Summer Cocktail: Mint Lemonade with Krupnikas

All of those words sound delicious.

In honor of my dearest friend Rimantas, I recently shared some Brothers Vilgalys Krupnikas with some good friends and, as a result, got them totally hooked (suckers).

Krupnikas (http://brothersvilgalys.com/) is a Lithuanian spiced honey liqueur. A friend of mine started his own distillery in Durham, NC (only the greatest city in the US of A). This liqueur tastes like Christmas in your mouth, and if you have access to it you should definitely pick up a bottle. You can drink it straight up (krup in a cup), make delicious mixed drinks, or cook with it! We'll cook with it in a later post.

This is my first bottle of Krupnikas that I got to buy in the store. It was WAY too exciting. Also Gabe bottled it which basically makes it a limited edition since he ran away to New Zealand.

If your'e REALLY lucky, you can get one of these bottles with my name and jersey number. Are you kidding me? This was seriously one of the greatest coincidences of my life. 

This recipe is not THAT sustainable but it does offer 2/4 local ingredients so we’ll count it.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups sugar

1 handful mint (totes local if you have it growing on your porch)

6 lemons
8 cups water

Krupnikas*

*only if you’re 21+. If you’re not old enough for the krup, this lemonade is still delicious. Something about waiting until you're old enough to drink and delayed gratification is a beautiful thing. Also patience is a virtue.

First you need to get out your awesome ball jug and citrus reamer that you have sitting around and never use. My Uncle Tom bought me my ball jug and the citrus reamer because I’m his favorite niece in Pennsylvania. Grab a handful of mint from your awesome porch garden. Tear it up a little to really let the flavors come out. 

My mint lives with my tomatoes. They're basically a thing but don't tell Rosemary.

Put 8 cups of water on the stove to boil. While you wait, cut the lemons in half and juice them either using your awesome citrus reamer, a juicer, or just peel them and throw them in a blender with a little bit of water. 

My awesome citrus reamer catches the seeds and pulp. I think Tom and I found it at a thrift store in Cleveland for $2. Dreams really do come true.

Once the water is boiling, pour the water, sugar, and mint into the awesome ball jug until the sugar is dissolved in the water. As you get the lemon juice from the lemons, pour it into the ball jug and let it cool. This fills about half of my jug so I fill the other half with ice to help it cool. 

 This is the near finished product (sans ice) unless your'e over 21. 

This recipe might be a little to sour for you. If you can't handle how sour it is you have a few options. The first is to add more sugar (duh). The next option is to add artificial sweetener. Unfortunately, this is not actually an option because that stuff is both nasty and terrible for you. The best option, is to add krupnikas and ice and make it a pheNOMenal summer cocktail. Add about 4oz lemonade, 2 oz krup over ice.

I got these awesome cocktail glasses in Cleveland too. 

Delicious Level: 5/5 Noms (om nom nom nom nom nom)

Difficulty Level: Easy Peasy.

Lesson Learned: Bring back more Krupnikas next time I'm in NC.

Here's to eatin' good and eatin' local! Cheers and uff-da!

What in the world do I do with this gigantic bag of KALE I got from my CSA guy?

"I don't even like kale." My CSA a few summers ago would always come with a lifetime supply of kale delivered weekly and I had no idea what to do with it. I'm not talking "it was a lifetime supply distributed over all the weeks of my CSA" like the lottery. I'm talking a lifetime supply every week. Even though I'm southern, I hate most all cooked leafy greens... even when they're cooked in pork fat by Mama Dip herself. I also don't like raw, bitter leafy greens. I also get bored eating salad. You just keep eating and not getting full! I definitely get bored before I get full when eating salads. SO when you're given a massive bag of kale, what in the world are you supposed to do with it?

What I did for the first few weeks of my CSA is stare at the massive bundle of kale until it wilted, looked totally inedible, and then threw it in the back yard and poured one out for all the starving people in the world (some of my Catholic guilt has remained with me). This is wasteful, but I honestly had no idea what to do with it. Now I eat kale daily. I forgot about my kale-induced anxiety from 2011 until a friend brought it up last night. She said "we get so much kale in our CSA and neither of us like kale at all." I really don't think she is alone in this so I figured I'd share my two favorite ways to eat kale.

SO MUCH KALE! Some of it's a little wilted and questionable looking but it's fine. My grandma survived the depression. As a result, my mom does things like save aluminum foil for re-use and I eat the sad, wilted kale because there's no point in buying more. 

Here I'm going to offer 2 recipes for your excessive amount of kale. If either of them work for you, you should consider making them a regular part of your diet as kale is a great source for potassium, vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, vitamin B-6, magnesium and even Iron. Ladies especially need iron.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Recipe #1: Smoothie

I know what you're thinking. "Gross. Next." Well it's actually super delicious. If you read my previous post, you know that I once ruled Hillsborough St. in Raleigh as a professional blendgineer for Planet Smoothie. Even the nice homeless man would yell across the street at me "HEY SMOOTIE!" [no H]. Also if you don't remember the fashion trends of 2006-8 there was nothing sexier than showing up to class in a neon P.Smoo shirt covered in splattered fruit. What I'm trying to say is that I'm a bit of an expert when it comes to smoothie making and I'm really good at befriending the homeless. This smoothie is delicious and I drink it nearly every morning. 

What you need:

1 Banana

1/2-3/4 cup orange juice

1 cup yogurt (I use vanilla yogurt but if you don't have a horrible sweet tooth like me, I'd use plain)

1 cup of exciting fruit (either mixed berries or mango and pineapple - whatever your heart desires)

4 stalks of kale/ 1 giant handful of kale (yes that much, no you can't taste it)

**optional - 1-2 tbsp chia seeds if you're in need of some Omega 3 fatty acids. They make for a different texture but it's another power food that can really give you energy in the morning to get you going. Also the funny texture makes it easier to clean your cup and blender post smoothie consumption.

Put the banana, OJ and kale into the blender and mix it up until you have a very green, totally smooth mixture.

Add the exciting fruit and yogurt and finish blending. If you use berries, your smoothie won't even be green. It will be a purple smoothie looking color and if you can taste the kale, then you should be a sommelier or something because your tastebuds are Beyonce-level flawless. 

In this concoction, we have potassium, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin B-6, magnesium, calcium, iron and protein. Basically if you eat this for breakfast, you can eat whatever the hell you want for the rest of the day because you just crushed most of the day's worth of nutrients.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Recipe #2: Kale Chips

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and then keep reading.
Kale chips sound disgusting but they are delicious. Fresh out of the oven, they melt in your mouth. Instant sodium kick! For all my athletic friends, these are great to have with you during games/ races/ hiking/ whatever. They provide instant nutrients and sodium and you don't have to keep them cool. Just throw them in a tupperware in your bag (you can throw them in a plastic bag but then they'll all break and they will be annoying to eat).

What you need:
Cookie sheet
Lots of kale
Salt and/or pepper and/or garlic salt and/or parmesan cheese

Cut the leaves from the stalk and further cut them into large potato chip size pieces.

The best 'cookie sheet' to use for these is a pizza stone or something similar. It'll make them more crispy than a metal baking sheet will BUT the metal baking sheet is still jut fine.
Put the leaves on the baking sheet and coat them with olive oil.

I think my recent anti-biotic binge made my nails really healthy. OR MAYBE IT'S ALL THE KALE I EAT! Or maybe it's the fact that it's no longer winter... I need a manicure.

Next coat the leaves with your seasoning of choice. My personal favorite is to just use sea salt and lemon pepper. The big chunky pieces of salt and that hint of lemon is so delicious. You can also use garlic salt and parmesan cheese or anything like that. Get creative. Do. Yo. Thang.

Mom's slightly sketchy bottle of lemon pepper in an old Caraway Seed bottle which no doubt came from my grandma's house because heaven forbid we recycle that. You might need it some day, you know? Waste not, want not I suppose.

Once they're all coated, throw them in the oven for about 10 minutes or until they look super crispy like so:

 Crispy and delicious!

VIOLA! Two delicious options for all that kale you got in your CSA. Sweet and salty and both super delicious during kale season.

**If you have something in your CSA and you want a recipe, please do not hesitate to holla!**

Delicious Level: 5/5 Noms (om nom nom nom nom nom)

Difficulty Level: Easy Peasy.

Lesson Learned: None, bro. I make these on the reg.

Here's to eatin' good and eatin' local! Cheers and uff-da!