Sunday, November 4, 2007

Starbucks, shmarbucks, let's save a buck! (or four)

Howdy! For some of you, pick your jaws up off the floor. Yes, I am posting a recipe the day you asked me to. I really didn't want forget, so I'm doing it now. Today some very good friends had the dedication and open house for their new ministry to single moms. You can check out their website here www.therestorationhouse.net. Daniel and Mandy are amazing people who have a real heart and passion to help moms who are parenting alone succeed. If you live in the Knoxville area check out their site and get involved! If you don't, please remember the Watsons and The Restoration House in your prayers.

Mandy helps me every year at TCTC so I was excited to help her with the food for the open house. We made two punches that were delicious and easy! Punch recipes can be daunting because usually you just want something fast and easy but a lot of them require a lot of steps and more work than necessary when you just want to have fun at your party. There also are usually only two or three recipes per cookbook and it can be exhausting to look through a bunch of books.

This first recipe is light and refreshing and so easy you don't even have to think about it:

Apple Cider Punch

2 quarts apple cider
1 pint orange juice (2 cups)
2 liters ginger ale

Mix in a punch bowl (or just a gallon pitcher) with some ice. Garnish with thick slices of a green apple, a red apple, an orange, and a couple of cinnamon sticks.

This next recipe could put Starbucks out of business. Okay, not really, but if you like a frozen drink, it's close. I'm going to play with it and see if I can't figure out how to make it a serving at a time at home. This would be great for a morning bridal or baby shower, just use decaf coffee for the new mommy.

Mocha Punch

1 1/2 quarts water
1/2 cup instant chocolate drink mix
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup instant coffee granules
1/2 gallon vanilla ice cream
1/2 gallon chocolate ice cream
1 small tub Cool Whip
chocolate curls

Boil water in a medium sauce pan. Remove from heat and add drink mix, sugar, and coffee. Stir until dissolved. Cover and refrigerate 4 hours or over night.

To serve: Thirty minutes before serving place coffee mix in punch bowl and add ice creams. Stir frequently until the ice cream melts. Top with dollops of Cool Whip and chocolate curls.

Since I am so horrible at posting, check out google.com/reader. It will allow you to make a list of all the blogspot blogs that you read. I love it!

1 comment:

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