Ice-cold Sunshine

                          Summer drinks

   

ITS SPRING! meaning its that time of the year where one hour you could be freezing or have random stuff blown into your face beacuse of furious winds and the other sweating out your life. Here in southern part of Asia, its mostly getting random stuff blown in to your faces and sweating your life out. The only thing I mostly look forward to in spring is switching from hot chocolate and coffees to summmer drinks ( yes a huge amount of my time is consumed by thinking about food and beverages). Below are some recipes that will help you kick start your spring in the most refreshable way possible! Not only are these healthy (most of them) and take minimal effort, but they also refresh you instantly and give you that burst of energy you need to go through the day ( sleeping around and  procrastinating is hard work okay). 

1: black salt lemonade - this one is my personal favourite! ( serves upto 2 people)

Ingredients:

-1 large lemon

-1 cup of water

- 1 pinch of balck salt

-2-3 mint leaves 

- sugar or honey according to your taste

- half cup of ice

method: dump all of the above given ingredients into the blender except ice and blend for 10 seconds.Then add ice and blend for another 20 seconds  and you are done.

2: sparkling strawberry lemonade ( serves upto 8 people)

ingredients:

-1 cup of sugar or half cup of honey

-1 1/3 cup of strawberries 

-1 1/2 cup of fresh lemon juice 

- 3 cups of club soda or tonic water ( you can also try sprite or 7up but i dont know how that will turn out)

Method: In a saucepan add sugar or your honey and 1 cup of water  and leave it until it boils.

After that simmer until the sugar dissovles for another 3-4 minutes but make sure not to stir it. After that remove it from the stove and leave it to cool. In blender blend all your strawberries with half of your lemon juice. you will end up with a thick consistency which you need to strain into a pitcher. After straining the straewberry juice add your sugar/honey blend and your remaining lemon juice and mix them all together. Now you can either refrigerate it until its chilled or add your desired amount of ice and blend it again in the blender and add your club soda in it befor serving.

3: Mangoe raspberry punch

Ingredients:

- 1 cup of mangos

-1 cup of raspberry

- 7up ( can be diet too)

- Mango juice 

method:

In a blender mix together your mangoes and raspberries and freeze the puree in little icecubes trays. add together the same amount of 7up and mango juice in a glass and mix well ( make sure the mango juice is of thick consistency) and lastly add your puree cubes and you are good to go!

and lastly if you are in a hurry and just want throw a chilling and refreshing drink quickly you can just cut up your favourite fruits into slices andsimply add them to your chilled water or iced tea in mason jars or infuser bottles!

(Image courtsey: google)

Confection Confession

                                  cake pops 

Was there ever a time you suddenly got so inspired by looking at a particular post that you got  this spurt of energy to just go do it, or in this case bake it? You went all out with your latest baking utencils and mixers and mixed that cake batter like a pro , put it in the oven and wasted those precious 45 mins , while it was baking, dreaming about how you will ice that cake to perfection , only for it to come out of the oven looking as messed up as your face at 4 am. Sometimes the cake has too many cracks in it which can prevent you from entirley decorating the cake at all or in some cases the tempreture is too high which ment that the top layer of the cake is burnt while the rest is still in the process of baking. 
Now you have two options: 
A) erase every evidence of your failed attempt and get rid of that thing before anyone sees you with it and never trusts you with their food again. 
or 
B) MAKE CAKE POPS ( if your cake still seems edible) 
SO on the seven steps below i will help you turn your disaster into a beautiful creation.

Step 1: supplies/ ingredients-cake (if you want to start from scratch you can also use any cake mix and/or your own recipe)- a can of frosting (or normal cream can also do)-chocolate or candy melts ( cadburry is a cheap and good option as it will help provide that extra crunch)-Lollipop sticks (optional)-cakepop stand ( optional)

Step2:
Let your cake cool completely and then crumble it into fine crumbs with your hands or you can use a blender but make sure not to blend it too finley. You may want to cut off any hard edges of your cake first.

Step3:

Add a small amount of frosting or cream  to your crumbs and mix with your hands. Continue adding frosting until the mixture becomes the consistency of Play-Doh.

Step4:

Take a small amount of mixture and roll the mixture in your hands to create cake balls.




  Step5:


Melt your candy melts in the microwave.

Dip a lollipop stick into the melted coating and then into a cake ball. Set the cake pop in your cake pop stand until the chocolate hardens , or if you dont have have those iteams available at hand you can simply put your cake balls on a tray and fast freez in the freezer for 10 mins maximum.

Step6:
Dip each cake pop into the melted coating until it is completely covered. Tap any extra coating off of the cake pop gently.

Set your cake pops aside to let the coating harden or while the coating is still wet decorate your cake pops with sprinkles. if you dont have the lollipop sticks , you need to be very careful while dipping it into the candy melts or the chocolates cuz there are chances it might crumble in your hands, and if it does just roll it into a ball again and freeze for another 3 minutes.

Step7:
DECORATE it however you want to. these bliss bites are good for every occassion: bridal shower, baby shower, birthday parties , anniversaries you name it!