add any sugar because my mango pulp was sweet enough. Please feel free to add 4-5 tablespoon or more of sugar if using little sour mango.  Pour into chilled glass and serve. I know the summer is over and fall is in, take this as an farewell to summer till next year. Till then happy blogging. Rakhee

Its so hot today that even my swimming pool wants to go for a swim. S o I decided to prepare something that would help take the mind of the scorching heat. What can be better than old fashioned sweet lassi. Lassi is a popular and traditional Panjabi yogurt based drink. There are so many variations to it, like sweet, salty, mango, mint......... Which ever you choose its really refreshing and cooling. So here we go..... Ingredients: Curd: 2 cups Milk: 1 cup Sugar : 1/2 cup Ripe Banana: 1 Ice cubes: 4-5 Process: Its really simple.... blend all the ingredients together in the blender till smooth. Serve it up in a chilled glass, garnished with your favorite food or mint leaves . Enjoy this cool drink with your family and friends and have a great summer. Till then Happy Blogging. Rakhee