Happy Hour #27 Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo is a couple days away so this week's Happy Hour is going tropical! 

I LOVE coconut, so when I saw this cocktail from Martha Stewart, I knew it was perfect for a Cinco de Mayo celebration!

Ingredients

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice, plus 2 tablespoons for glasses (about 5 limes)
3/4 cup Coco Lopez or cream of coconut
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons tequila
1/4 cup Cointreau or other orange liqueur

Directions

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss coconut with the salt. Spread on sheet; toast in oven, stirring frequently, until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool, then crush with your hands until crumbly.

2.Pour 2 tablespoons lime juice into a shallow dish. Place coconut mixture in another dish. Dip rims of two cocktail glasses in lime juice, then in coconut mixture, coating well.

3.Combine remaining ingredients with 1 cup ice in a blender; puree until smooth. Divide evenly between prepared glasses, and serve immediately.

Cheers, and happy Cinco de Mayo!

Happy Hour #26 Blackberry Mint Julep

It's almost time for the Kentucky Derby so this week for Happy Hour Martha Stewart is providing a new twist on a classic.

This blackberry mint julep looks so yummy!! I can't wait to try it and cheer on those horses!  Here is the recipe straight from MarthaStewart.com.

Ingredients

1/2 cup packed fresh mint leaves
1 pint blackberries
6 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup bourbon
4 cups small ice cubes
4 sprigs mint, for garnishing

Directions

1.Roughly chop 1/2 cup packed fresh mint leaves.

2.Puree the mint, blackberries, and sugar in a blender. Press through a fine sieve into a bowl; discard seeds.

3.Rinse blender, then return puree to blender, and add bourbon and small ice cubes; blend until smooth. Divide mixture among 4 glasses. Garnish each with a mint sprig.


Cheers!

Happy Hour #25 Caramel Apple Martini

Welcome to Happy Hour!  My obsession with caramel vodka continues.  Cortney, our favorite bartender, whipped up some caramel apple martinis for this week's Happy Hour!!  And this recipe is one anyone can make.  We spiraled some caramel in our martini glass and mixed equal parts DeKuyper Sour Apple Pucker and Trojka Caramel Vodka and garnish.

I did find an alternative to Trojka, since we had it shipped to us from Switzerland.  The vodka brand Van Gogh offers a caramel vodka that would be an alternative to our Trojka.  They also have an espresso flavored vodka I'm excited to try soon. 

I also recently discovered a distillery close by.  It's called Mississippi River Distilling Company in LeClaire, Iowa.  LeClaire is a beautiful river town that is also home to the American Pickers.  The distillery makes small batch vodka and gin - River Baron Vodka and River Rose Gin.  They have some great recipes we'll be trying soon for Happy Hour!

Cheers!

Happy Hour #24 Chocolate Caramel Martinis

Welcome to another Happy Hour at Henrietta's House!  This week our favorite bartender, Cortney, mixed up some delish white chocolate caramel and milk chocolate caramel martinis using Godiva liqueur (to die for!) and our favorite Trojka caramel vodka!

For the white chocolate caramel martini, Cortney spiraled some white chocolate and caramel syrup in a martini glass then shook up some goodness with:

2 parts Trojka caramel vodka
1 part Creme de Cacao light
1 part Godiva white chocolate

This was so rich and yummy, but it had an airiness that you could drink all night!  I'm not a white chocolate fan but this one totally won me over.

For the milk chocolate caramel martini, spirals again but this time with chocolate and caramel syrup.  And to add a little something the rim on this glass has cocoa powder and sugar on it.

This time around Cortney used the same ratio but swapped the light and white for dark:

2 parts Trojka caramel vodka
1 part Creme de Cacao dark
1 part Godiva dark chocolate

Love this one!!  I can't resist anything that's chocolaty!

Thank you, Cortney, and cheers everyone!!

Happy Hour #23 Dirty Bananas

Welcome to Happy Hour!!  Today is a very special day!  It's my wedding anniversary.  We eloped and got married in Negril, Jamaica.  It was the best trip of my life.  Jamaica is a wonderful, beautiful place.  There's no better place to elope to.  And while we were there, we drank Dirty Bananas.  They are so good!

We went back to Jamaica in February.  And it was as fun and relaxing as I remembered.  So this week we are drinking dirty bananas, celebrating my anniversary and dreaming of the beach.

Dirty Bananas are yummy and easy to make.

All you need is a really ripe banana, one shot of dark rum, one shot of Kahlua, and a cup or so of ice.  Just blend and you've got your Dirty Banana.  There are many variations of this drink, but our recipe is simple and easy, just like the beach.

We painted these glasses with some palm trees.  Perfect for a tall glass of banana goodness!

Cheers, and Irie!!

Happy Hour #21 Garden Inspired Bloody Marys

Welcome to Happy Hour!!  The grass is turning green and it's time to get my raised beds ready for planting in a month.  Soon I'll start my tomato plants inside, then move them into the garden.  So this made me think of Bloody Marys!  I love tomato juice!!  And its even better with some spice, vodka and horseradish!!

This week's recipe comes straight from Martha Stewart's Classic Cocktails list.

This recipe serves 4 to 6.

Ingredients

• 4 cups tomato juice
• Juice of 2 large lemons
• 1 to 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 heaping tablespoon prepared horseradish
• 1 1/2 cloves garlic, passed through a garlic press
• 2 teaspoons coarsely ground pepper
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
• Unflavored vodka, to taste
• Lemon wedges, for serving
• Celery sticks, for serving and munching

Directions

 

Place tomato juice in a large container with a tight-fitting lid. Add lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish, garlic, pepper, and Tabasco; shake vigorously. Taste, and adjust for seasoning; the mixture should be quite spicy.

 

Pour 1 part vodka and 3 parts Bloody Mary mix over ice in a shaker. Shake well. Pour into glasses. Squeeze a wedge of lemon over drink (do not subsequently stir or shake drink), discard used wedge. Garnish with a large stick of celery (reserve extra stalks for munching) and a large lemon wedge.

Cheers!!

Happy Hour #20 Celebrating St. Patrick's Day

Welcome to Happy Hour at Henrietta's House!  You can't celebrate St. Patrick's Day Happy Hour without beer.  I love beer.  I'm not a big wine drinker so I tend to gravitate towards beer.  I once went to a wine and beer tasting where I had blueberry beer.  It was great!  But this week we are having regular beer.

I got out some tall Pilsner glasses and I was able to use my new party picks for olive garnishes.  I love these picks.  You just put the bowl right on the picks.  Ready to go!

 

 My shamrock plant is so pretty!  I've never had one.  It really loves sun.  At the end of the day, the flowers turn toward the sunlight.  A coworker has a shamrock plant for the last 17 years!  She said it is huge.  Her second grade teacher gave it to her and she's had it ever since! 

Today I received the last of my CSN order.  I'm so excited to use what I bought and tell you all about it!  I will be posting my CSN review this weekend so stop back!

Happy Hour #19 Ringli Likor and Mini Ringli Cookies

Welcome to Happy Hour at Henrietta's House!  This Happy Hour is one of my favorites!  This week we are celebrating Switzerland and Ringli.  This past Fall mom and dad were in Switzerland for business.  They were meeting alcohol distributors and toured the Diwisa Distillery in Willisau, Switzerland.  Trojka Vodka also comes from this distillery.  Remember our vodka caramel apples?  Well, the distillery teamed up with the cookie company across the street to make Willisauer Ringli Likor and Willisauer Mini Ringli cookies!  The likor tastes just like the Trojka caramel vodka and so do the cookies!  It's amazing.




This week for happy hour we are having Willisauer Ringli Likor on the rocks with some Mini Ringli cookies.  Yum!!  This vodka is so smooth and sweet and the cookies take that slight edge of alcohol away.

 I love the way they packages the likor and cookies.  The bottle looks just like the cookies.  They compliment each other perfectly, in taste and packaging.

Our table for happy hour features my Johann Havilland family heirloom china.  I love this china but I don't get to use it very often.  So I've decided to start using it in unconventional ways.

 

For Happy Hour, I used the gravy boat to hold the delicious Ringli cookies.

And I used a covered dish for an ice bucket.

I love these glasses.  The were a wedding gift and are Polish crystal.  They are heavy and wonderful.  Perfect for vodka on the rocks!

Cheers!!

Happy Hour #18 Shamrock Smoothies

Welcome to another Happy Hour at Henriettas' House!  And happy March!  Spring is almost here, I can feel it!  And when I opened my Midwest Living hot from the mailbox today, they proved it.  Not I know Happy Hour traditionally means cocktails, but tonight we are going alcohol-free.  I know...happy hour just isn't the same that way but I had to!  In my Midwest Living, there they were....Shamrock Smoothies!!

Not only do I love all the fresh ingredients, but they just look like Spring, so I had to feature them tonight.  For the recipe visit Midwest Living.  I can't wait to make these for St. Patrick's Day!

Happy Hour #17 Woo! Woo!

Welcome to Happy Hour at Henrietta's House!  I have not posted anything in so long!! I'm sorry. I just got back from a trip that was inspiring.  I'll tell you all about it later.  But right now, it's Happy Hour.

In our lovely town on the mighty Mississippi, the railroad makes it's way through along the riverfront.  So when we used to hang out at our favorite bar (before the kid, the corporate grind and the Mortgage) trains would regularly pass through town, whistle blaring - wooooo, wooooo.

So every time a train would roll though, you had to have a Woo Woo.  This yummy drink can be slammed or sipped, depending on your persuasion.  Here is the recipe:

1 1/2 oz peach schnapps
1 1/2 oz vodka
3 1/2 oz cranberry juice

Pour all ingredients into a shaker with ice.  Give it a good shake and strain into a glass.  Serve.

So tonight for Happy Hour we are using some cute Baruether Walsassen plates with trains on them.  The centerpiece is a very old train that was found in the basement of my grandparents' farm years ago.  I'm not sure if it was a toy.  I need to try and do some investigating.  It's rusty but beautiful.

So the next time you hear a train whistle, remember to Woo Woo!!

Cheers!

Happy Hour #16 Women and Wine in Florida

Welcome to Happy Hour at Henrietta's House!!

Women and Wine parties consist of inviting all of your girlfriends over for some wine, food and fun!  Everyone brings their own bottle of wine and a glass and the hostess provides some food.

This weekend we had another fun Women and Wine party - this time in the Sunshine State!!

Mom outdid herself again and made some wonderful dips - avocado dip, shrimp dip and more.

She made her famous raspberry cheesecake tartlets and some Hershey's kiss with almond cookies.

Check out these endive stalks with dip!! Yum!

One of the ladies brought escargot in these beautiful shells.  I wasn't brave enough to try them but my sister was.  She said they were wonderful.  They tasted like mushrooms with garlic!  Maybe I'll get brave some day!

Check out our first Women and Wine party!

Cheers!