What might have seemed like a gimmick years ago, now is an established period of reset for many drinkers. If you’re opting to try a #Dryuary yourself, we’ve got a few non-alcoholic options on the site that won’t have you missing any of the booze. Check these out!
 
Detox. Re-tox. Whatever your tox. Let’s update that bar cart for 2019.
Time to refresh for the new year. Resolutions? Yes. No. Maybe. A juicer for carrot beet cocktails. A cocktail book that will make them taste delicious. Going dry? Well there’s more than more non-alcoholic booze to try. Please say no to plastic straws. Now your options include hay and more. I’d like a bar cart that matches my mid-century home decor with a brass carbonator and a giant stoneware decanter.
1. Stoneware Decanter 2. Slow Juicer 3. Brass Carbonator 4. Seedlip Distilled Non-Alcoholic Spirit 5. Clean + Dirty Drinking 6. Detox-Retox Cocktail Napkins 7. Mid-Century Bar Cart 8. Curious Elixirs 9. Hay! Straws
Catch up on all the gift guides here!
This post was made in partnership with PC Richard and Son. Recipe and ideas are my own.
I’m not sure when frozen juice concentrate stopped being a thing, but it was definitely what I grew up on in the ’80’s. The sploosh as the frozen cylinder hit the Tupperware pitcher, and then, for me, the satisfaction of feeling like I “made” something healthy and helped out in the kitchen (give me a break, I was 9). However, the first time I had real, freshly squeezed orange juice, well, let me tell you, that taste was something else. Fresh juice? You mean it all doesn’t come from a can?
I might be losing some of you younger readers. You guys get juice. The real stuff. You are not afraid to juice anything. And better yet? You like to make drinks with it.
So today I’m partnering with PC Richard and Son to give one lucky Stir and Strain reader a machine to make all their juicing dreams come true: a Cuisinart Compact 16 oz Juice Extractor.
Take this guy for a spin the next time you’re planning brunch at home, looking for a healthy post-workout drink, or in need of juicing a lot of citrus for a party! It’s compact size means it can live right on your counter top and is ready whenever you need it.
For Christmas morning I’ll be prepping a refreshing sparkling non-alcoholic drink for all the family with a little help from my Cuisinart Compact Juice Extractor. A nice mix of fresh citrus with a kick of ginger, sweetened with maple syrup and bubbles courtesy of some sparkling water. I can juice all the citrus and ginger together and then just add in the sweetener and finish with sparkling water.
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1″ knob of ginger, skin on, juiced or finely grated
3 tablespoons maple syrup
sparkling water to taste
citrus wheel for garnishIn a pitcher, combine juices, ginger and maple syrup. Stir to incorporate maple syrup. Add in sparkling water to taste. Garnish with citrus wheels.
Ready to get juicing? Enter below for your chance to win a Cuisinart Compact 16 oz Juice Extractor (retails $100) and get up to 11 entries to win. Open to US residents only. Giveaway ends December 23, 2017 at 11:59 PST. For more information on PC Richard and Son, please visit them atpcrichard.com. Good luck!
About a year ago I saw an article about a new (very old) elixir riding on the coattails of the cocktail world’s shrub renaissance. This drink’s name: Switchel. I think switchel sounds a bit more fun than shrub. Shrub sounds like the friend you have who won’t go out on a Thursday night because they have to turn in a term paper the following Monday and need the time to study. Switchel sounds more like that friend calling you at 4am asking if you want to get doughnuts.
Anyway, Switchel quietly died down and I completely forgot about the saved article. I continued on with shrubs despite the name. (see here here and here) Recently though I remembered I had saved this article and revisited it again. More likely out of my desperation for it to be Fall already, I was looking for recipe ideas using apples. Instead it uses apple cider vinegar, a starting point I’d use to adapt to my own Autumnal tipple.
Switchel recipes are all basically the same plus or minus an ingredient or two. It also batches really well. So you can mix up at gallon of it Sunday night and drink it all week.
Guys! Maybe I should back up here a second and remind you that switchel is NON ALCOHOLIC. Just like a shrub it contains no alcohol, but you can use it as a base for your cocktail creations. I even have a recipe for you I’ll link to. The flavor of this switchel on its own is sharp and tangy and almost like drinking a cocktail, or at least that’s what you tell yourself if you’re -cough- well into your second trimester and desperately miss cocktails. So, pregnant ladies out there, you’re welcome.
For my variation on a switchel, I added in some of my favorite Fall flavors: cinnamon, green cardamom, cloves and steeped that in a base of apple cider vinegar, ginger and maple syrup. The spices are subtle when compared to the strong, zingy ginger, but I like that those flavors are not too overpowering. The apple cider vinegar provides a sharp sour contrast that you can adjust by adding or subtracting the water from the mix. Personally I like that sour flavor and I find the drink quite refreshing. If you’ve found shrubs to be a bit too strong for you, you definitely might want to scale back on the vinegar and up the water a bit; taste and see.
1 5″-piece fresh ginger (about 6 ounces)
½ cup apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
4 cups water
2 4-6″ pieces of cinnamon
6 green cardamon pods, lightly crushed
4 cloves, whole
Pass ginger through a juicer (you should have about ⅓ cup). Strain the juice through a fine sieve to remove any larger pieces. Combine ginger juice, vinegar, maple syrup, and water in a large container and stir until maple syrup is dissolved. Add in cinnamon sticks. And then put the cloves and cardamom pods into a tea filter bag (Bags are not necessary but help in collecting all the bits later on. I prefer the bags with the drawstring for easy collection later on.) and add to the mix. Refrigerate overnight or at least 12 hours.
When ready to drink, remove the cinnamon sticks and the bagged spices. Switchel can be drunk as is, over ice with a splash of lemon juice or in a cocktail.
And speaking of cocktails, we’ll have an end of Summer cocktail using the Autumn Apple Cider Switchel here tomorrow! Enjoy!
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that National Chocolate Day falls so close to Halloween. Whoever is coming up with these “holidays”, and I think it quite possibly could be a food blogger, is making it easy for me to come up with roundup posts at least once a month. Hey, mostly it means I get to re-introduce some older posts you all might not be familiar with. Like some of these:
Chocolate Smoked Porter Beer Mousse
Angostura Chocolate Luxardo Cherry Brownies
This month’s Mixology Monday cocktail challenge is an interesting one because, well, there is NO alcohol in the drinks. Scott of Shake, Strain, & Sip has themed this month “Temperance”, and you guessed it, it’s a Teetotaler’s delight around these parts.
With the warmer months approaching, I’ve been craving light, fruit-based drinks lately. And maybe the occasional spritz or two. With the baskets of berries pouring into the farmer’s markets (pretty much my favorite time of year), I decided to make the base of this drink with juicy, local strawberries.
Farmers markets here are pretty diverse. I’ve been introduced to multiple varieties of strawberries, and one of my favorites is the Seascape kind. Sweet, but not too much so; it’s my ideal strawberry flavor. That said, here you’ll need to taste for sweetness. There is some from the strawberries and tonic, and a sweet and savory note from the orgeat, but if you like your drinks even sweeter, then feel free to add a drop of simple syrup.
3 medium sized strawberries, hulled and quartered
3/4 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice (or white grapefruit juice)
1/4 ounce orgeat
4 ounces Fever-Tree Indian Tonic Water
strawberry slice for garnish
In the bottom of a highball glass, muddle strawberries, juice and orgeat. Add ice 2/3 up the glass and top with tonic. Stir gently to combine and garnish glass with strawberry slice.
Uniquely both sweet and savory with lots of fruit forward bubbles. A straw in this case is optional as you might find the chunks of strawberries get caught up in it. The almond from the orgeat has a slight bitter edge that contrasts nicely with the sweet fruit flavors. It’s a needed element here to round out the drink.
Thanks to Scott for hosting this month and Fred for keeping this party going.
