Kristen's Recipes

4 C. low-calorie cranberry juice
8 cranberry clove tea bags
ice
4 C. chilled club soda
Mint sprigs for garnish

In a large saucepan, bring cranberry juice to a boil over medium heat. Add the tea bags, remove from heat, and let steep for 10 minutes. Cool to room temperature. When ready to serve, fill 8 tall glasses with ice cubes. Pour about 1/2 C. of the cranberry juice mixture into each glass. Fill the glasses with club soda and garnish each with a sprig of mint.

Yield: 8 servings
Calories: 23
Fat: 0g
Fiber: 0g

2 C. light ‘n tangy vegetable juice
1/3 C. orange juice
1/4 C. grapefruit juice
2 tsp. honey

In pitcher, combine juices and honey. Serve over ice. Garnish with orange peel curls if desired.

Yield: 3 servings
Calories: 65
Fat 0g
Fiber 1g

6 oz. strawberries
13 fl. oz. freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 8 lemons)
8 T. sugar substitute, or to taste
8 mint leaves for garnish

Whisk sugar into lemon juice. Place in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 2-3 minutes. Pour into a container and allow to cool. Puree strawberries in a small food processor. Add lemon syrup and combine well. Taste and adjust sweetness if necessary. Store in refrigerator. When required, treat the syrup as you would a cordial, diluting with soda water. Add ice and garnish with sliced lemon, strawberries and mint.

Yield: 4 servings
Calories: 47
Fat: .2g
Fiber: .8g

3 limes, quartered

1/3  cup sugar

3 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk

 

Place all the ingredients in a blender. Add 4 cups cold water and blend on high speed until limes are slightly chopped. Strain into a pitcher and then, with the strainer still resting above the pitcher, slowly pour about 1 more cup water (depending on how sweet you want the drink) through the strainer over the lime pieces to extract all the residual sugar and juice. I ended up adding a little more sugar at the end because the rinds made it a tad on the bitter side. Thank you, sugar.

Benedict Skillet

4 egg yolks, beaten

6 T. lemon juice

1 C. butter, melted

1 bag frozen shredded hash browns

Turkey ham, cubed

Eggs, 3 or 4 per person

To prepare sauce, place well beaten egg yolks in a saucepan over low heat. Slowly stir in the lemon juice. Cook, whisking constantly as you drizzle in melted butter and continue to cook until sauce thickens. In a skillet over medium heat, fry hash browns in a little oil. In another skillet, sauté cubed turkey ham in a little butter. In another skillet, fry 3 or 4 eggs per person. To serve, pile hash browns on a plate, top with ham, then eggs, and complete the Benedict Skillet with plenty of warm sauce.

1 1/2 C. freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about 12 lemons)
1/2 C. sugar
6 C. water
Lemon slices (to garnish)
3-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
Ice
1/4 C. honey

Place the lemon juice, the sugar, and 1 C. water in a large pitcher. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then add 5 more C. water, the ginger, the honey, a few slices of lemon to garnish, and plenty of ice.

Yield: 6 servings
Calories: 92
Fat: 0g
Fiber: 0g

2 1/2 cups hot brewed espresso or brewed French- or Italian-roast coffee

5-6 tablespoons sugar

1/2 cup half and half or milk

Unsweetened whipped cream

Chocolate shavings

 

In a 2 1/2-quart stainless-steel bowl, combine the hot espresso or coffee and 5 tablespoons sugar and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add the half-and-half or milk and mix well. Taste and add the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar if desired. Refrigerate until cold, then place, uncovered, in the freezer. When ice crystals have started to form around the edges, after 30-40 minutes, whisk the mixture vigorously to blend in the crystals. Return the bowl to the freezer and whisk again every 20-30 minutes until the mixture is a mass of coarse ice crystals yet still soft enough to spoon, 2-3 hours total. (If you forget the granita in the freezer and it hardens too much, let stand at room temperature for a few minutes, then whisk it to the correct consistency.) TO SERVE: Divide the ice among small serving bowls. Top each serving with a dollop of whipped cream and some chocolate shavings.

5 cups apple cider 

5 cups cranberry juice 

1 ½ cups guava or mango juice 

¼ cup lime juice 

1 tsp ground ginger 

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon 

1 bottle Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum

 

In a 4 quart Dutch oven, combine apple cider, cranberry juice, guava juice, lime juice, ginger and cinnamon. Bring to boiling, reduce heat. Add bottle of Captain Morgan’s spiced rum. Simmer. If desired, sweeten to taste with honey and garnish with lime slices.

6 C. water

1 C. firmly packed fresh mint leaves

3 green tea bags

1/3 C. agave nectar

1/3 C. fresh lime juice

6 lime slices, for garnish

 

Bring the water to boil in a 3-quart saucepan. Add the mint and tea bags, remove from the heat, and let steep for 5 minutes. Strain. Stir in the agave and lime juice. Serve hot or iced, garnished with the lime slices.

2 tablespoons loose leaf green tea or 3 green tea bags
3/4 cup lightly packed fresh mint leaves
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
4 cups boiling water

Place tea, mint leaves, and lemon peel in a pot or small saucepan and add the boiling water. Cover and allow it to steep for 8 minutes. Using a strainer, pour the tea into small cups or heatproof glasses.

Yield: 4 cups; 4 (1- cup) servings
Calories: 4
Fat: 0g
Fiber: 0g

3/4 C. sugar
1/2 lb. fresh ginger, scrubbed and cut into 1/2-inch slices
12 oz. dried persimmons
1/4 lb. pine nuts

In a large saucepan, combine 10 C. of water, the sugar, and ginger and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes, remove from heat, and add the persimmons. Let sit for at least 2 hours to allow the flavors to steep. Strain into a decanter. Cover and refrigerate up to 3 days ahead. Serve chilled in teacups garnished with pine nuts.

Note: Dried persimmons can be found in most Asian markets. You can also order them from www.justtomatoes.com. This “tea” is a traditional Korean digestif.

Yield: 8 servings
Calories: 73
Fat: 0g
Fiber: 0g

Small celeriac, diced

1/4 red onion, diced

1 garlic green, chopped

1/2 C. queso fresco, grilled and diced

6 eggs, beaten

Salt

Pepper

Paprika

Olive oil

 

To begin, preheat the oven to 350°. Next, heat a T. or so of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Once the pan and oil are hot, sauté the red onions and celeriac until cooked through and slightly crispy. Add in the garlic greens for a minute to quickly combine, and then remove from the heat. While that is cooling, mix the eggs with a bit of salt, pepper and paprika (just enough to season the eggs). Then, add the diced cheese and the celeriac and onion mixture to the eggs and pour into the individual muffin C.. Silicon would be best, but metal-type would work too. Place the muffin tin in the oven, and bake for 10-15 minutes, until frittuffins are cooked through; they’ll be very puffy and will have risen just like a soufflé. Take them out to cool and, once cooled, wrap them individually in plastic wrap, and place them in a Ziploc. To reheat them each day, just place them in the toaster oven for about 5-10 minutes at 300°, and they turn out perfectly!

3 C. water

1 C. sugar

1 C. Northwest fresh sweet cherries, halved and pitted

1 C. fresh lemon juice, refrigerated

Crushed ice

1 bottle (1 liter) club soda or seltzer

Northwest fresh sweet cherries with stems

4 long stems fresh mint

 

Combine water and sugar in small saucepan; add halved cherries. Bring mixture to boil; reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Strain syrup into container with tight fitting lid; discard cherries. Refrigerate syrup until cold. Fill a tall 12 to 16-oz. glass with ice. Pour 1/4 C. lemon juice and 1/3 C. syrup over ice and top with club soda. Garnish with cherries and mint.

7 C. fat free milk, divided
1 pkg. (4-serving size) JELL-O Vanilla Flavor Fat Free Sugar Free Instant Reduced Calorie Pudding & Pie Filling
1 C. low fat evaporated milk
2 tsp. rum extract

Pour 2 C. of the milk into large bowl. Add pudding mix. Beat with wire whisk 2 minutes. Add remaining 5 C. milk, evaporated milk and extract; mix well. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Yield: 8 servings
Calories: 120
Fat: 1g
Fiber: 0g

1 tub Crystal Light Pineapple Orange Flavor Low Calorie Soft Drink Mix
1 bottle (2 liter) club soda, chilled
2 C. cold orange juice
1 seedless orange, cut into 10 thin slices

Empty contents of drink mix tub into large plastic or glass pitcher. Add club soda; stir until drink mix is completely dissolved. Stir in orange juice. Serve over ice cubes in 10 tall glasses. Add orange slice to each glass.

Yield: 10 servings, 1 C. each
Calories: 30
Fat: 0g
Fiber: 1g

6 C. water, divided
1 1/4 C. splenda
1/4 C. grated peeled fresh ginger
1 1/4 C. fresh lemon juice (about 7 large lemons)
1/4 C. fresh lime juice
Lemon slices (optional)
Lime slices (optional)

Combine 1 C. water, sugar, and ginger in a small saucepan; bring to a boil, and cook 1 minute or until sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; cool. Strain ginger mixture through a sieve into a pitcher, and discard solids. Add 5 C. water and juices, and stir well. Serve over ice, and garnish with lemon and lime slices, if desired.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1 C.)

1 lemon
1/4 C. mint leaves
4 C. boiling water

Carefully remove rind from lemon and place with the mint into the boiling water. Cover and steep for 5 minutes. Strain mixture and serve immediately.

Yield: 4 servings
Calories: 0
Fat: 0g
FIber: 0g

1 C. low-sodium vegetable juice cocktail
2 T. fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. prepared horseradish
1/4 tsp. Tabasco sauce, or to taste
2 celery ribs with leaves
freshly ground pepper

Fill tall glasses with ice. Combine remaining ingredients except celery and pepper. Pour over the ice. Garnish with the celery and sprinkle generously with pepper. Serve at once.

Yield: 2 servings
Calories: 35
Fat: 0g
Fiber: 3g

1 T. fennel seed
6 green cardamom pods
12 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 (1/4-inch) piece ginger root, peeled and thinly sliced
6 black peppercorns
7 C. water
2 T. Darjeeling tea
4 T. brown sugar
1 C. milk

In a medium saucepan, combine fennel seed, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon stick, ginger root, peppercorns and water. Boil for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and steep for 10 minutes. Add the tea, bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Strain mixture, discard spices and return the tea to the saucepan. Stir in the brown sugar and milk. Serve immediately