NomNom: Party Mimosa

There's something about weekends and brunch that go hand in hand. Perhaps it's the blissful feeling of being able to sleep in sans alarm clock or waking up past breakfast hour.

Whenever I know I'm going to have a free morning that's not filled with a to-do list or plans made well in advance, I like to invite loved ones over for brunch. Having friends come over your home for a shared meal on the weekend is a great way to start the weekend and when you add champs to that equation, well it's pretty much a guaranteed good ol' time.

I wanted to update the classic mimosa with exotic tropical fruit juices that reminded me of my recent trip to Belize. While on vacation, my friend and I would crave fresh, sweet, and ice-cold watermelon or pineapple juice everyday from fruit stands and would always be on the look out for any potential juice bars throughout the day. Selling pre-cut fresh fruits on the streets was a normal thing--the fruit in Belize was that good.

Warning: the combination of flavors in these mimosas (guava, mango, pineapple) have a high potential to make you dream about warm weather, sandy beaches, or a tropical vacation far away. All good things.

The next time you have brunch at home (much more cost efficient btw), try this easy and tasty juice concoction that will transport you for a brief moment to a warm, sandy beach somewhere with this party mimosa in hand and no worries in mind.

Enjoy. Xo.


Ingredients (Adapted from www.allrecipes.com) Yields: 15 servings
1 (12 ounce) can of mango-apricot nectar
1 (12 ounce) can pineapple juice
3/4 cup cold water
1 (6 ounce) can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed and undiluted
1 bottle (750 ml) of cold champagne

Procedure
1. Stir together the mango-apricot nectar, pineapple juice, water, orange juice concentrate in large pitcher until combined. Pour in bottle of champagne just before serving.

NomNom: Mini Cinnamon Rolls

Several weeks ago, my friend, who currently lives in Arizona emailed me saying that she would be in town and wanted to get together to catch up. She moved to Arizona as soon as we both graduated pharmacy school to take a job position there so those days where we would see each other every.single.day for 4 years turned scarce after graduation. We bounced back ideas on places to eat and I figured why not just invite her over my place (she hasn't seen it since I moved) and cook brunch for her. She was SUPER eager with this idea, go figure.

It's a personal thing when you invite a friend over to your home and cook for them. A lot of thought and love goes into prepping for the menu and obviously much love goes into what you're cooking. I wanted to do this for her because I appreciate her friendship. She's one of the most down to earth, kind, unfussy girls you'll ever meet and this was especially shown when I went to visit her in Arizona last year. 

My flight was over 2 hours delayed and I was starving by the time I had landed. Since I was in mid flight there was no way of letting her know that the first thing I wanted to do was eat something asap. When I landed, she somehow knew (smart girl, I tell ya) that I'd be hungry and greeted me with a hug and sandwich in hand. So thoughtful, right? It's always those acts of kindness from people that makes a mark on me. Always. There are several other acts of kindness that happened during my visit, but I'll leave those stories for my next recipe post.

 

I already had a savory dish in mind to make that morning (a fantastic quiche recipe coming soon) but needed something sweet to add to the menu. I made these extremely easy, moist, and magnificent mini cinnamon rolls before and decided to make these again because it just seemed to fit the part for brunch. Now, when I say easy, I'm talking about using store bought dough! Total time saver! All you have to do is brush the dough with glorious amounts of sugar and cinnamon and roll that baby up.

Roll then cut. Easy.

Bake them in mini muffin pans to help maintain the shape. Brilliant!!!

Eat immediately while warm. Immediately.

So the original recipe called for the icing to be made from maple syrup but when I tried to make the icing based off that recipe, the icing came out too watery. The consistency was way off even though I kept trying to add more sugar to it. So this time, I used Test Kitchen's recipe for cinnamon roll icing and hit the jackpot. Yea, baby.

Ingredients for rolls (Adapted from www.iowagirleats.com) Yields 14

1-8oz tube crescent roll dough
2 Tablespoons butter
cinnamon
brown sugar

For the icing (Adapted from America's Test Kitchen)
2 Tablespoons of buttermilk
2 Tablespoons cream cheese, softened
1 cup of confectioners' sugar

Procedure
1. Preheat oven according to crescent roll dough package directions. Layout half the dough (4 triangles) and pinch all the seams together. Flip over and pinch the seams on the back side together too.

2. Using a rolling pin, smooth the seams and roll the dough into a square about 1/4″ thick. Brush with half the butter, and sprinkle with as much cinnamon and brown sugar as you want. Roll into a log and cut into 8 pieces.

3. Place mini cinnamon rolls into a non-stick sprayed mini muffin tin. Repeat steps 1 and 2 with the other half of the crescent roll dough. Bake according to package directions. Cool about 5 minutes before glazing.

4. Meanwhile, whisk the cream cheese and buttermilk in a large bowl until thick and smooth (the mixture will look like cottage cheese at first). Sift the confectioners’ sugar over the mixture and whisk until a smooth glaze forms about 30 seconds.

5. Spoon the glaze evenly over the buns; serve immediately.