This weekend brought a temporary respite from the otherwise bitterly cold Pennsylvania winter. 50-degree temperatures don’t have us breaking out the shorts and t-shirts just yet, but on this sunny Sunday afternoon, we are relaxing with a tiny taste of summer – lime tea coolers.

Lime Tea Cooler

Ingredients:

• 2 quarts cold water
• 2 large iced tea bags
• 4-8 teaspoons lime juice
• 4 tablespoons white sugar

Boil 3 cups water and pour over two large iced tea bags placed in a heat-resistant pitcher. Steep for 5 minutes. Remove teabags and add remaining water. Refrigerate 2-4 hours or until thoroughly chilled.

To serve, place 1-2 teaspoons lime juice in the bottom of a glass and top with 1 tablespoon sugar. Fill glass with cold tea. Stir well and serve.

Makes 4 large glasses.

There’s a sushi restaurant a few towns over where we go to dinner with friends once a year or so. I’m not a big sushi fan, but I am consistently wowed by their coconut chicken and broccoli. A few weeks ago when cleaning out the pantry, I noticed what I thought was a can of coconut milk left over from my birthday party in April, and decided to try my hand at a similar dish. When I got around to it earlier this week, I discovered that what I thought was coconut milk was actually sweetened cream of coconut — but I decided to use our classic “throw stuff together and see what happens” method of meal preparation. Good gracious, I’m glad I did.

Coconut Chicken

Ingredients:

• 3-4 pounds bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 15-ounce can cream of coconut, mixed well
  
• 6-8 whole cloves
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon powdered ginger
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons cold water
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• Fried chow mein noodles (optional)
• Cooked medium-grain rice (optional)

Place the chicken in a large baking dish and roast at 350° F until chicken is fully cooked. Set aside to cool.

When chicken is cool, remove meat from bones and roughly chop. In a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat, warm the oil and add the chicken. Cook until chicken is lightly brown and slightly crispy on the edges. Stir in coconut, cloves, soy, ginger, and Worcestershire sauce.Reduce heat to medium and cook, uncovered, for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a small bowl, whisk together water and cornstarch. Add to pan and stir until mixture is evenly distributed. Add lime juice. Increase heat slightly and simmer for 3-5 minutes, or until sauce has reduced considerably and become glossy. Stir in walnuts. Serve immediately, over rice and topped with chow mein noodles* if desired.

Serves 4-6

*As you can see from the image at top, I like mine with a lot of chow mein noodles…

It’s a bit off-season to find properly fresh tomatoes, but don’t let that stop you from serving up some homemade salsa. Roasting adds a deeper, sweeter flavor to canned tomatoes, and the lime brightens things up. Perfect for Monday Night Football!

Roasted Tomato Salsa

Ingredients:

• Two 28-ounce cans diced tomatoes
• 2 dried chipotle peppers, rehydrated and coarsely chopped
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 lime, halved
• 3 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 bunch cilantro, minced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

Drain tomatoes and spread thinly in a roasting dish or deep-sided sheet pan. Bake at 450 for 30-40 minutes or until sugars begin to caramelize. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, combine cooled tomatoes and remaining ingredients, stirring until well-combined. Add 1/3 of mixture to blender or food processor and process until smooth but slightly chunky. Return to bowl and stir into other ingredients. Chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

Serves 4-6.

Image by Micah Taylor.

Image by Cathy G

It seems only natural to end “Drunk Week” with a bevy of cocktails – screwdrivers, to be exact. There are endless variations on the standard screwdriver cocktail; I’ve listed the most common ones below. I hope you all enjoyed this week as much as I have – I’m off to find the orange juice!

The CTS Ultimate Screwdriver Compendium

To your basic screwdriver (whatever ratio of orange juice to vodka suits your fancy), add:

• 1 ounce Southern Comfort for a Comfortable Screw
• 1 ounce peach schnapps for a Fuzzy Screw
• 1 ounce sloe gin for a Slow Screw
• A splash of galliano for a Screw Against the Wall
• A splash of amaretto for a Screw with a Kiss
• Ice for a Cold, Hard Screw
• Lemon-lime soda for a Screw Up

Combine any of the above to make “compound screws”. For example:

• Slow Comfortable Screw with a Kiss (sloe gin, Southern Comfort, amaretto)
• Cold, Hard Screw Up Against the Wall ( ice, lemon-lime soda, galliano)

You could, of course, combine them all into a Slow, Comfortable, Fuzzy, Cold, Hard Screw Up Against a Wall with a Kiss, but I can’t imagine it would taste very good.
If you have a favorite variant that I missed, let me know in the comments, and I’ll add it to the list!

Image by PussNBoots

The three components of this dish, cherry, lime, and bourbon, complement each other so well that I’m surprised this drink isn’t a standard summertime picnic fare. To add some sparkle to your drink, substitute sparkling water for plain. On hot August evenings, add extra ice and run it through a blender for a frozen treat.

Cherry-Bourbon Limeade

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups freshly squeeze lime juice
• 1 cup simple syrup
• 4 cups ice water
• 2 cups fresh or frozen cherries, pitted and halved
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 cups bourbon

In a small bowl, toss cherries and sugar. Set aside to macerate at room temperature for 1 hour.

In a tall pitcher, stir lime juice, syrup, bourbon, and water. Add cherries with their juices and mix well. Serve immediately in tall glasses or champagne flutes.

Serves 6-8.

Image by mrpattersonsir

There aren’t many summertime pleasures as lovely as a truly fresh margarita. This recipe is equal parts tequila, triple sec, and fresh lime juice; it’s the fresh juice that sets this far apart from other ‘ritas out there. Be wary of the tequila, though – it will sneak up on you.

1:1:1 Margaritas

Ingredients:

• 1 part freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 part tequila
• 1 part triple sec

Pour all ingredients over ice and shake well. Pour into a salt-rimmed glass to serve.

Serves one to 1,000, depending on quantities.