Ever wanted to make a little fruity concoction for yourself only to find that you're out of juice? Well, it happens quite frequently at my house. Those toddlers consume all the good juice before I ever get a chance to use it for a cocktail. However, no fear. As long as you've got some jam, preserves or jelly in your fridge then you're good to go.
It may sound a little weird, but it'll give you a nice sweet flavor without being too overpowering. All you need is a cocktail shaker, ice, vodka (my personal fave) with any flavor of jam, like raspberry, and a little sprite or soda water for a nice, refreshing cocktail. 
I like to call this little gem a Rasberry Jammer. Silly name, but a nice way to kick off a Friday evening. And while you're starting your Friday Happy Hour you should probably pair this with these Fruit & Cheese Bites. Nice snack for the kiddos and a great complement to the cocktail.
So, have you tried jam in a cocktail? How did your experiment go?
"Jam"ming cocktails
Posted by the jaynes family Labels: easy recipes, Fantastic Fridays, no brainer tip
Cheers! Everyone celebrates a Sunday brunch with a Mimosa or Bellini, but how much do you actually know about the key ingredient: Champagne?
- Champagne is a sparkling wine named after the region in the north of France in which it is produced. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are the two predominant grapes that make champagne. The label "Champagne" is copyrighted, which means that any other region that produces it cannot label it such, but must call it "methode champenoise."
- Champagne is expensive because it is produced in limited quantities from only one specific region. It is different from other sparkling wines like Cava and Prosecco because it undergoes a double fermentation process: once in the barrel and once in the bottle.
- Contrary to other wines, champagne does not get better with age.
- The Benedictine Monk, Dom Perignon, invented champagne by testing the process of carbonation. He learned that trapping carbon dioxide causes bubbles. The bubbles are actually the reason people get drunk easily from champagne; they carry the alcohol into the bloodstream faster.
- The quality of champagne is determined by the size of the bubbles; the smaller the bubbles, the higher the quality. Another way to determine the quality of your champagne is to check the bubble trains rising along the sides of the flute; there should be many different trains.
- Vintage champagnes are made from different blends of grapes during a specific year (or vintage) and are more expensive than non-vintage champagnes.
- Champagne bottles are thicker than regular wine bottles in order to prevent them from exploding from the interior pressure. Be warned that a projectile cork can travel between 40-100 miles per hour! The solution? Chilling champagne reduces the interior pressure.
- Champagne is best drunk from a tall narrow glass, which confines the bubbles and concentrates the aroma and taste. Bottoms up!
Ready to indulge in some bubbly cocktails? Try one of these easy recipes:
 | We are happy to have Nola Solomon on board as an intern for FunnySpoon.com. As a French-American, she offers unique culinary insight on how to enjoy your food and efficiently plan for a hectic schedule. Give her recipes and tips a try! |
Go tropical tonight with this easy Bahamas Pizza, paired with some fabulous Sunset Island cocktails:
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It's a fun, stress-free way to kick off the weekend. Bon appetit!
Cinnamon-lovers are in luck - our theme tonight is CINNAMON! Absolutely one of my favorite spices and if you agree, then this Friday night suggestion is definitely for you!
For a non-alcoholic drink, try our Cinn-ful Apple Cider! Make it extra sinful by adding a splash of vodka!
And for those who liked the salmon last week, we suggest Herb Butter Salmon Tagine with yummy cinnamon flavor!
Interesting facts about CINNAMON:
- You may already know that cinnamon is good for you, but did you know there is a mythological creature called the Cinnamon Bird?
- Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) is a tree belonging to the Lauraceae family. The bark of the tree is what is used as a spice.
- Cinnamon is mentioned in Chinese writings as far back as 2800 BC.
- In the Middle Ages, cinnamon was only affordable by the wealthy elite of society. A person's social rank could be determined by the number of spices they could afford.
- Cinnamon has many health benefits. It has shown promise in the treatment of diabetes, arthritis, high cholesterol, memory function, and even leukemia and lymphoma.
- Two teaspoons of cinnamon has about 12 calories.
 | We are happy to have Hanna Skeppner on board this semester as an intern for FunnySpoon.com. As a Swedish-American, she has many exciting ideas to add a new twist to our old faves. Hope you enjoy her recipes and tips! |
We're sticking with the citrus family theme from last Friday night and recommending LEMON-themed suggestions for tonight!
For those looking for a little pick-me-up, try our Raspberry Lemonade Shooter.
For dinner, we recommend Roasted Asparagus With Garlic Lemon Sauce served on the side of Moroccan Spiced Salmon. Both have just a touch of lemon and a ton of flavor!
Interesting facts about LEMONS:
- Lemon trees bloom and produce fruit year-round. Each tree can produce between 500 and 600 pounds of lemons per year.
- During the European Renaissance, fashionable ladies used lemon juice as a way to redden their lips.
- California and Arizona produce 95% of the entire U.S. lemon crop.
- Lemon is healthy for big things, such as fighting cancer, as well as smaller but still important things, like strengthening the blood vessels.
- Lemons contain more sugar than strawberries!
- Add lemon juice to food just before serving because its vitamin C components break down during the cooking process.
- To avoid the browning of apple slices, sprinkle the cut pieces with lemon juice that's been diluted with a bit of water.
| We are happy to have Hanna Skeppner on board this semester as an intern for FunnySpoon.com. As a Swedish-American, she has many exciting ideas to add a new twist to our old faves. Hope you enjoy her recipes and tips! |
This one's for the party animal in you!
Friday night is finally here after a long week. Has anyone else felt like the weeks are getting longer now that the weather is warming up!?! So relax this weekend with some tasty cocktails and delicious food! Tonight our theme is lime to greet the warm weather with some sour refreshments!
Before even starting to whip up some cocktails and yummy dinner dishes, how about a tequila shot (c'mon, you know you want to)! The perfect way to take a tequila shot is to get your lime ready and salt your hand. Then it goes 1. Salt, 2. Shot, 3. LIME. Enjoy!
Now, lets get back to Friday night dinner. Our recommended cocktail for this evening is the Twist of Lime Screwdriver. Almost like a screwdriver but has that extra lime flavor!
What's on the menu for food: Citrus Ginger Chicken. The splash of lime juice combined with the chicken makes for a great dinner dish! And since you'll already have the limes for the cocktail, you can substitute in fresh lime juice!
Interesting facts about LIMES:
- Lime extracts and essential oils are frequently used in perfumes, cleaning products, and aromatherapy.
- Limes are also used as an accompaniment to several beer brands. This has led to the creation of a British drinking game called 'Chew the Lime'. It involves contestants attempting to throw the lime into opponents' drinks. It is quite rare for this to go according to plan and in many instances the thrower misses their target. However, should the thrower get the lime in the glass, then the person who has the misfortune to have lime in their drink must 'Chew the Lime' while all other members chant accordingly. A potential Friday night game?
- If sprinkled with water and refrigerated in plastic bags, limes and lemons will last a month or more frozen.
- Look for limes with the smoothest skin and the smallest points of each end. They have more juice and better flavor.
| We are happy to have Hanna Skeppner on board this semester as an intern for FunnySpoon.com. As a Swedish-American, she has many exciting ideas to add a new twist to our old faves. Hope you enjoy her recipes and tips! |
I've heard that you should pick wine based on what label appeals to you, under the assumption that if you have classic tastes you'll pick a more serious-looking label, and if you like lighter, fruitier fun wines, you'll pick less traditional labels. I guess that's true, depending on my mood. Sometimes I'll look for a Bordeaux with a schmancy chateau on the label, sometimes I'll look for something totally off the wall. Since it's Friday, I figured I'd share some of my favorite "fun" wines:
Mad Housewife Wine: It's not just attitude - it tastes fabulous, too!
Bitch Wine: A South Australian wine with a lot of flavor!
Marilyn Merlot: If you like Merlot, check this one out.
Fat Bastard Wines: You've probably already heard of this French wine, but if not, definitely pick up a bottle!
Be sure to bring a bottle to your next get-together - they're great conversation starters!
This Friday we decided to have an olive-flavored evening. So mix up the batch of Perfect Vodka Martinis that you've been craving! Three olives on a toothpick help flavor that fresh strong martini sip with a little salty wonder!
To complement the drink, try out our Greek Summer Salad for dinner!
Interesting facts about OLIVES:
- Olives appear in one of the earliest cookbooks ever discovered, a 2000-year old text by a Roman named Apicius.
- Traditional Chinese Medicine uses olive soup as a sore throat recipe - the only occurrence of the olive in Chinese cuisine. Feel a sore throat coming on? Grab an olive!
- They contain about 20% oil.
- Olive trees may live to be 1500 years old; the average life span is about 500 years.
- California is the only state where olives are grown commercially.
- Ten medium-sized black olives have 50 calories and 4 grams of fat. Worth it!
| We are happy to have Hanna Skeppner on board this semester as an intern for FunnySpoon.com. As a Swedish-American, she has many exciting ideas to add a new twist to our old faves. Hope you enjoy her recipes and tips! |
This Friday, as spring is really kicking in and unexpected heat is circling (most of) the world, we figured we'd suggest something a little more exotic for today's theme. The COCONUT! Who isn't a fan? 
For dinner: Start off with some yummy Thai Coconut Curry Shrimp Dippers and finish with a wonderful Thai Coconut Soup. If this feels a little light, then add some Coconut Rice! This will be an extremely sweet and yummy meal!
For drinks: For a cocktail that really gives an exotic vibe at the dinner table, we suggest a Coconutty Cocktail!
Fun facts about the coconut:
- Coconuts are usually harvested by people but in Thailand they use trained monkeys to do it! How crazy is that?
- Coconuts are the seeds of the coconut palm tree but they are considered as a type of nut.
- Falling coconuts kill 150 people every year - 10 times the number of people killed by sharks. Be careful!
- There are more than 20 billion coconuts produced each year.
| We are happy to have Hanna Skeppner on board this semester as an intern for FunnySpoon.com. As a Swedish-American, she has many exciting ideas to add a new twist to our old faves. Hope you enjoy her recipes and tips! |
This Friday's special is for a larger group of people to encourage everyone to invite family and friends over for a fun weekend mini-party! It's almost spring and everyone deserves to relax and have some fun! So start inviting!
Drinks: Kick off with some Party Punch (you can add a splash of alcohol for the adults) and when things start winding up bring out the Hula Dancer shots!
Snacks: As a little pre-snack we suggest the yummy Maple Glazed Meatballs.
Main Dish: Delicious Hawaiian Chicken. A sweet taste to follow those tasty drinks!
Interesting facts about PINEAPPLES:
- A pineapple is a berry.
- Most fruits develop in 3-4 months but it takes about 18-24 months for a pineapple to grow to its full size.
- Originally named "anana", a Caribbean word for "excellent fruit", the name "pineapple" came from European explorers who thought the fruit looked like a pinecone with flesh like an apple.
- Christopher Columbus was the first person to introduce pineapples to Europe.
- One third of the world's pineapple comes from Hawaii.
- If you want to speed up the ripening of a pineapple so that you can eat it faster, then you can do it by standing it upside down (on the leafy end).
| We are happy to have Hanna Skeppner on board this semester as an intern for FunnySpoon.com. As a Swedish-American, she has many exciting ideas to add a new twist to our old faves. Hope you enjoy her recipes and tips! |
It's Friday! Time to kick back with a glass of wine and an easy dinner, right? Tonight we recommend the Scampi Tortellini - in under 15 minutes you've got a delicious dinner for 4 on the table (or a romantic dinner for 2 with plenty of leftovers).
And, as we've mentioned before, we're really into Mad Housewife Wine right now. So pop open a bottle of their Cabernet and enjoy a restaurant quality meal in the coziness of your own house!
Friday is finally here! At least these Fridays are greeted with nicer weather these days! Which is why everyone should be enoying a cocktail out in the sun (sorry to anyone coping with rain)! Friday's cocktail is a classy, refreshing and super yummy Apple Martini! So on the apple theme, try our new Fruity Onion Chicken recipe! Happy Friday everyone!
APPLE fun facts:
- The popular Halloween custom of apple-bobbing began, some say, as a Celtic New Year's tradition. It was a game young people played to supposedly determine one's future spouse.
- According to Greek and Roman mythology, apples were symbolic of beauty and love. Today we call someone that we love and cherish, "the apple of our eye". This is no surprise considering the apple is a member of the rose family.
- Isaac Newton's idea about the law of gravity possibly occurred while he observed apples falling from an apple tree. (Oooh, maybe apples make you a genius!)
- Apples help clean your teeth and massage your gums, which is why they're referred to as "nature's toothbrush". (Although, let's not throw away our toothbrushes just yet!)
- October is National Apple Month. So for all of you born in October: congrats, you're apple babies!
- Fresh apples float because 25% of their volume is air.
We've all heard the classic expression "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" so hopefully tonight's theme will keep all of you healthy over the weekend!
| We are happy to have Hanna Skeppner on board this semester as an intern for FunnySpoon.com. As a Swedish-American, she has many exciting ideas to add a new twist to our old faves. Hope you enjoy her recipes and tips! |
Carrie is too humble to toot her own horn so I'll do it for her - today she was featured as a guest blogger on SeaPak's Savoring Shrimp and Seafood blog. Be sure to check out her post, featuring a new recipe created especially for SeaPak - Mexican Scampi.
Bon appetit, and Happy Friday!
This one's for the ladies! Spring's not here yet but you can pretend it is with today's theme: CRANBERRY!! Before starting in the kitchen, put on some girly music (Cindy Lauper – Girls Just Wanna Have Fun will definitely do!) and make Barbie Slipper cocktail. Hopefully a refreshing little buzz will make cooking even more fun!
Then proceed to whip up some Cranberry Coleslaw. Toss in some Tyson's Pre-Cooked Chicken Strips to make it a full (and easy!) meal.
And for Friday night's sweet tooth, Cranberry Cream Cheese Brownies will leave you satisfied! (For the boys, you might have to make dinner yourself tonight! And please, you don’t have to resort to beer and pizza!)
Interesting facts about CRANBERRIES:
- The cranberry gets its name from Dutch and German settlers, who called it "crane berry." When the vines bloom in the late spring and the flowers' light pink petals twist back, they have a resemblance to the head and bill of a crane. Over time, the name was shortened to cranberry.
- During the days of wooden ships and iron men, American vessels carried cranberries. Just as the English loved limes, American sailors craved cranberries. It was the cranberry's generous supply of vitamin C that prevented scurvy.
- Legend has it that the Pilgrims may have served cranberries at the first Thanksgiving in 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. (Let's give a little thanks to cranberries!)
- If you strung all the cranberries produced in North America last year, they would stretch from Boston to Los Angeles more than 565 times.
| We are happy to have Hanna Skeppner on board this semester as an intern for FunnySpoon.com. As a Swedish-American, she has many exciting ideas to add a new twist to our old faves. Hope you enjoy her recipes and tips! |
For dinner tonight we have a tomato-themed combination that we hope you'll enjoy. It's finally Friday so treat yourself to more than one cocktail!
Dinner: Start with a refreshing Tomato Basil Salad and move on to a yummy Mediterranean Pasta Salad.
Drinks: Bloody Mary (spicy level up to you!)
Tomato Fun Facts:
- The origin of the tomato has been linked to Peru and Ecuador.
- During the sixteenth century, explorers brought tomatoes to Europe from the fruit's birthplace, the New World. These first tomatoes were yellow, awarding the Italian name, "pomodoro," meaning golden apple.
- When they first appeared in English print in the early seventeenth century, tomatoes were referred to as "love apples."
- The tomato is the world's most popular fruit. And yes, just like the brinjal and the pumpkin, botanically speaking it is a fruit, not a vegetable.
- Tomatoes are rich in vitamins A and C and fiber, and are cholesterol free. An average size tomato (148 gram, or 5 oz) boasts only 35 calories.
- The scientific term for the common tomato is lycopersicon lycopersicum, which mean "wolf peach."
- Wash your hair with them after swimming in a pool in order to remove the chlorine from your hair.
Looking for something else? Check out all our easy recipes! Have a good weekend!
| We are happy to have Hanna Skeppner on board this semester as an intern for FunnySpoon.com. As a Swedish-American, she has many exciting ideas to add a new twist to our old faves. Hope you enjoy her recipes and tips! |
It's been a long week so let's kick back with a beer-themed Friday night dinner. All you beer-lovers will enjoy this Friday's suggestion!
For dinner: Cheesy Potato & Beer Soup with Beer Bread
To drink: Beer, obviously! We like Amstel Light, but swill whatever brand you prefer!
Fun facts about BEER:
- Beer is the second most popular beverage in the world, coming in behind tea.
- To get rid of the foam at the top of beer (the head), stick your fingers in it. (This is also true for champagne!)
- The oldest known written recipe is for beer.
- Tossing salted peanuts in a glass of beer makes the peanuts dance. New party trick for the weekend!
- Many actors started out as bartenders: Sandra Bullock, Bruce Willis, Tom Arnold, Chevy Chase, Kris Kristofferson and Bill Cosby are a few of these. Imagine them serving your beer!
- American beer is made mostly by rice, unlike the beers of other countries. This was invented to give American beer a lighter taste and tap into the market of women buyers.
- If you collect beer bottles you are a labeorphilist. Good word to add to the vocabulary!
- To keep your beer glass or mug from sticking to your bar napkin, sprinkle a little salt on the napkin before you set your glass down.
Enjoy Beer Night!!
| We are happy to have Hanna Skeppner on board this semester as an intern for FunnySpoon.com. As a Swedish-American, she has many exciting ideas to add a new twist to our old faves. Hope you enjoy her recipes and tips! |
