• Beverages
    10 best healthy smoothie recipes

    Good health is the key to a good life. It is important that we should be conscientious of what we put in our bodies. However, sometimes, we tend to falter. For instance, we might want grab a quick snack between meals. In such situations, it is best to have alternate healthy options at hand. Smoothies are the best way to satiate your hunger pangs. Here are 10 healthy smoothie recipes to help you maintain a good health.

    1. Apple and Kale Smoothie: This diet smoothie aids in weight loss and helps in detoxifying your body. Also known as Green Smoothie, this healthy drink combines apple, kale, celery and almond milk.

    2. Pineapple Banana Smoothie: Mix fruit smoothies are powered with a lot of nutrients. This recipe blends together pineapple juice, pineapple and banana together to give you a healthy fruit smoothie.

    3. Red Blush Smoothie: You can use frozen fruit such as frozen strawberries and raspberries along with almond or soy milk to make this healthy fruit smoothie. Mix in yogurt, if you want a creamy consistency.

    4. Berry Oat Smoothie: This drink works quite well as a breakfast smoothie. This breakfast smoothie recipe needs brown sugar, blueberries, rolled oats, yogurt and a dash of ginger.

    5. Vegan Chocolate Milkshake Smoothie: This is a perfect breakfast smoothie that aids in weight loss. This healthy smoothie recipe blends together silken tofu, cocoa powder, banana, fresh raspberries, spinach, flax meal and vanilla milk.

    6. Honeydew and Almond Smoothie: This delectable smoothies is one of the best healthy smoothies you can have for your breakfast. In this smoothie recipe, you combine together chopped honeydew melon, almond milk and a dash of honey.

    7. Cool Cucumber Smoothie: This diet smoothie is a great detoxifying agent as well as hydrating. Blend together cucumber, lime juice, water and add honey for a sweet flavor.

    8. Sunshine Smoothie: This delightful mix fruit smoothie combines the goodness of peaches, banana and mangoes. Sunshine Smoothie is one of the best and easiest frozen fruit smoothies you can make.

    9. Green of Forest Smoothie: This is a very good weight loss smoothie. It helps in detoxifying and is good for your skin and hair. This healthy smoothie combines together kiwi, banana, pineapple, celery stalks and spinach.

    10. Savory Smoothie: Made by blending together fresh mint, jalapeno pepper, honey and plain yogurt, this smoothie is quite a good filler for snack cravings. Garnish with cumin seeds and cilantro to give it a nice zing.

  • Beverages
    10 smoothies for a good health

    All healthy smoothies recipes include natural ingredients that are loaded with abundant nutrients, and they fill you up instantly. Smoothies not only are good nutrient supplements, they also help you in weight loss. Here are 10 healthy smoothie recipes that you can have when you are on the go.

    1. Frozen Fruit Smoothie: Frozen fruit smoothie recipes commonly use fruits like bananas, cherries and any kind of berries that you can find in frozen packs in the supermarket. Frozen banana with strawberries is quite commonly used in breakfast smoothie recipes as well.

    2. Fruit and Yogurt Smoothie: Yogurt is the most basic ingredient used in all healthy smoothie recipes. You can add fresh or canned juice for additional fruity flavor. Such healthy fruit smoothie recipes combine the goodness of fruit and the probiotic value of yogurt.

    3. Mix Fruit Smoothie: Mix fruit smoothie recipes combine the benefits of multiple fruits. For instance, you can use a mix of berries like blueberries, blackberries and strawberries. Or you can have a mix of pineapple and banana with a base of yogurt.

    4. Green Smoothie: If you are keen on weight loss, your dietitian or trainer will recommend good weight loss smoothie recipes for you. These generally include kale, apple, celery, lettuce, pear mixed with skim milk, or almond milk or soy milk.

    5. Peach Green Tea Smoothie: A combination of chilled green tea and peaches, this smoothie can be quite filling if you are on a diet. In addition to these two basic ingredients, this diet smoothie recipe calls for yogurt, banana and honey as well.

    6. Cinnamon Smoothie: This smoothie is quite apt as a breakfast smoothie. It tastes like cinnamon bun and has a pleasant aroma as well. This breakfast smoothie recipe requires you to blend together banana, almond milk, water, ground cinnamon, oats, and yogurt.

    7. Spinach and Avocado: This healthy smoothie is packed with protein and tastes delicious as well. This healthy smoothie recipe calls for spinach, avocado, banana, natural peanut butter and milk. Blend all these together and garnish with a small spinach leaf.

    8. Dark Chocolate Smoothie: Dark chocolate is full of antioxidants. This combination of unsweetened cocoa powder with chia seeds aids in weight loss and gives you a glowing skin as well.

    9. Papaya-Ginger: This healthy fruit smoothie recipe has a spicy twist to it, thanks to the hotness of ginger. With the laxative property of papaya, this smoothie helps in digestion and aids in weight loss as well.

    10. Banana Smoothie: The best healthy smoothie recipes have banana and yogurt as their default ingredients. With its high proportion of potassium and other minerals, banana smoothie is a sure shot way to good health.

  • Beverages
    The not-so-bloody history of Bloody Mary!

    Bloody Mary is one of the most intriguing drinks that one can come across. Often people think that this cocktail has something to do with the age-old myth used to scare children to sleep. However, sipping on a glass of Bloody Mary won’t conjure any spirit, instead it would definitely make you feel ecstatic. The Bloody Mary is a concoction that contains vodka, tomato juice and different spices and flavorings such as Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, piri piri sauce, beef consomm or bouillon, horseradish, celery, olives, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, lemon juice and/or celery salt. An amalgamation of so many different things is what makes it quite an interesting drink.

    If you wish to make your own bloody mary instead of going to the bar, there are a lot of DIY bloody mary recipes and the best part is you can mix and match different ingredients and try your hand at making your own bloody mary recipe! You can definitely research on the different types of blood mary and how to make them, but your research would be more interesting if you take a glimpse at its history.

    According to the story, the origins of the bloody mary can be traced back to an American bar, œThe New York Barin Paris. It was a bar opened by an American expatriate, Ted Sloan and it soon became the favorite hangout spots for famous Americans like Ernest Hemingway, Rita Hayworth, Humphrey Bogart and some Russians who escaped the Russian Revolution. A Russian bartender of this bar is credited with coming up with the first recipe of the bloody mary. He tried his hand at making different drinks and figured out that the russian vodka was favored by many customers. Thus, Fernand Petiot, the bartender began experimenting with drinks and finally found his perfect drink when he matched the vodka to œcanned tomato juice. This cocktail became an instant hit among his customers!

    After his stint in Paris where his drink was admired a lot, he moved to New York. In New York, he was offered a job at the plush King Cole Bar at the St. Regis Hotel. The New Yorkers weren’t impressed with this drink and demanded that he add some more flavor to it. That’s when he started making the drink with the different combination of tabasco sauce, cayenne pepper, etc. And as for the name, the story has it that a customer had suggested the name to Petiot as it was the name of a waitress at theBucket of Blood Bar, which the customer visited.

    Your Bloody Mary has undergone quite a few changes and the new Bloody Mary recipes are very popular among DIY enthusiasts.

  • Beverages
    The Margarita archives

    The world would be less interesting if everything in it didn’t have a story about it. These stories or legends have a certain appeal to it. Once you are familiar with it, you would start seeing the object in a different light altogether. These stories would give you an insight into what makes it what it is!

    Even your food and beverages have ancestors you can trace it back to. When you are sitting in a bar and sipping on some margarita, did you ever give it a thought about how it originated? Well, everything evolves and your favorite drink too has evolved. What was a simple margarita back then has been modified and now when you surf the internet for various margarita recipes, the list is endless.

    The origins of margarita is a bit murky as there are many stories behind it. One such popular belief is that it was invented by Carlos Danny Herrera at his restaurant Rancho La Gloria near Mexico. He had created this drink for the vivacious Ziegfeld dancer, Marjorie King. The story states that Ms. King was allergic to all sorts of spirits other than tequila. So, Herrera tried making a special drink for his customer with tequila, lime, and some salt. And this is the recipe of the first ever margarita.

    The second popular story is quite different. According to it, it was not some bartender who came up with the margarita recipe. Instead, it was a Texas socialite, Margaret Sames a.k.a Margarita Sames. It is believed that she had randomly mixed some spirits together and concocted this widely popular drink. However, if you wish to have a professional opinion, then the famous cocktail historian David Wondrich has something to say. After much research, he came to the conclusion that the margarita has evolved from a cocktail called œdaisy. Daisy was a mixture of citrus juice, alcohol and grenadine served with shaved ice. After a period of time, the Mexican tequila daisies became popularly known by its Spanish name œmargarita.

    There are a lot of assumptions about how the famous drink came into existence and these stories give you something to ponder on. If you wish to try your hand at making the original margarita, pour some tequila, Cointreau and lime juice in a cocktail shaker with some ice and shake it vigorously. Strain the drink into a martini glass and soak half the rim in water and half of it in salt. Add a lemon wedge on the rim and there, your original margarita is ready to serve. You can look up different margarita recipes on the internet and become a savvy bartender at your house parties!

  • Beverages
    Sugar, spice and different margaritas with ice!

    The Margarita that originated from the Mexican tequila œdaisies is not the same anymore. With changing times and popular tastes, the margarita too has undergone modifications. If you are a fan of the original margarita, then you ought to try the other variants of this drink as well. You won’t be disappointed! These different versions of the original margarita are a result of people’s creative abilities which are not limited only to fine arts. Concocting a different cocktail is as creative as painting the sunset! So, the next time you hold a house party and wish to play the perfect host, try out these margarita variants.

    • The Blackberry Grapefruit Margarita – If you are a fruit lover and harbor a strong liking for tequila, this would be the perfect drink for you. All you need is some Blanco tequila, freshly-squeezed grapefruit, lime juice, agave nectar, sparkling water, and sugar or salt to add to the rim. Pour this mixture into the cocktail shaker and shake vigorously. Strain the margarita into the glasses and run a lime around the rim, then sprinkle it with sugar or salt! Your Blackberry Grapefruit Margarita is ready.
    • The Red Chile Margarita – Your classic poolside margarita just got interesting. If spice is your life, then this drink wouldn’t disappoint you. Concoct your own Red Chile Margarita by mixing some muddled red pepper, Cointreau, Herradura tequila, lime juice, simple syrup and a pinch of cilantro in the cocktail shaker. Don’t forget to garnish it with a slice of red pepper!
    • The Strawberry Sriracha Margarita – Your search for sugar, spice, and everything nice ends here. The Strawberry Sriracha Margarita is a pleasure to your senses. Mix some chopped strawberry, agave nectar, tequila, Cointreau and ½ tsp sriracha in a blender. After the potion is ready, strain it into a sugar rimmed glass and your margarita is ready to serve!
    • The Kiwi Margarita – If you are into green drinks, then this drink would fit your bill perfectly. You would need these ingredients to make your own Kiwi Margarita- grand mariner, tequila, kiwi syrup, lime juice and kiwi berries for garnishing it. Mix all these ingredients in your cocktail shaker and then strain the drink into a margarita glass. Make sure you dampen the rim of the glass with lime and dip it in coarse salt.

    These are just some of the popular variants of the actual margarita which have a fan following of its own. However, you are welcome to try your hand at these and come up with your own margarita recipes. You can get creative with your margarita and pass off for an artistic bartender!

  • Beverages
    Snuggle with these hot coffee drinks!

    Nothing soothes the soul more than a cup of hot coffee on a rainy day or a winter morning. Coffee is not just a drink, it is an emotion, an emotion that only ardent coffee lovers can understand. The warmth of the coffee does something to us, it turns a sulking, foreboding, not-a- morning person, into a gentle and civilized human being. Coffee houses are the perfect place if you spend a peaceful evening with a good book.

    Coffee isn’t just coffee beans and milk these days! If you ever come across menus in various cafes, you would know it has now evolved and is an amalgamation of many things. Fruits, chocolates and even liquor has found its way into your favourite coffee.

    If you are one of those DIY enthusiasts, the internet is buzzing with various coffee drinks recipes which you can try a hand at. And if you need help figuring out which coffee is the perfect one for you, keep reading.

    • The Hot Mocha- This one is for coffee lovers and chocolate lovers alike. This creamy drink which has oodles of chocolate and coffee with milk floating somewhere in the middle is something that you wouldn’t want to finish at all! This hot brew is nothing less than a liquid elixir for coffee lovers
    • The Hazelnut Espresso- Some hazelnut cream and espresso coffee is all you need for brewing this contradicting combination of hot and cold coffee. You can relish the sweetness of the hazelnut cream and feel the warmth of the coffee spreading through your body and awakening your tired senses
    • The Pumpkin Spiced Latte- This coffee drink has created a trend of its own on various social networking sites. Your canned pumpkin pie puree, pumpkin spices, espresso, vanilla extract, sugar and milk are all you need to make this delicious concoction!
    • The Hot Buttered Toffee Coffee- This steaming cup of coffee is what you would start craving once you taste it. It is the perfect blend of ice cream, toffee and your beloved coffee. The aroma is enough in itself to get you out of bed!
    • The Cinnamon Ginger Coffee- This hot coffee is definitely going to give you the appropriate wake up call you need. Some fresh ginger, a cinnamon-icing sugar mix, an espresso and hot milk cream (use it as toppings) are your ingredients. This is the perfect combination of sweet and spicy and would definitely recharge your batteries!

    These are some of the really popular coffee drinks that deserve a place in your œto-try list. Hot coffee drinks recipes are one of the most searched recipes on the internet. So, become your own barista and whip up some delicious coffee!

  • Beverages
    5 coffee cocktails to perk up your party!

    When people think of parties, beer, champagne, whiskey, martini, etc. are the ones that they think of. And when they think of coffee, they conjure up images of a steaming cup of hot coffee or different hot coffee drinks such as Creamy Caramel Mocha or the Turkish Coffee. Never would you think of drinking coffee while partying with your friends, the idea seems preposterous. Well, you are in for a surprise. You can sip on coffee drinks while you are dancing away on your favorite band’s songs. Here coffee drinks do not stand for your traditional morning coffee, these are your coffee’s not-so-innocent clan member who would give you a high since they contain alcohol!

    You needn’t be a barista of some sort or an innovative bartender to come up with varied coffee drinks, you can make your own coffee-cum-alcohol drinks with the help of the various coffee drinks recipes that you find online. Just to ease your task of searching, here are some of the popular coffee drinks with a tinge of alcohol that would make you look cooler at a party.

    • The Irish Coffee- If whiskey is your poison, then the Irish coffee is what would quench your thirst for liquor and coffee. Some Irish whiskey, Irish cream liqueur, brewed coffee, nutmeg and whipped cream in the right proportion would give you the ecstasy of whiskey and would end your caffeine cravings as well
    • The Pumpkin Spice Margarita- Turn your favorite hot coffee into a coffee cocktail by adding the sizzling silver tequila to it. Pumpkin pie spice, pumpkin latte, cream, hot coffee, cinnamon, vanilla extract,sugar and finally the tequila, these are the ingredients that would give you the pumpkin spice margarita when blended together
    • Paradise Found- The name itself is indicative of the bliss you experience after you finish this coffee drink. Spiced rum, butterscotch schnapps, some coffee, cream and sugar are the ingredients that go into the making of this delicious coffee cocktail. Also, you can garnish it with whipped cream and coffee beans
    • The Espresso Martini- Kahlúa, absolut vodka and espresso coffee are all you need to concoct this coffee drink. Mix these ingredients in the cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake it well. Pour the drink into your martini glass and strut around in style
    • The Mexican Coffee- Look suave and stay warm during the chilly winter parties with this Mexican coffee. A cup of hot coffee, kahlúa, tequila and coffee whipped cream are all you need to brew your Mexican coffee. Treat yourself to the melange of caffeine and alcohol!

    Coffee cocktails are the flavor of the party season. If you are keen on making your own recipes, search the internet and you would find innumerable coffee drinks recipes. So, go ahead and start experimenting.