Got A Cold? You Need A Hot Toddy!

Last week I was struck with a dreaded cold, it’s that time of year when they’re pretty hard to avoid. I set about eating loads of good stuff, vegetables, not a challenge at all for a vegetarian! Soup is perfect for getting loads of goodness in you, so it was time to make some pumpkin soup. Warming and seasoned with curry spices it was a winner, made me feel like I was on the road to being rid of the cold.

Another perfect recipe for when you have a cold is a hot toddy. If you’re a whisky lover then it’s great, if not then maybe skip the whisky and just make a honey and lemon, still good but the boozy warmth is what gives a hot toddy that great medicinal feeling! After a hearty bowl of soup I set about making one of these.

In a mug add…

2 shots of whisky, use whichever you like, this time I went for a single malt, Aberlour 12 year old. The juice of half a lemon. 1 tsp of honey, if you’re vegan then agave would work instead to add some sweetness.

…top it all off with boiling water and garnish with a slice of lemon and, if you like, a cinnamon stick or some cloves.

hot-toddy-ingredients

So the soup and a hot toddy or two seemed to do the trick for me, I’ve kindly shared my cold with my husband, let’s see if it works for him too!

Watermelon Wedge!

A Perfect Summer Cocktail – Watermelon Daiquiri

The sun came out the other weekend, it might be hard to believe but it did. So naturally I made cocktails!

I had a watermelon sat on the kitchen side waiting for something to be done with it. A bit of a foodie trend at the moment is making “watermelon water”, basically chopping up watermelon and blitzing it in a blender. It’s delicious and refreshing, but missing something… RUM!

I decided I could make watermelon daiquiris with the watermelon water. Invented in Cuba, a daiquiri’s main ingredients are rum, citrus juice and sugar. There’s lots of variations of this seen in bars everywhere with different kinds of fruits added to this base.

Get out and buy yourself a watermelon. Grab your favourite bottle of rum, a lime and some sugar or sugar syrup. This isn’t an exact science, it depends on how much citrus you like, how boozy you want your cocktail and how much of a sweet tooth you have. So have a mess around with the quantities to get it to your liking. I did a double shot of rum, half a shot of sugar syrup, the juice of a lime and then topped up my glass with the watermelon juice and some ice. I garnished it for an extra citrus kick with a wedge of lime and added a wedge of watermelon on the side to nibble on!

It’s the perfect summer drink, just keep your fingers crossed for some more sunshine.

Watermelon Daiquiri