Everyone loves a tasty, refreshing drink with their meals and the holidays are the perfect time to celebrate with drinks you might not normally indulge in. I like my drinks to go along with the festivities so I have a trio of red, white and green drinks that I always keep on hand at this time of year. The first is a tropical red punch that is so easy to make. Equal parts pineapple juice and orange juice with as much grenadine as you care to use, stir everything together, you don’t even need a blender. Don’t forget to add some ice. To make it a little bubbly you can also add some ginger ale. Garnished with a cherry or a pineapple slice shaped like a star makes it look refreshing and festive.
For my white drink, I serve the classic piña colada. All you need is crushed ice, pineapple juice and cream of coconut. You can use equal parts of the pineapple juice and the cream of coconut, or more of whichever flavor you prefer. Just blend until smooth. For more flavor you can add frozen pineapples to the blend. I’ve even tried it with pineapple and/or coconut ice cream. Yum! You can also garnish this drink with cherries and/or pineapples.
Now while these first two drinks can be enjoyed by all, you can make them adult only drinks by adding the liquor of your choice. Personally, I prefer rum with both, but I’ll leave that up to you.
The last of my trio of festive drinks, strictly for adults and green in color, is the apple martini. Although easy to make, it is a little time consuming because you usually make this one drink at a time with a shaker. You may use any glassware you choose, but for a more festive look chill your glasses first and have two bowls ready, one with apple juice to dip the top of your glasses into, and the second one with sugar to dip your glasses into to make them look like they have ice crystals. Once that’s done, combine about a half a shaker of ice with an ounce of apple juice, and one to two teaspoons of lemon juice. Shake well then add an ounce and a ¼ of green apple Schnapps and an ounce and a ½ of vodka and shake some more. Then pour your drink into your glass and garnish with a slim green apple slice that was brushed with lemon juice.
These are my three holiday season drinks that I make every year. I hope you enjoy them enough to make them yours, too. Give them a try!
Aunt Carmen
