Grown-up Raspberry Lemonade

If you know me well, you know I love making up on-the-spot recipes with whatever I have laying around. I love it with the intensity of one thousand burning suns.

Okay, maybe not that much. But who doesn't enjoy the feeling of creating? Making new things, broadening horizons, expanding the palette?

Well, this one doesn't exactly "expand the palette", but it did have me beaming. It also turned my husband into a drink-stealing ninja.

Grown-up Raspberry Lemonade

Hubs really wanted pop yesterday (Minnesotans say, "pop"), so we went and got some 25 cent drink at Rainbow. Oh, cheap but close-to-the-real-thing sodas, how I equally love and loath your existence! 

Being not much of a pop drinker, I was grateful for his buying me one, but also had to figure out what to do with it to make it, well, something I actually wanted to consume. This, this lovely, delicious, sweet, mouth-watering treat of a drink, was the result.

Surely this will be in heaven. Minus the cheapie soda.

Friends, I tell you. If you're an enjoyer of the occasional alcoholic beverage, you must try this drink. Especially if you like lemonades! You owe yourself this favor. And this lemonade... it's all grown up.

And the recipe is:

Grown-up Raspberry Lemonade

1 can of carbonated lemon-lime drink (sprite, 7-up, Sierra Mist, what have you)

1/2 packet Crystal Light raspberry lemonade

1/2 tbsp rum

Combine and stir.

Add a slice of lemon and you've got yourself your own little party for one!

I'll be honest, here. I didn't use the whole can of pop. The whole contents wouldn't fit in the glass, and I just couldn't leave one sip in there all by its lonesome. It probably wouldn't make a difference to add the rest, though.

Happy weekend! Please drink responsibly.

Spicy Citrus Pork Roast

My husband has to be one of the best picky eaters in the world. Not a huge surprise to me, since his mom spent the majority of his teen years actually trying to make new things he had never had before, but he used to throw things away if he didn't like it or just wasn't sure about it. He has come a long way since then, folks. And that is why I call him Mr. Wonderful. He tries every new thing I make (even the occasional vegetable, but he's not quite okay with those yet), and eats it. And often-times, even likes it!

Mr. Wonderful's love of my cooking doesn't make me dance in the kitchen with glee just because of some vain satisfaction I get out of being the Queen of the Kitchen. No. It's because most of the things he loves come straight from my mind to the table. He is simply flabbergasted that I can look into the fridge, pantry, and freezer and piece together a meal without looking at a recipe online, or running to the store to get things I need. It's really what I do. Seriously! And last night it went oh so well for me.

Doc recently returned back from his home with a huge bag of grapefruit. Now, I didn't doubt that he would eat all of that stuff before it went bad, but he was a little concerned about it. So I told him I'd use one and come up with a recipe for it. After all, we did have a big grocery trip coming up, so I looked at the sales and picked a nice pork roast, and whoa, there it was. A sweet, sweet idea. Oh, and little spicy.

Here's how to make Spicy Citrus Pork:

Ingredients: 1 pork roast (mine was 2-3 lbs)
1 cup Ginger-ale
1 large grapefruit, cut in fourths
1 golden delicious apple, cut in half
1 onion, chopped/diced
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4-1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp crushed red pepper (or to taste)
1/2 tsp coriander
salt, to taste

Directions: In a small bowl, mix cayenne pepper, black pepper, crushed red pepper, and coriander. Rub onto pork and allow to marinate in fridge for at least half an hour.
Before putting roast in crock pot, add 1/4-1/2 cup water (I always do this to prevent sticking and help with moisture). Place pork roast in crock pot. Add half of the grapefruit, and both apple halves around roast, and onion on top and around. Pour Ginger-ale over entire roast. Add salt.
Cook on high for six hours or low for eight to ten hours.

The other half of the grapefruit we squeezed into a pitcher, leaving a slice of grapefruit inside, and added the rest of the Ginger-ale. It made a nice complimentary drink with our meal. Next time I do this, I'm going to try cooking it in Coca-cola instead of Ginger-ale, but this was really good!