Horchata

Horchata from scratch. Enough said.

7 cups water
1 1/3 cup long grain white rice
2-3 Mexican cinnamon sticks, broken up
2/3 cups granulated sugar, or to taste
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 cup milk, any kind

Combine rice and cinnamon sticks with 5 cups of water in a blender and coarsely grind. Transfer to a large bowl and soak at room temperature for 3 - 8 hours.

Puree the rice mixture in a blender (in batches, if necessary) until smooth. Strain through cheesecloth or a fine sieve at least twice. Mix in the sugar, the remaining 2 cups water, and milk. Transfer to a pitcher and chill.

Stir horchata well before serving. Pour over ice for the perfect summer treat.

Makes approximately 2 quarts.

Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

Is there anything better than a mug of hot cocoa after playing in the snow on a chilly day? Not really. And now you can make your own mix! I usually whisk up two batches of this per winter for our family. So easy and no funny ingredients. 

2 1/2 cups powdered milk*
2 cups bakers cocoa
2 cups brown sugar, lightly packed
1/4 tsp kosher salt (optional)
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)

* I've found that the very fine powdered milk like Argason Farms (sold in a #10 can at Walmart) works better than the granulated powdered milk.

Whisk all ingredients together in a large bowl. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 5 1/2 cups of dry mix.

Mix 3-4 tablespoons hot cocoa mix with a cup of boiling water. Stir very well and enjoy! Cool with a little milk or half + half if desired.

Rhubarb Lemonade

... is very good, but might not be for everyone. Responses have varied from "hot dam; hit me again!" to "I never asked you for that recipe, Charlie Brown". Either way, there's just one way to find out, and it's not that tricky to make.


1 quart diced rhubarb

1 quart water

3/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons lemon juice/concentrate

dice the rhubarb. (if you like, here's where you can set aside a few pieces of crisp rhubarb to float in the drink once it's made.) put the rest of the diced rhubarb and water in a big pot & bring to a boil. cut/reduce heat, cover, and simmer ~10 minutes until very tender.

strain off pretty pink juice. I run it all once through a colander, and then a 2nd time through cotton cheesecloth. put the colander in a big pot or bowl. pour in the rhubarb mixture. you can use a big spoon to mash it until the juice goes through the cheesecloth into the bowl. add sugar & lemon juice, stirring until dissolved. then add a little more water/ice to taste. cool and chill before serving.

a real-nice refreshing summer drink. as with most things, I usually like to double the batch.

posted by English

real fake grape Gatorade

you like Gatorade? me too, but this is better. it tastes better, it’s cheaper and, unlike a lot of the Gatorade varieties out there, it doesn’t have brominated vegetable oil and stuff. (and then there’s all those empty plastic bottles to haul out to the curb every Thursday.)
it’s pretty simple:

1 can of juice concentrate
(I think grape is best but try orange, lemonade, fancy daiquiri, etc.)

1 tsp. salt

tap water


first, get your big pitcher and mix the juice concentrate with double the recommended amount of water: 6 cans instead of 3. now drop one teaspoon of salt in and mix it all up. the idea is to get a solution of electrolytes similar to that of your own physiology. this solution is pretty isotonic so it shouldn’t burst or wrinkle any of your membranes.

all this done, put it in the fridge to cool a while and then taste it. you can tweak the ratios a little if you find one kind of juice concentrate more or less sweet than others. and you can apply the same principles using lemon juice concentrate or to make an isotonic iced tea, etc. see, so easy. I even feel kind of ridiculous calling it a recipe: “dilute some juice and spoon some salt in.” enjoy.

posted by English