Italian Cream Soda

After visiting Italy so much this summer, I've been inspired by their cooking (and their wine!). One thing I've always wanted to make at home is Italian cream sodas. I'm not a soda drinker at all, so this may seem a little weird. But the cream sodas always look so pretty and refreshing. I couldn't wait to try it out myself.

Strawberry vanilla cream soda

The basic recipe is so simple, even the Hubs could do it! All you need is a bit of sparkling water (or club soda, but I found I like the water best. Club soda has a bitter aftertaste), your favorite flavored syrups, and a splash of cream. There are all kinds of syrups to choose from, but two popular brands are Monin and Torani. 

Ingredients

The cool thing about these syrups is that you can pick from a huge variety of flavors. And, you can mix flavors to make your own yummy combinations! I've included a list at the bottom of some possible flavor combos to help inspire you. I stuck with fruity flavors because that's what I tend to like. But I'd love to hear from you about other combos, maybe involving chocolate and caramel??? 

On this night, I especially wanted to try a raspberry vanilla soda. The Kid wanted to test out pina colada. We got down to business...

I began by adding the syrup to an empty glass. I often see people adding ice first, but I think the soda mixes better if you add the ice after. Whatever floats your boat, my friends! The amount of syrup really depends on you, your taste, and the sweetness level of the syrup. 3 tablespoons is a good average. For example, The Kid's pina colada mix was much sweeter than expected, so we added a little less. Using raspberry alone was a bit tart, so we added a splash more.

You got that so far? Good.

 Next, add your sparkling water, around ¾ cup. The syrup and water will blend a little naturally, but give it a little stir too before adding your ice. Add enough ice to fill the cup, but leave a small gap at the top to add 1 tablespoon of cream.

Syrup plus sparkling water

A word about cream: I made an interesting discovery with my pal Michelle one day as I made these (for like the 10th time, they're so good!). Never, ever use the fat free junk you see in my pic. I used this because it's what the Hubs brought me home, instead of the full fat organic kind I normally like.

Boys never get the right stuff at the grocery store, do they?

Anyway. Not only is organic better, but the full fat is pretty important. The no fat does ok for some flavor combinations, but if you add it to anything acidic… the cream breaks.  You know, that chunky ooky grossness that happens when you spoil your cream? Yeah, not pleasant. So the moral of the story is, always buy the half&half with the fat!

Pouring in the cream 

Gently stir in your fatty cream (I use my straw, no sense dirtying up another utensil), then top with whipped cream if you want. Note: You should always want to top your Italian cream soda with whipped cream.

Add a cherry, strawberry, or other garnish, and you're done!

I'm curious to hear what flavor combinations you come up with, so be sure to comment below peeps. I've included some possibilities to get your brain juices flowing. And, of course, the standard recipe is below.

Until next time my friends, happy cooking!

Thanks for reading, everyone!

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The Standard Form:

Italian Cream Soda

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons of your favorite syrup, or combination of syrups (Torani or Monin are good brands)

¾ cup sparkling mineral water

1 tablespoon cream or half n half (full fat, no reduced fat)

Whipped cream, optional
Garnishes, if desired

Directions:

Add your choice of syrups to the bottom of a glass. Stir in the sparkling mineral water. Add ice to glass, stopping one inch below rim. Stir in the cream. Top with whipped cream and garnish with fresh fruit, if desired.

Flavor suggestions:

Blackberry Cucumber, Cherry Vanilla, Cherry Lime, Cranberry Lime, Cucumber Melon, Cucumber Watermelon, Guava Mango, Mango Coconut, Peach Vanilla, Pina Colada, Raspberry Lime, Raspberry Mango, Raspberry Mint, Raspberry Peach, Raspberry Pineapple, Raspberry Vanilla, Strawberry Coconut, Strawberry Kiwi, Strawberry Lemon, Strawberry Mango, Strawberry Peach, Strawberry Tangerine, Strawberry Watermelon, Tangerine Peach, Watermelon Kiwi, Watermelon Lime, Watermelon Mint

Garnish suggestions:

Whipped cream, maraschino cherries, wedges of fresh fruit, lemon and lime slices, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, coconut flakes

French Press Iced Coffee

Remember a few months ago, when I was all excited about my new French press? Well… I still totally love it! Of course, now that summer has come to Germany, I'm not much in the mood for hot coffee in the mornings. But I still like that little caffeine hit. Dilemma, dilemma.

I spend a lot of my mornings at our local Java Cafe, hard at work blogging and editing photos. Like many places in Germany, there is no air-conditioning only fans. On a whim, I ordered an iced coffee one morning, and that's when it struck me.

Why couldn't I do this myself at home??

If you know me at all, then you know what happened next.

Iced coffee happened, peeps! But not just any iced coffee. This is a cold-brewed, French press version of iced coffee.

I know, I'm pretty awesome.

This chilly beverage was so yummy, even Lucy was begging for it (I accidentally spilled a little, which she quickly gobbled up).

The only catch to this recipe is the amount of time it takes to cold-brew the coffee. This isn't something you can prepare last minute, unless you keep some of the coffee 'concentrate's your fridge (which I am!). Basically, the coffee needs at east 12 hours to brew, but it's super easy. Here is what you need to get started:

French press and your favorite ground coffee, that's it. I gotta be straight up with you, my friends. Dunkin' Donuts is the best coffee ever. I will assume you agree.

To your French press, add ½ cup ground coffee (I'll pretend you are all using Dunkin') and 3 cups of COLD water. The water must be cold, no hot-brewing for us! While the cold-brew technique takes longer, I find it produces a much smoother coffee base, which I like. Gently stir things around, then replace the lid on your French press. But don't push down the plunger yet!!!!

Just so you understand the importance of this, let me repeat myself. Don't push down the plunger, people, I mean it!  Things should look a little bit like this:

Notice the position of the plunger, ok?

Now, you just walk away. That's right, walk away. For at least twelve hours. I like to mix this at night, then I'm all set for iced coffee in the morning.

Technically, iced coffee would simply be coffee served over ice. You can totally wake up in the morning, press down the plunger, and pour your cold-brewed coffee over ice. OR, you can make this sweeter, flavored version that I think is awesome. Completely up to you.

Here's what you do: Fill 4 glasses to the rim with ice (or one glass, or two. This recipe makes 4 servings, but you can store your extra cold-brewed coffee in the fridge for a week or so). Pour ¼ cup of half-n-half in each glass, and ½ - 1 tablespoon of the flavoring of your choice. I chose vanilla (and used ½ tablespoon), but you could easily use caramel, hazelnut, peppermint… anything really.

Then, top each glass with ¾ cup of the cold-brewed coffee. Stir, and enjoy your awesomeness.

As usual, the standard recipe is below. This is a basic recipe, with lots of options for customizing. Try different coffees, flavored creamers, various syrups or spices. I love the idea of a caramel and sea salt creation! In fact, I think I'll try that next.

Until next time, my friends!

Thanks for reading, everyone!

Follow me on Facebook @ OurArmyLifeAccordingToTheWife

or on Pinterest, my newest obsession @ ArmyLifeFromTheWife

Email me: armylifefromthewife@gmail.com

The Standard Form:

Basic Iced Coffee

(Cold-Brewed)

Ingredients:

½ cup ground coffee

3 cups cold water

1 cup half-half

up to 4 tablespoons of vanilla syrup

Directions:

To begin, cold brew your coffee. Add the ground coffee to your French press, then top with the 3 cups of cold water. Gently stir the mixture, then place the lid on your French press but DO NOT press the plunger down. Allow the coffee to sit 12 hours or overnight.

After the coffee has time to brew, press down the plunger on your French press, gently. This will create your coffee “concentrate”, about 3 cups

To make the iced coffee: Fill 4 glass to the rim with ice. (use ice cubes made from coffee if you want to be really creative!). Pour ¼ cup half-n-half in the bottom of each glass, and up to 1 tablespoon of vanilla syrup (or syrup flavor of your choice). Top with ¾ cup coffee. Stir and enjoy!

Other mix-in ideas: flavored syrups (hazelnut, caramel, vanilla, peppermint), chocolate syrup, sugar, sea salt, fudge, and cinnamon  

Cucumber Mint Agua Fresca

Since most of the country is experiencing droughts and heatwaves (including us!), I thought a crisp, energizing drink was appropriate this week. What do you think?

How about now? Looks delicious, doesn't it? It tastes just as good as it looks too. Cool, refreshing... exactly what you need on a hot summer day.

The best part is the ease of the recipe... only 10 minutes from start to finish, but people will think you slaved for hours. This is a great beverage for impressing guests, or the in-laws.

What is this bounty of goodness, you wonder? Why, it's agua fresca (or fresh water in Spanish), commonly sold by street vendors in Mexico and Central America. In this particular case, I've made Cucumber Mint Agua Fresca. 

Frescas can be made from many, many different fruits. Maybe next time I'll try watermelon, or papaya... perhaps mango or pineapple. The choices are endless. And all of them are yummy! But for today, we'll stick with the cucumber and mint, since those are the ingredients I found in my fridge.

The necessities

The ingredients are simple: 2 cucumbers (plus one more for garnish), 12 mint leaves (plus more for garnish), 4 cups of cold water, 1 lime, and a bit of sugar (not pictured, oops).

To start, peel two of the cucumbers. I use a regular veggie peeler, it works great! Then, chop up the pieces and toss it all in a blender. Don't worry about the seeds for now.

Chopped cucumber

A couple other items need to make their way into the blender too: your 12 mint leaves, 2 cups of the water, and the juice from your lime. I don't get fancy when juicing the lime. I just cut it in half and squeeze it right over the blender. No worries about the seeds, either. We'll take care of that later.

Next step? Blend away!

It only takes a few pulses before everything is liquified. You want to let this mixture sit for a little bit, so all the flavors blend together. I left mine for about 10 minutes, but as long as you wait a good 5 minutes, everything will be fine. Anything less than that is asking for disaster (kidding, kidding!).

At this point, the mix should look a little something like this:

Blended goo 

Not exactly appetizing yet, is it? It gets better, I promise.

If you've left the green goo alone for a while, it can be strained now. You want to use a fine mesh strainer... trust me on this. The objective here is to get all the juice, but as little of the pulp and seeds as possible. Here's what mine looked like before and after:

Before and after

On the left, we have the green, slushy goo. On the right, yummy goodness.

Almost done now!

Here, you have a choice to make. You can either add in the last two cups of water, or you can add a little sparkle with some seltzer water instead. The choice is up to you. I went with still water today, and likely always. Bubbles make me sneeze.

You might also want to mix in a bit of sweetener. You can use sugar, Splenda, Equal, even agave nectar. Whatever floats your boat. I naturally gravitate to the straight sugar. A couple tablespoons is all I need, but you add as much or as little as you like.

Stir it all together, and that's it! Yummy goodness, ready for consumption.

If you want to be 'fancy' with your presentation, it's easy. Grab a hurricane glass, or some other bar glass. Use a mandolin to thinly slice your extra cucumber. Fill the glass with a combination of ice, sliced cucumber, and mint leaves. Top with the agua fresca, then add a lime wedge to the side of your glass.

Viola!

Cucumber Mint Agua Fresca! 

So, don't let yourself melt this summer. Whip up a batch of these babies and listen to your friends oohhh and ahhhh over your crazy culinary skills.

Happy blending!



The Standard Form:

Cucumber Mint Agua Fresca

Ingredients:

2 cucumbers, peeled and chopped

12 fresh mint leaves

4 cups cold water

1 lime, juiced

Sugar, to taste

For garnish: 1 cucumber, thinly sliced. Extra mint leaves. Lime wedges.

Directions:

Add the chopped cucumber, mint leaves, lime juice, and 2 cups of the water to a blender. Blend until mostly smooth. Allow mixture to rest for at least 5 minutes, and up to 30 minutes.

Strain mixture through a fine mesh strainer. Combine the strained juice with the remaining 2 cups of water. Sweeten to taste.

Serve in a tall glass with ice, sliced cucumber, and mint leaves. Add a lime wedge to edge of glass. 

Guest Blog: "The Kid's" World View

For the past several weeks I've been lucky enough to have my mom and youngest sister visiting with me. Being married to the military means the Hubs and I move often, with no idea how close we might be to family at any given moment. When opportunities arise for an actual face-to-face visit, we definitely take advantage!  

Currently, we're about 1900 miles apart from my youngest sis and a large chunk of the Fam. This week, that distance shortened to about 50 feet (the distance from my master bedroom to my guest bedroom!) 

Whenever my littlest sis visits (let's call her The Kid, kay?), we like to test out new things, whether that be food or experiences, or... well.... whatever. Annnnnnddddddd, despite the fact she is glaring at me right this very instant, one new experience I thought she should try is blogging! 

So, here goes! Insight via The Kid is now at your disposal. I'm sure she'll be enlightening. Or possibly annoying. Maybe even perspicacious (look it up, people!). Whatever she is, I know it will be great entertainment. Enjoy! 

Okay well, despite popular belief, I'm not THAT annoying. Actually the only person I attempt to annoy as much as possible is The Freak, a.k.a. the chick who usually writes these things. But now I'm taking over, mwhahaha. Prepare yourselves.

So uh...I'm guess I'm just gonna tell you about random food I have obtained from World Market.

First off...PINK HOT CHOCOLATEE! Okay, well...it was supposed to be pink.

By the way, when I was warming up the milk, I did in fact manage to get it on the cabinets... BUT DON'T TELL MY SISTER! And don't ask how it happened, just...don't. Anyways, once all the milk was removed from the cabinets and placed appropriately into the mug, we kinda discovered that it was more white than pink. Stupidly deceiving labels on random foreign food...ANY WHO! In an attempt to make it more beautiful, I delicately placed whipped cream and sprinkles on it. Quite gorgeous I must say.

Unfortunately, this gloriousness didn't last very long. In an attempt to get a better picture of the finished product my darling older sister took this cup of magic out onto the balcony and guess what happened?

She murdered it.

BAM! All my hard work spilled onto the concrete.

I know this gruesome scene may be hard to look at... I apologize.  I almost cried myself, and you know what? I think The Freak planned this. Have me make a stunning *coughcough*ugly*coughcough* hot chocolate and then terminate it in front of me. Heartbreaking, isn't it? Oh well, c'est la vie. 

Even though it was ruined, The Freak and I tried to take one last picture to show off the drink. Very Vouge, isn't it?

Buuuut, I still drank it... I just couldn't resist. I must say it tasted very odd. Definitely not like normal hot chocolate. It tasted more like milk with some sort of mysterious substance in it. I'm not sure if it's suppose to taste like this, OR if during our balcony adventure some deadly toxin creeped its way in. If so... well, my sister drank it to so you're going to have to find some entertainment other than her ramblings.

Some of the other random, foreign foods we tested? Here you go:

 

Possibly more coming soon... if you're lucky. Anyways, I guess it's time for me to go. Bye bye strangers of the unknown! I return you to The Freak...


Ahem... the Freak? Well, KID... I'm going to remember that at Christmas. And I'm going to inspect those cabinets!!

I hope you've all enjoyed the entertainment stylings of my littlest sis... she's something else, isn't she? Hopefully, we'll be hearing from her on occasion in the near future.  I love that snarky attitude and random insightful musings. Until then, I'll keep you posted!