Some Cranberries—for Drinking!

While food gets the top billing for Thanksgiving, I’d like to also give a shout-out to the drinks that help make the holiday special, too.

We rotate the hosting responsibilities for Thanksgiving from year to year. Usually, whoever isn’t hosting brings some new wines to try—and probably a new winter beer for me to try, since I’m a beer fan.

But it’s also fun to try some festive drinks that tie into the holiday. Which is why I’ll focus on cranberries as a drink option today. :)

Because my children always feel left out if they don’t have their own, special, non-alcoholic holiday drink, I’m including a recipe for a cranberry punch, too.

First of all, the loaded stuff— :)

Cranberry Vodka

2 oz vodka
4oz cranberry juice
2 oz ginger ale

Mix together and serve over ice.

And now one for anyone who doesn’t want the vodka--

Cranberry Pineapple Punch
1 can (19 oz) unsweetened pineapple chunks (keep the juice)
1 bottle (40 oz) cranberry cocktail
1 L bottle chilled ginger ale

Combine pineapple and cocktail in a punch bowl.

Add ice and gently stir in ginger ale.

Because cranberries aren’t just for eating! :)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Hope you have a wonderful holiday.

Riley Adams/Elizabeth Spann Craig

Delicious and Suspicious (July 6 2010) Riley Adams

Pretty is as Pretty Dies –Elizabeth Spann Craig

Remember to enter Krista's Christmas Cookie Contest!

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Welcome Guest Blogger, Beth Groundwater!

Today we welcome Beth Groundwater to the Mystery Lovers’ Kitchen! Beth writes the Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series (A Real Basket Case, nominated for the 2007 Best First Novel Agatha Award, and To Hell in a Handbasket, May, 2009) and the Rocky Mountain Adventure mystery series (the first of which, Deadly Currents, will be released in March, 2011). Her science fiction novella, The Epsilon Eridani Alternative, was published in December, 2009.

When Riley Adams invited me to be a guest blogger on Mystery Lovers Kitchen, I decided that I’d provide a very different kind of recipe, one for a gift basket, since I write the Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series. Some important things to keep in mind while designing a gift basket are to stimulate all the senses (taste, touch, smell, hearing, sight), to pick one main color and two complementary accent colors and use them throughout, and to tailor the contents to the recipient’s interests. Here I assume that you’re making a gift basket for a friend who loves mysteries.

Recipe for a Mystery Lover's Gift Basket

Color scheme: black, red, and white/gray

Container: black-painted basket, bucket or box, with a lid or handle sticking up, from which you hang some spider webbing

Stuffing: dried Spanish moss or red-dyed tissue paper, paper shreds, or wood shavings

Contents:

Mystery book(s). In keeping with the gift basket theme, I recommend my Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery books, A Real Basket Case and To Hell in a Handbasket.

CD of eerie music such as Mystery Movie Scores or Mystery Sound Effects

Pocket-sized mystery party game or travel Clue game

Movie DVD: Clue, Mousetrap, Alfred Hitchcock or Sherlock Holmes movie, or movie collection (Mystery Classics: 50 Movie Pack)

Chocolate/bubble gum coins or other mystery-related chocolate shapes such as blood drops, knives, or guns (see http://www.chocolatepen.com for a sample vendor)

If your recipient is a tea drinker, include an antique tea cup and saucer, a selection of teas, and a tea cozy, in keeping with a cozy mystery genre theme.

And an assortment from:

Bookmarks from mystery authors

Magnifying glass

Pair of play handcuffs and/or sheriff's badge

Rubber knife or plastic pistol

Glasses, nose, mustache disguise

Spy Gear toys from http://www.wildplanet.com

Skull-shaped/logo item: tealight candle holder, squeeze ball, notepad, etc. (see http://www.orientaltrading.com/)

Bottle of stage blood from Halloween/theatre costume/makeup supply store or make your own (see http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howtos/ht/fakeblood.htm)

Now, once you finish putting that basket together, you’re going to need a drink. ;-) Here’s a suggestion:

Whirling Fruit Basket Shooter

1 oz. Rum
1/4 oz. Blackberry Brandy
1/4 oz. Midori
1/4 oz. Peach Schnapps
1/4 oz. Sour Apple Schnapps

Layer in a shot glass. Pick up the shot glass and spin the liquid. Shoot it, slam it.

Beth lives in Colorado and enjoys its many outdoor activities, including skiing and whitewater rafting. Please visit her website at http://bethgroundwater.com/

Thanks so much, Beth. What a perfect suggestion for ending a session of basket building! :) Thanks for visiting with us today.

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