RE Helper, Author at Recovery Elevator

BYO Mocktail: All Snowed In (Maple Cinnamon Coffee)

by RE Helper | Nov 14, 2022 | Alcohol Free, Blog, Holidays, Mocktail, Recipe, Resources

Who else feels the last three months of each each really blend together…starting with Costume-palooza all the way through “New-Year-New-Me!”?

I love a good party just as much as the next person, but I also need to focus on the traditions that unique to my family. The holiday decorating has been happening earlier and earlier every year, and this year is no exception.

It becomes important to keep traditions.

I like to do most of our end of year things with a warm drink in my hand. Recovery Elevator was lucky enough to have Rise Up Coffee roast us a special Bozeman Blend this year and I used that in my recipe today.

This drink can be enjoyed hot or cold, but I almost always drink it hot. The dichotomy of cold whipped cream and hot coffee with a touch of malted flavor is something that reminds me of holidays at home.

All Snowed In (AF)

Serves 1
Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

1/4 cup Lyre’s American Malt
1/2 cup hot coffee
2 t pure maple syrup
whipped cream
cinnamon

To make the drink

Combine all ingredients, stir, top with whipped cream, sprinkle with cinnamon. Enjoy by the fire.

What are some traditions you keep and still love?

Love and Mocktails,

Kate

BYO Mocktail: Tamarind Agua Fresca

by RE Helper | Sep 18, 2022 | Alcohol Free, Blog, Helpful Tips, Mocktail, Recipe, Resources

At this point it sounds cliche, 2022 has been an a$$ kicker of a year. I’m very tired, but I’m also very sober, still. Sober because I was lucky enough to have built a large toolbox which I relied on a lot this year. When I tell you that I used ever single tool in there… I am not lying.

2022 has been the year I almost drank.

Fangwell judging me and also probably you.

For the most part I hang out with my pets and my husband. But among the highlights was a cruise to Alaska and I went to Bozeman to hang out with my sober friends, who are now like family.

Returning home, all I want to do is spend the long days of the end of summer on my back porch drinking something fancy and refreshing.

Therefore, I keep my mixing simple and to the point. I used fruit to keep it sweet and a topper of your choice of seltzer makes it unique!

Tamarind Mango Agua Fresca (AF)

Serves 2
Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

1⁄2 cup Tamarind Nectar
1 t Tamarind puree
1⁄2 cup frozen mango
1 t honey
2T Tajin
Fizzy water (your choice of flavor)

To make the drink

1- In a blender place the nectar, puree and frozen mango. Blend until smooth.

2- Rub the honey along the rim of the glasses and then dip the edges into Tajin.

3- Divide the mixture evenly and top with the fizzy water.

Love and Mocktails,

Kate

BYO Mocktail: Pineapple Basil Lemonade

by RE Helper | Jul 15, 2022 | Alcohol Free, Blog, Helpful Tips, Mocktail, Recipe, Resources

One of the scariest questions I had during my path to sobriety was: How will I celebrate ANYTHING? How will I toast at my wedding?

Am I allowed to celebrate anymore ever?!

I was married for the first time in 2005, I was young, figuring out my career and had spent the previous 2 years as a bartender. So I had my best bartender friend (hi ash!) write us a signature cocktail. Seventeen years later, all I can remember is that it was called “The True Love”, had a champagne floater and I drank many of them.

The name of that drink rang true, because what I was really in love with was the alcohol. I wasn’t able to love myself, let alone anyone else at that time. Alcohol was my true love, it was the celebration. I had the ability to turn a Monday afternoon into a celebration, because of booze.

I’ve come to learn over time and with therapy, yes, those that are alcohol free do celebrate! It has also come to light that we celebrate harder because we are fully present in the moment. This month, in honor of Paul Churchill getting married, I’m dedicating this mocktail to his bride. A reinvention of The True Love because this time, it actually is true love.

The True Love: Pineapple Basil Lemonade (AF)

Serves 4
Prep time: 30 minutes + cooling time

Ingredients

1 pineapple, cored, chopped & divided
1 T cinnamon
1⁄2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 T honey
10 basil leaves
2 1/2 cups pineapple water (see below)
Ice

Pineapple water

Boil 3 cups water, add pineapple peel, rough chopped and cinnamon. Boil 20 minutes, strain liquid through sieve. Allow to cool.

To make the drink

1- In a blender place the pineapple, pineapple water, lemon juice & honey. Blend until smooth.

2- Add in basil and pulse a few times to chop up the basil.

Garnish with pineapple if you want!

Love and Mocktails,

Kate

BYO Mocktail- Keeping a Gingerly Tempo (AF)

by RE Helper | May 16, 2022 | Alcohol Free, Blog, Mocktail, Recipe

The other day I was texting with a longtime friend, just the usual, sometimes nonsensical, back and forth of friends who have a solid foundation. While she was catching me up on her husband and son, she mentioned that her son’s favorite mocktail right now is a Don Johnson. Being a curious person, I took the bait and asked “What’s a Don Johnson?”

It’s a Miami vice with no socks! (🚫rum)

And then I snorted so hard with laughter, I scared my cat. But this got me thinking about the mocktail traditions I had as a kid. I believe that we all experience exposure to alcohol in our youth and it begins to form the values we have around alcohol.

My family mocktail was a Shirley Temple. On Saturday evenings my father would make my mother a Campari and soda and then for us kids, a Shirley Temple. We would then sit dow as a family and have a little pre-dinner chat. As an adult I can see what my (extremely tired) parents were doing. They wanted us to sit down and talk to them, but also not have to exert a lot of energy at the same time.

To this day, I love to sit and have a pre-dinner drink. I find it the best way to quiet my busy mind. I used to think that I needed vodka to also quiet my mind, but I know better. So in keeping with traditions established in our youth, I’m updating the Shirley Temple, adding in some ginger and lime to spice it up, but keep it fun without the booze.

Keeping a Gingerly Tempo (AF)

Serves 4
Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

3 cups Ginger Beer
1 cup sparkling water
3 T lime juice
3 T grenadine
cherry and limes for garnish

Combine all ingredients (except garnish) pitcher. Stir together. Put 2 cherries in the bottom of the glass. Pour over crushed ice (my ice maker has decided to stop making crushed ice, please trust me, crushed is best!)

Love and Mocktails,

Kate

PS- When I told the friend she was the opening subject of my blog, she wanted me to add the following “Your friend is an aspiring film writer with a penchant for tennis skirts and an endearing laugh. She tells amazing jokes.”

BYO Mocktail: St. Patrick’s Day-Rita

by RE Helper | Mar 17, 2022 | Alcohol Free, Blog, Helpful Tips, Mocktail, Recipe, Resources

Normally I post my mocktail around the 15th of the month, but this month I delayed my post for 2 days so we could talk about

St. Patrick’s Day…

Ready?! Let’s go!

When alcohol is a central focus in your life, every day can be seen as a day to drink! For me, when “drinking holidays” arrived, this was truly my time to shine. It was when everyone else drank like I did on the daily! I could be me, I could be free…. I could have a 3 day hangover… I could have UBI bruises (Unidentified Beer Incident)… I could have lost a phone… I could have…

In Cafe RE this week, someone posted about how in the past they used to drink to their Great Granny O’Reilly and tell everyone at the bar about their Irish heritage. Until they did an ancestry test and discovered they are only 2% Irish! I assume if you’re here, you are thinking about cutting out alcohol, so I feel comfortable asking: How many times have you convinced yourself that something was true to justify the way you were drinking?

As we step away from alcohol, we have to build our own tool belt of sobriety tips and tricks to whip out at a moments notice. My biggest tool (and the whole reason I’m here writing this mocktail blog!) is:

BYO MOCKTAIL!

Having your own drink is, to me, by far the most important thing when socializing. And St. Patrick’s Day can be a doozie! Everything is green, everyone it seems is drunk and you can almost feel the bad decisions being made.

Who wants a green treat to bring to their best friend’s, brother’s, dog babysitter’s, plant sitter’s, cousin’s, co-worker’s St. Patrick’s Day party?!

The St. Patrick’s Day-Rita (AF)

Serves 1
Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

1 celery stalk, rough chopped (save the leaves for garnish!)
2 oz (1/4c) lime juice
1 oz (2T) orange juice
2 oz (1/4 c) simple syrup
celery salt for rim

Combine first 4 ingredients in blender and blend until celery is puréed. Strain through cheesecloth or dish cloth, reserving liquid & pressing liquid through. Put liquid back into blender, add a handful of ice and blend. Rim the glass with celery salt and pour into glass. Garnish with celery leaves and drink!

Love and Mocktails,

Kate

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