Just look at it. Isn’t it beautiful.Up close and last looks before the gulp..
It’s light bright sweet slightly savory and energizing. Perfect for a cool early morning or midafternoon pick me up as the season changes. It’s autumnal colors certainly signaling fall is here and hinting Halloween is around the corner. No matter the season, drink happy.
My Orange Juice
1 1/2 cups of baby carrots
1 medium knob of ginger
2 Granny Smith apples
1/2 naval orange
Fresh ground black pepper, dried turmeric powder and manuka honey for the rim of the glass.
Method
Paint or roll your glass rim with PRI Manuka honey 10+. Set aside. Add dried turmeric powder and several turns of the fresh pepper from the grinder to a saucer. Mix together using your finger or a fork. Twist and roll the honey coated rim of the glass into the pepper turmeric mixture. Refrigerate while you juice.
Wash fruit. Add all to a juicer. I use Omega. If you don’t have a juicer use a blending machine and strain with a cheese cloth or coffee filter. Add juice to the prepared glass and enjoy.
Infuse your Campari with cacao nibs. This I call chocolate Campari. Recipe available on the home page under category bitters extracts and syrups..
The CCTB Cocktail
2 ounces of Campari cacao nibs infusion
1 ounce of Bauchant orange cognac liqueur
10 small ice cubes from an ice tray
5 dashes of angostura bitters (optional)
Method:
Mix all ingredients in a blender. Pulse until the ice melts, giving froth to the cocktail. Pour into a glass. Peel the orange with a peeler to create what is called the horse’s neck. Use a lighter to burn the orange peel. The heat will release the oils from the orange skin. Express and rub the peel on the edge of the glass, then add the finished cocktail. Enjoy.
Soaking cocoa nibs in Campari is a method of infusion rather than flavoring, providing an enhancement to the alcohol’s flavors, that Campari needs it.
Chocolate Campari
Ingredients:
1 cup of cocoa nibs
12 ounces of Campari
Method:
Add ingredients to a jar. Pour with your heart but if you need a recipe. Cover the jar with a lid or plastic wrap. Leave at room temperature or refrigerate. Wait two days to two weeks, depending on the desired chocolate taste. Add to your favorite cocktail or drink over ice. An orange twist is optional but certainly recommended.
Where can you buy the goods? Cocoa nibs, glass jars, jiggers, photo equipment, and other items? Blonde Behind the Bucket Storefront, of course! Please note that I may receive commissions from eligible purchases. Thank you so much.
Please be of the legal drinking age and enjoy responsibly.
I managed to put this one in a glass. More often than not I use the Cuisinart To Go cylinder and spoon (I don’t like to do extra dishes) but I need to apply makeup to my face today and transferred this one to a glass because. Inspired by my cluttered vanity, I decide to snap a few iPhone photos. This smoothie is a goodie. Sweet salty and satisfying. Tastes too good to be healthy but it is.
Cuisinart To Go
10.05.22 smoothie
1 cup frozen cubed mangoes
1/2 cup frozen cubed pineapple
1 frozen banana
1 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk
3 tablespoons of hemp seeds
2 Tablespoons of Amazing Grass greens blend powder
1 scoop of Agent Nateur & Dr Cole ho l i ( m a n e ) hair, skin, nails, 2 daily combined
1 Tablespoon of Matcha Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides powder
1 scoop of Vega Vegan Vanilla Protein and Greens
1 1/2 Tablespoons Sunflower kernels roasted and salted 1 inside the smoothie. 1/2 for the garnish
Method
In a blender, in my case the Cuisinart To Go cylinder, add all ingredients. Blend until smooth. Pour smoothie into a (chilled) glass to enjoy. Top with many roasted salted sunflower kernels.
2-1-1/2-squeeze. Salt salt salt. Repeat. 2-1-1/2-squeeze. Salt salt salt. That’s the margarita mantra. Some of your no salt margaritas made a photo though. Shoulda had salt. You’re gonna wanna drink two (or more). I promise. iPhone photos from the bar counter.
Tatum’s Margarita
2 oz repo tequila
1 oz of fresh squeezed lime juice
1/2 oz agave syrup
Squeeze a quater of an orange
1 or 2 dehydrated lime and/or lemon wheels
Method
Add coarse sea salt to a saucer. Diamond Kosher salt is great salt choice. If you can’t find Diamond, any medium to coarse salt will work. Set salt filled saucer aside. Cut a washed orange into quarters. Set aside next to saucer.
Using a jigger, add all wet ingredients to a mixing tin. Order and quantity below.
1. 1/2 oz add agave
2. 1 oz juice of a fresh squeezed lime (rolling the lime at room temperature is best before juicing)
3. 2 oz Repo tequila of choice. I say Repo. Why Reposado? Because I said so. Lobos, Clasa, Casa, Patron, Don Julio, Fortaleza. Oh, and Reposado is aged from 2-12 months in case you were wondering what is Reposado.
4. Use the 1/4 piece orange to moisten the rim of the glass. Salt the glass by Turing the drinking side of the glass upside down and twisting the rim in the salt. Set aside. Squeeze the orange into the mixing tin with other wet ingredients. Toss inside after for the shaking.
5. Add ice to the salted bucket glass. Then add ice to the mixing tin.
6. Shake until tin feels cold or ice sounds like sand. Depends on the type of ice you are using for the sand sound. Kold draft vs regular 7-Eleven. Just shake shake shake the until cold.
Glass: bucket glass
Garnish: dehydrated lime or lemon wheel and salt
That’s my margarita. Cheers!
** Bar Chef tips** if you don’t like salt or can’t have it for health reasons, I get it. If you want a stronger alcohol flavor double the tequila only. The longer you shake this drink the more bitter the lime juice and more butter the drink.
*** jalapeño and Grand Mariner excellent additions to this recipe. Muddle the jalapeño and then follow order of ingredients and/or float the Grand Mariner on top.
Please drink responsibly
You can use a dehydrator you purchase from my Blonde Behind the Bucket storefront or place limes slices on a baking pan in a 200 degrees Fahrenheit oven for a for a few hours. Depending on your ovens calibration it could be a 2-7 hour process. Dehydrator is a little easier but both work.
Ok, what is matcha? It’s an earthy tasting powder made from shade-grown green tea plants. Typically a chasen is used to create a uniform consistency when mixing the matcha with water or milk.. I broke tradition? Instead of using a chasen, aka a bamboo whisk, I use a Kitchen-Aid whisk attachment to mix my matcha water mixture to make a paste after dumping two heaping demitasse spoons (only clean spoons I had at the moment) into a bowl made from a coconut shell. It is possible if you don’t have a chasen. Don’t tell anyone.
This one can be a Machatini or a Matcha Mocktail. Foam is optional. Vodka or Kikori (rice grain spirit) both work—different drinks, equally as good. It’s quick and easy. The more earthy matcha flavor, the better, as far as I am concerned; it is the main ingredient, after all. Don’t tell the alcohol. All measurements are with a demitasse spoon and jigger. Oh, and one eyeballed tablespoon of my vanilla extract. Sometimes I pour with the heart (Wink, wink). Cheers!
All ingredients listed below are quantities for mixing the matcha and Matchatini.
Ingredients
2 ounces of vodka or Kikori
2 tablespoon of vanilla (from my homemade batch as seen in the syrup extract category on home page of this blog)
1-2 ok maybe 3 large drip drops of orange flower water
6 ounces of unsweetened vanilla almond milk
2 demitasse spoons of Manuka honey (Manuka Doctor multifloral 80+MGO)
2 heaping demitasse spoonfuls of NAOKI matcha powder (ok, let’s face it’s; I eyeballed most of this)
2 teaspoons of warm water to blend matcha and prevent excess clumping
Chef note: The hotter the water, the more bitter the matcha. It’s also excellent for what I like to call the un-clumping. This was supposed to be a test recipe. I decided to post anyway. It’s a goodie.
Method
For the matcha milk
Add two demitasse spoonfuls of matcha powder to a bowl. Add about 2-3 tablespoons of hot water. Whisk matcha until a paste forms. Next, add Manuka honey. Proceed with a little more water and whisk until smooth. Then add 6 ounces ounces of unsweetened vanilla almond milk. Let mixture cool before you refrigerate.
After the matcha milk has chilled add 2 ounces of vodka (or a Kikori whiskey substitute) and 3 ounces cooled matcha milk to a mixing tin. Add ice. Shake to wake and strain (strain not really necessary) into a martini glass.
Glass: martini glass
Garnish: dust with matcha powder and honeycomb
Where to buy the goods? Blonde Behind the Bucket please know I may receive commissions from eligible purchases. Thank you.
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract or scrape a vanilla pod
3-5 pitted dates (size varies)
1 1/2 frozen bananas
1/2 of a frozen green apple without skin
3 tablespoons of hemp seeds
2 tablespoons of cacao nibs
1 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk
2 tablespoons of Ancient Nutrition multi collagen protein
2 tablespoons of agave or honey
Method
Reserve a few slices of bananas and some cocoa nibs for garnish. Add all ingredients to a blender. Combine until smooth. Pour into bucket glass and garnish.
Glass: bucket glass
Garnish: fresh slices banana and cacao nibs
Bar Chef Notes: Carob is often used as a substitute for chocolate, especially by those who are sensitive to chocolate or caffeine. The flavor of carob is earthy and not as bitter as chocolate, with a slight natural sweetness. It has a distinct taste and is often lower in calories than chocolate.
Where to buy the good? You know bucket glasses, blending machine, carob powder and stuffs?
1. In a small pan bring equal parts water and sugar to a boil. Let the water boil for 5 minutes. Reduce heat for 3 minutes. Stir to make sure all sugar is dissolved. The water will look slightly opaque.
2. Remove from heat and add dried lavender.
3. Let it steep for 30 minutes.
4. Strain your lavender pieces using a mesh strainer cheese cloth or coffee filter into a bowl.
5. Using a funnel, add syrup to bottle and refrigerate before use. Make sure syrup is cool before refrigerating. If syrup isn’t cool enough it could potentially disturb the temperature of your other cold items already refrigerated.
