drinks

Toast the Holidays with Sarah Lamb

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Hello everyone! I hope that you had a good Christmas, and that your new year is starting off well. I’m personally thrilled we get a tad more daylight each day. I’ve never been keen on pitch black skies at 5pm! So, a toast to that! And, if you need a fruity, slightly tart, little bit bubbly drink, I’ve got just the thing for you. The ingredients are pretty simple, and you can garnish it however you like. We made it on Christmas Eve, and I used lemon, orange, and lime slices. The recipe calls for cranberries as well, but we skipped those. Ready? The original recipe is here, over at this blog, but I’ve copied it here for you.

Cranberry Punch

Ingredients

  • 1 liter ginger ale*
  • 2 cups pineapple juice
  • 1 cup cranberry juice
  • ½ cup fresh cranberries
  • 1 orange, thinly sliced
  • 1 lemon, thinly sliced
  • 1 lime, thinly sliced

Instructions

  • In a large pitcher, whisk together ginger ale, pineapple juice and cranberry juice.
  • Pour over sliced fruit, if desired.

That’s it! So simple! I like how you can customize it as well. My kids liked it a little sweeter, so they added more pineapple juice. Their grandmother liked it more tart, so she added a little more cranberry.

If you make it yourself, I hope you’ll enjoy it!

Toast the Holidays with Nan Reinhardt

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Happy New Year! Are you a peach lover like I am? Whether you’re hosting a big party, a small gathering with just few friends, or spending a quiet intimate New Year’s Eve at home like we are, this mocktail is absolutely delish and the perfect way to ring in the new year! Have a safe and happy holiday, and my New Year’s wish is that 2026 is the best year ever!

Peach Bellini Mocktail

  • 2 oz Peach Purée: Made from fresh, canned, or frozen peaches blended until smooth.
  • 4 oz Chilled Sparkling Beverage: Choose one of the following:
    • Non-alcoholic sparkling wine or Prosecco alternative (for the most authentic taste).
    • Sparkling apple cider.
    • Club soda or sparkling water.
    • Lemon-lime soda or ginger ale (for added sweetness).
  • Optional: 1/4 oz fresh lemon juice (to balance sweetness and prevent browning).
  • Garnish: A fresh peach slice, raspberries, or a sprig of mint.

Instructions

  1. Prepare the Peach Purée: Peel and pit fresh peaches, then blend them in a food processor or blender until completely smooth. If using canned peaches, blend them with a little of their syrup.
  2. Chill: Ensure all ingredients and your champagne flute or glass are well-chilled before mixing.
  3. Combine: Pour the peach purée into the bottom of the glass.
  4. Top Off: Slowly top the purée with your chosen non-alcoholic sparkling beverage.
  5. Stir Gently: Give the mixture a very gentle stir to combine the flavors without losing the effervescence.
  6. Garnish and Serve: Garnish with a peach slice or fresh berries and a sprig of mint, then serve immediately.

 

Toast the Holidays with Shanna Hatfield

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It’s fun to come up with mocktail recipes. This festive take with a peppermint twist is so easy to make, and tastes great! My friends gave it a test-drive and they gave it thumbs up!

Enjoy!

Peppermint Crème Fizz

Ingredients:

Cream Soda

Peppermint Coffee Creamer (I used Coffee Mate’s Harry Potter Peppermint Toad creamer – because it was the only peppermint creamer they had at the store … and it was SO good!)

Optional –

Whipped Cream

Crushed Peppermints

Peppermint Sticks

McCormick Candy Cane Finishing Sugar

Directions:

Pour a cup of chilled cream soda into a glass. Add two tablespoons of creamer. Stir and serve.

If you want to make your drink a little festive and fun, wet the rim of the glass then dip it in a shallow dish with candy cane finishing sugar before adding liquid. Once you’ve added soda and creamer, top with whipped cream, crushed candy cane or peppermint pieces, and a peppermint stick for stirring.

Happy Holidays!

Toast the Holidays with Linda Broday

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Classic Shirley Temple Mocktail

My drink is so simple and easy to make and is really versatile. It’s a great way to celebrate the New Year without the alcohol and kids can drink it too as well as pregnant women. It’s delicious.

Recipe

1 cup of Ginger Ale or any lemon-lime soda diet or regular

1 teaspoon Grenadine (can use pomegranate juice instead)

1 squeeze of a fresh lime

Maraschino cherries to garnish. And you also can put an orange slice on the rim.

Directions

Pour the Ginger Ale and Grenadine into a glass. Squeeze in some lime, stir and add the cherries. Also lots of ice.

This would be a good drink for New Year’s celebrations. Or just anytime you want something different. You can also rim the glass with sanding sugar that you find in Walmart.

Most grocery stores shelve Grenadine by the Club soda and Ginger Ale. That way you wouldn’t have to go to a liquor store which I hate. But I think the pomegranate juice would be a great substitute. Any health food store should carry it because it is very healthy.

Anyway, I hope you try this and find it delightful!

 

Toast the Holidays with Jo-Ann Roberts

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Happy Boxing Day!  In Great Britian and some Commonwealth countries, particularly Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, December 26 was the day on which servants, tradespeople, and the poor traditionally were presented with gifts.

Explanations for the origin of the name have varied, with some believing that it derived from the opening of alms boxes that had been placed in churches for the collection of donations to aid the poor. Others, however, have held that it came from the boxes of gifts given to employees on the day after Christmas. According to this theory, because the work of servants was required for the Christmas Day celebrations of their employers, they were allowed the following day for their own observance of the holiday.

Our family has celebrated Boxing Day several times in the past with a life-long friend, Doreen (Potts) Ference, an English war bride. She often served Buck’s Fizz, a drink made with orange juice, non-alcoholic sparkling wine, and a twist of orange. No stirring was needed…the bubbles did all the mixing.

Buck’s Fizz

  1. 4 ounces orange juice**
  2. 8 ounces sparkling non-alcoholic wine
  3. Orange twist for garnish

Resist the urge to stir here. Your mocktail will be perfectly blended as you combine your juice and your bubbles. It’s the power of sparkling wine.

**Feel free to get creative with other fruit juices, too. Blood orange, pineapple, and mango juices go well at brunch or baby showers. Cranberry juice may feel festive if you’re celebrating the winter holidays or new year’s.

Toast the Holidays with Jeannie Watt

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Happy Christmas Eve! What follows is a recipe I made with my grandchildren, ages 4 and 2. They loved the final result as did all the adults in the house.  It’s super easy and fun to drink.

Fun Jack Frosties

Ingredients:

1 lemon

2 cups blue sports drink such as Gatorade

1 pint lemon sorbet or lemon coconut sorbet (I like lemon coconut)

1 cup+ ice cubes

Sugar for glass rims if desired

Equipment:

Blender

Directions:

  1. Juice the lemon for 2-3 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice and pour into blender.
  2. Add the blue sports drink, sorbet and ice cubes.
  3. Process in the blender as for a smoothie.
  4. Pour sugar onto a small plate. Pour a small amount of water on another small plate. Dip rim of glass into water then in sugar to make a sugar rim. (This is optional if you don’t want a sweet drink.) Fill glass with frosty mix.

Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

 

Toast the Holidays with Karen Kay

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Howdy!

Fermented Lemonaide

This recipe is one of my favorites and although it is easy, some of the ingredients (like whey) you might not find at your local grocery store.  However, your local Health Food Store would probably have some whey.  However, one can easily do a substitution for the whey.  This recipe comes to me from The Healthy Home Economist — https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com — and it is a favorite of mine, as well as a favorite of my grandchildren (especially in summer).  But, it is a refreshing drink in winter, too.

RECIPE:

** 6-9 lemons

**1/2 cup whey — whey is the golden liquid one sees on plain yogurt — or one can substitute with 1/2 cup filtered water with one tablespoon lemon juice or yogurt or vinegar) — I do not recommend buying whey from the grocery store because the brands carried in grocery stores often contain MSG — an allergen.

DIRECTIONS:

** Juice the lemons

** Combine with 2 (two) quarts of filtered water

** Add the whey or substitute as stated above

** 1/2 cup sugar (as much as 3/4 cup if one prefers their lemon juice sweeter)

** Mix

** Ferment for 2 (two) days in a warm place

** Refrigerate — one can bottle it.

We enjoy this drink year round.  Hope you’ll enjoy it, too!