Mrs. Claus's Christmas Soda

Mrs. Claus wants to share her favorite Christmas soda

with you, if you are looking for something festive

for the little ones on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.

This one is so simple, you will love it.

Mrs. Claus's Christmas Soda

1/8 C. Torani Flavored Syrup - Raspberry or Strawberry

(Mrs. Claus prefers something red)

Ice Cubes

1 Can Sprite, or Diet Sprite, if the elves are watching their calories

Whipped Cream (in the can)

Put ice in a tall glass.  Cover with 1/8 C. Torani Syrup.  

Add the Sprite, filling almost to the top. 

 Top with a generous serving of whipped cream.  

The whipped cream begins to melt into the drink, making

three beautiful layers.

Serve with red striped straws.  

Drink this anytime you want to feel a lift at Christmas.

(Often known as Italian Soda, but Mrs. Claus loves it so much,

she renamed it up in the North Pole.)

(To serve up to her little army of elves!)

It is so fun being in Germany now

where so many of our Christmas

decorations stem from.

Gingered Lemonade

Ice cold lemonade always brings

thoughts of summer and picnic

and porches. 

This easy lemonade is one

that you are going to want

to make over and over.

My friend Tammy made this for us

and my little granddaughter couldn't

get enough so we had to ask

for the recipe.

Imagine my surprise when all it was 

just two ingredients!

Gingered Lemonade

2 - 12 oz cans frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed

 2 liter bottle of Ginger Ale

Mix the frozen lemonade concentrate according

to package directions, substituting the ginger ale

for the water.  Add lots of ice to make it cool

and refreshing.  

Serve.

This is so refreshing and easy and

you can have the ingredients on hand

to make some for company any time.

Or perfect for a summer picnic

or BBQ.

Wish you could sit out on the back deck

with me and enjoy a glass.

Swamp Water Punch - Drink At Your Own Risk

Are you looking for something different

to serve as a drink this year for

Halloween?  How about

Swamp Water?

Every year at Purple Chocolat Home we

host a Halloween Dinner where all

kinds of silly and spooky food is served.

This year we will be featuring a fun

creation that Beaulah  came up with.

Swamp Water

a murky greenish drink straight

out of the swamp.

Not really, it is a fruity punch that is

delicious, it only looks murky and swampish!

If you are like me, you have been seeing these

fun mini milk bottles for parties all over

blogland.   Beaulah just insisted that we

needed our Swamp Water in something

a little better than a plastic cup.

So of course I got online and started looking.

Celebrations at Home

mentioned that there didn't seem

to be a reasonable source for these 

in the US and she 

gave a great suggestion -

purchase Starbuck's Frappucino Drinks

which can be purchased at Target for 

around $5 for 4,

and remove the labels.

You can transform these inexpensive drink

bottles easily.  I could get 16 of them for what a set of

6 were going to cost before shipping and theirs

were so mini that they didn't make much sense.

So Beaulah and I flew to the store and 

dragged them home.

Beaulah and I don't care for coffee drinks so we just emptied

the bottles, soaked them in water and

used a little Goo Gone to get rid of

any remaining glue.

Tip Junkie had links to tons of 

free Halloween Printables.

She connected  me with Fantasy Jr. and I found

exactly what I was looking for - 

labels for Swamp Water.

We

reduced them by 50% and printed them on

clear label paper.  After cutting them to

size, just peel and stick.  

The labels and bottles along with purple

striped paper straws really make

our Halloween drink fun.

(I got the straws at a local scrapbooking

store, Pebbles In My Pocket, but you can

find them online just by googling paper straws).

Swamp Water Recipe

1 - 46 oz. Dole Pineapple juice

1- 12 oz limeade concentrate, thawed

1 - 14 oz. sweetened condensed milk

(this makes the punch murky)

24 oz. water

24 oz. 7 Up or Sprite

Americolor's Electric Green Food color

Blue food color

Mix everything together , adding the food coloring

until you get the murky green you want.  

Serve chilled or over ice.

Serve this up in these fun glasses for your 

Halloween party!

The family already tested this one out and it is

a hit.  Thanks Beaulah and thanks to

Celebrations at Home,  Tip Junkie

and Fantasy Jr. for helping us create such

a fun presentation for our Halloween drink.

Beaulah and I want to take this

party drink to 

Foodie Friday

Sweets For A Saturday

Weekend Wrapup

Seasonal Sundays

On The Menu Monday

Metamorphosis Monday

Wow Us Wednesday

Monster Mash

Wickedly Creative Halloween Party

I'm Lovin It Friday

Inspiration Friday

Butterbeer & Pumpkin Juice - The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Walk past Hagrid's hut

and

 join me in the Wizarding

World of Harry Potter

Where you can buy Rosmerta's famous Butterbeer

on the streets.

Or a glass of pumpkin juice, all made famous

by the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling.

Let's start with Butterbeer.

Butterbeer is a non-alcoholic drink served

in Hogsmeade.  You can buy it in two forms,

cold and "frozen" which refers to a slushy drink.

Butterbeer at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

had a very distinctive foam or head on it.  It

automatically gives one a white mustache just like

Hermione gets in the movie.  When you examine

it, it is sticky like marshmallow cream only thinner.

It is a cream soda base with hints of a buttered

rum.

I looked up some recipes on the internet and

none were quite right.

So here are the easy recipes I have come up with

using ingredients that are readily available.

Butterbeer Recipe

1/2 C. Torani's Caramel Flavoring 

1 tsp. butter flavoring

1 tsp. rum flavoring

1 liter Cream Soda

1/2 C. marshmallow cream

1/2 C. whipping cream

Place the marshmallow cream and cream in a small bowl

and microwave 20 seconds.  Stir until smooth.  

Mix the

 caramel syrup.  and the flavorings.  Pour

in the Cream Soda.

(You could use a caramel flavored coffee cream in place

of the Torani's if you can't find that.)

Pour into  mugs and then top with the a little of the

marshmallow cream foam.

The foam will float on the top and as it sits for

a minute, it starts to bubble.  This head or foam really

adds to the taste of the drink too.

I purchased the fun Hogwart's mugs at one of

the Universal Studios stores.

(This is the combined marshmallow cream and cream.)

The Frozen Butterbeer is just a slushy version

so I placed it in my ice cream maker until slushy

then topped it with the foam.

Pumpkin juice is a beverage often served

at Hogwart's Castle to the students.

 It can

also be found in Hogsmeade.

Pumpkin juice is an iced slightly orange colored drink

with a base of apple juice and hints of mulling (not muggle)

spices.

Pumpkin Juice

2 T. Stephens Gourmet Hot Cocoa Pumpkin Spice

powdered mix

4 T. warm water

4 C. apple juice

Mix the powdered mix and water together and

whisk until smooth.  Mix with apple juice.  This

was more milky than theirs so I poured it through

several layers of cheesecloth to remove the milk

solids.

Serve over ice.

Then while playing "mad scientist" trying to unearth

Rosmerta's Secret Recipes which she refused to

give out, we stumbled upon our new creation and

probably our favorite.

Pumpkinbeer

2 T. Stephen's Gourmet Hot Cocoa Pumpkin Spice Mix

4 T. warm water

4 C. Cream Soda

Mix the Pumpkin Spice Mix and the warm water. Pour

it into the Cream Soda.  (Now this combination reacts and

you get a lot of foam - that you don't want because you want

to add your own.  Just scoop it off.)

Top with the foam recipe above.

(Yes, it actually snows inside the castle, not plastic flakes

but real bits of ice that melt when they land on your skin!)

For more of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

at Universal Studios in Florida visit my

post on a trip to .Hogsmeade.

Click here for printable recipe.

This is my 100th post!  I am so pleased to be

having so much fun blogging and want to thank

all who have supported me in this.  I am within

3 people of reaching 500 followers.  I will be

holding a giveaway to celebrate both of these

in a future post (when I reach 500!)

I will be posting this on

Foodie Fridays

and

Show and Tell Fridays

Witches In The Woods "Tea Party" & Wicked Hot Chocolate

Wandering through the woods today,

Weary, watchful, yet wishing for play.

I spied four crones set down for tea

Wondering what was ahead for me.

"Come sit, my deary, don't you fear

Why, oh why are you wandering here?"

I couldn't run, I couldn't fly,

All I could think was, my, oh my!

Yes, warty crones as you can see,

But friendly, friendly as can be.



                               

Such fancy ladies, here they sat,

Please oh please don't serve stewed bat.

No, no, stewed bat, not that today,

Just graveyard cupcakes, what do you say?

Yes, graveyard cupcakes filled with dirt,

Spiders and snake canapes, yuck, they squirt! 

How about a tasty apple, just quite ripe?

Oh, I'm glad it isn't tripe.

Now this was not my kind of feast

But who would argue, I'm not a beast.

The gals were great, the time was grand

Now was the time to shake their hand.

Twas time to go, I had to say.

"Oh, no, you can't, no,  you must stay."

Wait, one more treat, before you go.

Please try our own Wicked Cocoa.

Ah yes, now this is quite a treat.

Those crones with warts were kinda neat.

Silly girls, that's not a broomstick!

Wicked Hot Chocolate Recipe

(Custard based recipe)

2 1/2 C. milk

2 T. cornstarch

1/2 C. sugar

2 egg yolks

 1 1/2 C. semi-sweet chocolate

In heavy saucepan mix milk, cornstarch and sugar.

Over medium heat, bring to a simmer.  Place egg

yolks in a bowl and slowly add 1/2 C. hot milk mix

to the eggs to temper the eggs, then blend the eggs

into the remaining milk.  Cook over medium low until

the custard begins to coats the back of a spoon. 

Add the chocolate - adding more or less chocolate to

 your taste.  Stir until the chocolate is mixed in.

Flavor as desired with peppermint, almond, orange, cinnamon

or rum flavoring.

Top with sweetened whipped cream

(As seen on Paula Deen - Workaholic Hot Chocolate.)

Graveyard Cupcake Tower Recipe

Make any chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing

then dip in graveyard dirt.  They are best if there

is a little root attached.  Skewer into a tower, let

spiders climb freely.

Wiggly Squiggly Canapes Recipe

Cut off bread crusts.  Spread with anything

oozing that you have on hand.  Cut snakes into

bite sized pieces and sandwich between two

breads.  For the spider ones, try to catch live

spiders and trap them in the gooey filling.

You can also use weeds and twigs as fillings.

Sprinkle with a little extra graveyard dirt.

Rotten Apples

Just gather any rotten apples off the ground.  Guests

really like the wormy ones.  Serve in a nice container.

One of our lovely ladies wanted to say goodbye.

"Pucker up and give us a big Pink smooch.

Don't be afraid, warts aren't catchy."

Wouldn't you just love to blow a kiss

to all our blog party hosts for hosting such

fun blog parties?

The ladies will be flying on over to

Centerpiece Wednesday

Tablescapes Thursday

Foodie Fridays

The All Halloween Bash

Lady Katherine's Tea Party

Tuesday Tea For Two

and

Pink Saturday.

(They are such party girls!)

Green Faced Witch - Hand Made at a class at Roberts Craft

(Joni and I went together and each made one years ago.)

Black and Black and Orange Witch - Tai Pan

Book Reading Witch - Home Goods

Plates and Cups and Pitcher - Home Goods

Footed Cake Platter - K Mart

Chandelier and Bird - Tai Pan

A big thanks to my lovely daughter Amanda

and her friend Jill, without their help this

tablescape would not have happened.  They

helped haul the lovely ladies and all the

trappings up the canyon to the haunted

forest. It was a huge job.

Beaulah hopes you like her friends.  She wants

you to enter the Giveaway for a beautiful

Velvet Witch Hat.