When Life Gives You Roses

Welcome back, Blind Piggers!  How was your President’s Day weekend with mattress sales and Roasted Breckenridge Cherries?  Our weekend was eventful to say the least.  There is always excitement with two teenage boys living at home and festivities with friends.

This week we are closing out our Roses Are Red February Series with an aptly chosen cocktail — The Rose Old Fashioned.  We found this recipe in the Dallas Morning News April 28, 2018 issue.  Instead of sharing it in April, we thought this cocktail  is perfect for a couple of weeks after Valentine’s Day.  Your bouquet of roses is fading by now, but don’t throw those rose petals out! Oh no!  When life gives you roses… make a Rose Old Fashioned.

Yes, this cocktail is made with rose water from your very own roses.  Don’t know how to make rose water? Pish!  It’s easy.  First rinse rose petals from one-two roses.  Place them in a bowl and let them dry out.  This will take about 2-3 days depending on how old your roses are.  When ready take 1/4 cup of dried rose petals and place in a small sauce pan with 1 1/2 cups of water.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Reduce the temperature and simmer until the color of the roses has completely faded. (Enjoy the beautiful rose scent that fills your kitchen.)  Ours simmered for about 45 minutes.  Remove heat, but leave the lid on the saucepan and let it cool completely.  Use a strainer to strain petals from the water.  The water now has a nice rose color.  Store in an airtight container.

Next use the rose water to make Rose Simple Syrup.  You make simple syrup the same as usual, but this time you add a little rose water to the mix.  Place 1 cup of water and 1 cup of sugar with 1/2 teaspoon of rose water in a saucepan.  Heat over low until the sugar is dissolved.  Remove from heat and let cool.  We know what you are thinking, “Making that rose water was a lot of work for 1/2 teaspoon in the simple syrup.”  You couldn’t be more right, but aren’t roses always a little high maintenance?

For the Old Fashioned add 5 dashes of bitters and 2 teaspoons of chilled rose simple syrup into a rocks glass and stir.  Add a block of ice.  Pour two ounces of whiskey over the top and garnish with a swirl of orange peel, a blood orange slice and a rose petal.

Too alcohol forward for you, ladies?  Perhaps this is a way to show your guy some extra appreciation for that bouquet he gave you? Or as we like to say, “We have mixed drinks about feelings.” 🙂

You may be wondering what you should do with all that extra rose water. We learned it has a variety of uses, such as,

  • Soothes skin irritation.
  • Soothes sore throats.
  • Reduces skin redness.
  • Helps prevent and treats infections.
  • Contains antioxidants.
  • Heals cuts, scars, and burns.
  • Enhances mood.
  • Relieves headaches.

But don’t take our word for it. Visit the folks at healthline.com. 

If you are viewing this post via email, check out the Rose Old Fashioned on our website for a downloadable version of the recipe.

Posts you may have missed in our February Series, “Roses Are Red.”

You Say Tomato… We Say Bloody Mary

Love You More Cookies

Rosa Spritz

Roasted Breckenridge Cherries

Have a great week!   Next week we will be sharing some great March posts with you.

       

Disclaimer:  Beverages on this site are meant for adults 21 years of age and older. We do not condone underage drinking, and never drink and drive.

We Cannot Tell A Lie…Roasted Breckenridge Cherries

Did the sweeties in your life like the Love You More Cookies  this week? Or maybe you had a romantic dinner with a little Rosa Spritz?  We are continuing our “Roses are Red” February series this week.  However, we couldn’t pass up the  opportunity for a little presidential, patriotic spin with some Roasted Breckenridge Cherries.

This recipe has been in our files since 2016 when we plucked it from Southern Living Magazine.  The sweetness of the bourbon mixed with the roasted cherries creates a rich tasting divine topping to serve on your favorite ice cream or sponge cake.  Another bonus?  It tastes complicated, but is so quick and easy to make.  Would we lie to you?

The bourbon in Roasted Breckenridge Cherries is Breckenridge Bourbon from a small distillery in Colorado.    This award winning bourbon is aged two to three years. It combines a mixture of vanilla, caramel and oak flavors.  Its sweet fruity flavor enhances the flavors of the roasted cherries for a delicious treat.

In a small baking dish stir together frozen cherries, brown sugar, bourbon and salt.

Roast the cherries about 25 minutes.  The cherries will smell very fragrant. Stir in vanilla and cool.  That’s it! Soo easy.

Serve warm over vanilla ice cream, angel food cake or sponge cake.

You can also give the cherries as a gift by storing in a clean jar for up to 2 weeks.  Cherries can be reheated prior to serving.

If you are viewing this post via email, click on the link for  Roasted Breckenridge  Cherries to view the downloadable recipe.

Tell us the truth. Will you try Roasted Breckenridge Cherries this weekend?  If you do, we’d love to hear about it!

    

Posts you may have missed.

Roses Are Red February Series:

Mateo’s Bloody Mary

Rosa Spritz

Love You More Cookies

February Bonus Post: Love You More Cookies

Happy Valentine’s Day!  It’s time for our February Bonus Post, and this month we are sharing a great treat you can make for the loves of your life.  Love You More Cookies combine the sweet taste of sugar cookies with a the chocolate flavor of Kerrygold Irish  Cream.

It’s a delicious combination that will make anyone you share these cookies with loving the cookies and wanting more!  Don’t take our word for it. Ask any of the 8 teenage boys who were at our house while Rhonda was baking and they will tell you how quickly the cookies disappeared.

To make these cookies we used an old handed down sugar cookie recipe.  This is the same recipe that we use during the holidays to make Christmas cookies.  To enhance the flavor of the cookies we added an ounce of Kerrygold Irish Cream to the mix.  The added Kerrygold  gives the cookies a little extra flavor.  Now that we’ve tweaked our recipe, we are forever changed!

While prepping  our holiday gift baskets, we found this Color Flood Mix at Hobby Lobby.  Rhonda had always wanted to try to make royal icing, so she decided to try this mix.  The Color Flood Mix was very easy to use, and created a professional looking iced cookie. (Some friends thought that we had purchased professional cookies for our goodie basket… just sayin’.)  We used our color flood mix again for our Love You More Cookies enhanced with 1/2 ounce of Kerrygold Irish Cream. Yummo!

If you are viewing this post via email.  Make sure to click on this link, so you can view the post on our blog and download the sugar cookie recipe.

With a little Kerrygold Irish Cream added to the mix these cookies will make anyone feel the love.

Whether you share your love with our special cookies or in another way.  Enjoy Valentine’s Day and spread a little extra cheer in someone’s day.  If you receive roses from your love this week, don’t throw out those roses when they start to fade.  We have a great cocktail recipe you can make with those withered roses!  Stay tuned.

February series:  Roses Are Red…

Rosa Spritz

You Say Tomato… We Say Bloody Mary

The Love Triangle

  

100th Post! Rosa Spritz

Rosa Spritz picThis week’s post is TBPBlog’s 100th Post!  We are celebrating our special post with a continuation of our February series “Roses are Red…”, and a toast of a little bubbly with a delicious rosa twist.

The Rosa Spritz is the perfect cocktail for February.  We’ve had this idea for quite some time, but we wanted to save this cocktail for a special post. With “love in the air” and reaching our 100th post, we thought this was the ideal moment. Want to surprise your sweetheart with a unique cocktail that shows just how much you value her love?  The Rosa Spritz is just what you need.

rosa spritz1

The main ingredient in the Rosa Spritz is Malfy Gin Rosa.  We’ve shared Rosa’s sisters with you in past posts like, A Spritz of Spring, and Jingle Gin Punch.  The Malfy Rosa: Sicilian Pink Grapefruit Gin has a hint of grapefruit flavor with a beautiful blush rose’ color.  The combination of the Malfy Rosa and some bubbling prosecco makes for a beautiful romantic cocktail to serve your sweetheart for Valentine’s Day.

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Making the Rosa Spritz is so easy.  You need only 1.5 ounces of Malfy Rosa.  Top off with chilled prosecco and garnish with a wedge of grapefruit or a rose petal.

When we first started The Blind Pig Blog, we wondered if we could find enough ideas to reach out to our readers each week with a new recipe or idea to share.  Now upon reaching the century mark, it is evident that not only do we have enough ideas, but the more ideas we generate, the more that we uncover.  Thank you for taking the time to reach out, comment, share, recruit other readers, and for all of your support of our tiny corner of the internet!  Cheers!

rosa spritz

   

Disclaimer:  The beverages on this site are meant for adults 21 years of age and older.  We do not condone underage drinking, and never drink and drive.

 

You Say Tomato… We Say Bloody Mary

bloody mary

Hello friends!  We hope our friends in the North and the Midwest are able to thaw out enough to enjoy today’s post. We would like to take credit for the catchy title, but we borrowed it from Mudpie.  They have the cutest Bloody Mary pitcher! This week is our first post for the month of February and we are kicking off a February series called Roses are Red…  In this series we will be featuring drink and recipe ideas that speak to our “hearts” in some way.

This week we are featuring a drink idea that we have had for awhile, but couldn’t find the right place and time to share it with you.  Now, at first you may think that Bloody Mary’s are not very romantic, but we beg to differ.  Ladies, this is the perfect beverage to make for your honey when you make him breakfast in bread or Valentine’s brunch.  Men, surprise her with breakfast and a nice cocktail to start off her Saturday or Sunday.

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We have been fans of  Mateo’s Salsa for the last few years.  Mateo’s Salsa is made near us in Frisco, Texas. It is authentic and fresh tasting salsa, similar to salsa you would have at an authentic Mexican restaurant.  Once you try their salsa, you will never again go back to Pace.  No way!  So one day as Rhonda was shopping at Kroger, she noticed Mateo’s also had Bloody Mary mix.  Knowing the quality of their salsa, we decided to venture out and see what their Bloody Mary mix was like.  We are happy to report that their mix is very spicy, tasty and fresh.  It is perfect for an instant breakfast, brunch or anytime you feel like a Bloody Mary!  Mateo’s Salsa and Bloody Mary mix can be found at Kroger, Costco, Price Chopper, Hy-Vee, and Schnuck’s and many more fine retailers.

bloody mary 2

Here’s how to make this delicious Bloody Mary.  First rim your glass with some salt and pepper rim mix.

bloody mary 1

Next add two ounces of vodka to a glass filled with ice.  Bloody Mary’s are best served cold.

bloody mary 6

Fill the glass with Mateo’s Bloody Mary Mix.

bloody mary 4

Now for the fun part!  The best part about Bloody Mary’s is the garnishes.  In the realm of Bloody Mary’s, the crazier the better.  If you are having guests it is fun to set up a Bloody Mary bar where guests can enhance and garnish their own drinks.  You could even have a garnishing contest!

bloody mary 6 (1)

Here are some suggested garnishes to have on hand: celery stalks, stuffed olives, peppers, cherry tomatoes, bacon, chunks of cheese, pickled asparagus, mini dill pickles, pickled baby corns, pickled asparagus, jalapeno peppers, shrimp,sliders, let your imagination run wild!

bloody mary 7

Are Bloody Mary’s your thing?  Would you prep these for you honey as a Valentine’s Day surprise?  Let us know.  We would love to hear about it!

Make sure to join us next week for our 100th post on The Blind Pig Blog!

  

Disclaimer:  Beverages on this site are meant for adults 21 years of age and older. We do not condone underage drinking, and never drink and drive.