Cocktail Hour: Bourbon Slush

It's summer and the living is easy. We spent the weekend front-porching and relaxing by a river at a ranch with old friends. And after a full day sweating it out in the sun, having a refreshing slush waiting in the freezer was pretty amazing. What bourbon too? I could feel the unwinding down to my sunburnt toes.

This make ahead wonder is fabulous for a summer crowd. It's ice-y texture and sweet, tart flavor hits the spot.

Bourbon Slush

6oz frozen lemonade, thawed

12oz frozen OJ, thawed

2 cups good-quality bourbon

3 tablespoons sugar

2 cups brewed tea, cooled

5 cups water

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and stir until sugar dissolves. Cover and freeze for at least 6 hours. Remove from freezer about 10 minutes before serving and stir to "slush it up." Serve and enjoy!

Earl Grey Panna Cotta

Okay... so this is not low fat. Not even a little, but hey, it was for a party. Plus the pregnant ladies needed the calcium in all that whole milk and cream. I came to this recipe because I was looking for something that I could do in individual servings AND that I could make ahead of time.

Panna cotta is almost as simple as dessert comes and a teacup offers baby shower level cuteness. Plus once you learn the basic recipe, there are nearly endless variations of flavors and toppings.

Plus this adorable dessert gave me a chance to use all of my mom's and Grammie's pretty china. If you can't use it for a party, when can you?

It starts with warm milk, cream and gelatin...gently stirred until the gelatin dissolves and steam just starts to rise.

Remove from heat and allow to steep. If Earl Grey's not your thing, you could do vanilla bean or lavender here. Lavender is going to be my next round. It's one of my favorite smells and I'm interested to experiment with it as a flavor.

Gently ladle into tea cups or small bowls. These need to refrigerate at least overnight or you can make two days ahead like I did.

I added a saran wrap on top while the pudding was still warm to avoid pudding skin. Pudding skin reminds me of a cafeteria or an old folks home. Not cute for a party. Say no to pudding skin.

Remove from the fridge for a few minutes before serving to take the cold edge off and remove your skin-preventing saran. There may be a few wrinkles in the panna cotta from the wrap, but nothing a light dusting of cinnamon can't fix. A squeeze of honey would be good too.

Earl Grey Panna Cotta
Makes 24 individual servings

6 cups cream
6 cups whole milk
1 oz unflavored gelatin
2 cups sugar
6 Earl Grey tea bags

Pour milk an cream in large pot and sprinkle gelatin. Turn heat on low and stir until gelatin dissolves completely. Add sugar; stir until dissolved and continue just until milk begins to steam. Remove from heat and steep tea bags for 30 minutes.

Ladle into teacups or small ramekins. Place plastic wrap on the surface of the milk and smooth out wrinkles. Refrigerate overnight.

Remove from refrigerator 15-30 minutes before serving. Remove plastic wrap and lightly dust with cinnamon.


Oh yeah... it the spirit of being transparent, I promote consumption of milk at my job. I was not asked to write this, nor compensated. Secret's out... milk is good for you. Have you heard?