There are dozens of Butterbeer Recipes for Harry Potter Fans

I've never been much of a Harry Potter fan, but after hearing all the hype about the infamous Butterbeer drink that spurred from the show I decided to take a look at some recipes the fans have been coming up with and see what all the hype was about.

Apparently there really isn't an official recipe for the drink, or atleast one that people are willing to give the secret away about, but there are a lot of samples of what people think there should taste like.

"Why don't we go and have a butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks, it's a bit cold, isn't it?"
—Hermione Granger inviting Harry Potter to the Three Broomsticks Inn.

Even the Food Network has gotten involved offering their version by Sandra Lee. That recipe includes using condensed milk and butterscotch topping. Here is what the recipe looks like.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup butterscotch topping
2 tablespoons whipped butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups vanilla cream soda
Directions:
Combine condensed milk, butterscotch topping, and butter in a glass heatproof measuring cup. Heat in microwave for 1 minute. Remove and stir until butter has melted and incorporated into mixture. Meanwhile heat cream soda in another heatproof measuring cup for 1 minute 30 seconds.

Divide butterscotch mixture between 2 (10 to 12-ounce) mugs. Fill mugs with heated cream soda and stir thoroughly. Serve garnished with an old-fashioned butterscotch candy stick.

The people over at britta.com have a completely different version of the recipe. This recipe includes alcohol, but I'm not quite sure that is what J.K. Rowlings had in mind. At least the schnapps is originally from England.

Makes 2 quarts.

1 cup butterscotch schnapps
7 cups cream soda (almost one 2 liter bottle)

Carefully mix just before serving, adding the schnapps to the soda then stirring gently to mix well, or the fizz will dissipate too soon.


The site goes on to say that "You can also find butterscotch flavoring near the vanilla flavoring in the baking section of the grocery store, but it is more difficult to find, and actually the flavoring is 35% alcohol where the schnapps is only 15% alcohol by volume, so if you're making large quantities of butterbeer, I recommend just to buy the schnapps. There is not much alcohol content in the butterbeer mixture, just enough to make a house-elf tipsy and to give it the warm, buttery aftertaste to the fizzy cream soda."

In early July FOX-News reported that the Butterbeer concoction that has been made famous at Universal Orlando recipe had gotten out on the internet.

In their news report they said that they couldn't get the actual recipe from Universal Orlando, but they had made up their own recipe. Check out their version.

Butterbeer
Start to finish: 1 hour (10 minutes active)
Servings: 4
Ingredients:
1 cup light or dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons water
6 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
3/4 cup heavy cream, divided
1/2 teaspoon rum extract
Four 12-ounce bottles cream soda

Directions:
In a small saucepan over medium, combine the brown sugar and water. Bring to a gentle boil and cook, stirring often, until the mixture reads 240 F on a candy thermometer.

Stir in the butter, salt, vinegar and 1/4 heavy cream. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Once the mixture has cooled, stir in the rum extract.

In a medium bowl, combine 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar mixture and the remaining 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Use an electric mixer to beat until just thickened, but not completely whipped, about 2 to 3 minutes.

To serve, divide the brown sugar mixture between 4 tall glasses (about 1/4 cup for each glass). Add 1/4 cup of cream soda to each glass, then stir to combine. Fill each glass nearly to the top with additional cream soda, then spoon the whipped topping over each.

So far the one that sounds the best to me was made by a fan who put her recipe on e-How. The fan goes by her e-How membership "dannyrea".

Put the Butterscotch Chips and Butter in a microwave safe bowl. Heat for 30 seconds. Stir and Heat for another 30 seconds.

The Chips and butter should be a thick stirable paste.

Step 2

Now add your Creamer to the bowl. I use the Original Coffee Mate Liquid Creamer.
Microwave in 30 Second increments again. Stirring each time.

I have found it usually takes about 4 times (2 minutes) to get the right consistency.

Set your mixture aside

Step 3

Heat Cream soda in the microwave for 90 seconds.
BE VERY CAREFUL!
Since microwaves vary I must add, my microwave needs about 2 minutes.

Make sure not to over heat the Cream Soda or all of the fizz will be gone.

Step 4
Pour Butterscotch mixture into heated Cream Soda. Stir & Serve!

Be sure to send me your favorite recipe for Butterbeer so I can post it for all the Harry Potter fans out there.

A Quick Pasta and Chicken Recipe

This recipe is quick to make after a long day at work or day trip. Don't skimp on the garlic it adds some great flavor. I probably add more than I listed here.

Ingredients:
1—16 oz bag of penne pasta
1/2 chicken strips
Mrs. Dash or salt substitute
1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning
3 tablespoons chopped fresh garlic, sliced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
5 tablespoons olive oil
2 lemons, juiced
3/4 cup grated Parmesan
3 tablespoons fresh or dried parsley, chopped

Directions:
Cook the pasta per cooking instructions on bag.

Meanwhile, saute chicken with 2 tablespoon olive oil, Mrs. Dash and Italian seasoning until fully cooked.

Remove chicken from pan and set aside. Keep warm.

Keep juices in frying pan and add remainder of olive oil, red pepper flakes, garlic and lemon juice. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes.

When pasta is ready drain and add to a large bowl. Add garlic, lemon and olive oil from the frying pan. Mix well.

Ad chicken and mix well. Add Parmesan and parsley and mix well and serve.

Day 4 with the new kittens

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Last night after our older cat and our son went off to bed, we opened the door for the new kittens to explore the rest of the house. They never made it out of the bedroom. They were too busy playing with each other. The two of them are a kick together. Katie is small, slim little thing, but she can jump high and is in full attack mode when she is around Rio. They spent about hours and a half hours chasing each other around the room, jumping on each other in surprise attack and racing to see who can be faster.

These two could be natural acrabats, the way the tumble and jump all over each other. Very cute.

They tuckered each other out and by the time I was ready for bed they were both out and curled up together on the bathroom floor.

At 6 a.m. the little girl was up and crunching her dry food, but other than making the rounds she got bored and went back to sleep. Especially since Rio didn't seem to be interested in getting up at all. A few hours later I got up and Katie came running along with Rio and they were at it again chasing each other around.

After everyone was up and moving around the house we opened our door and let the kittens come out of the bedroom with the big cat in the living room. Our 9 year old, Eevee, wasn't so sure what to make of the kittens, but at least there wasn't any hissing today. He did make a few grumbles and growls, but the kittens stayed away from his space so he was fine with that.

Rio, our male kitten, watched Eevee very carefully, especially when Katie was anywhere near Eevee. We're hoping to get them together again later tonight and see what happens.

We went out for a couple of hours this afternoon so we put them back into the bedroom and let them play in there safe from the big cat.

Tex-Mex Style Salad

I'm always making up new ways to make a salad. This one isn't the most healthy one, but it does taste good. 

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 medium onion
1  can Caribbean style black beans, drained and rinsed
Mrs. Dash Garlic Seasoning
1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning
2 tablespoons taco seasoning
1 teaspoon red pepper
1 dash or 2 of tabasco sauce
1 cup fresh cut salsa
1 bag favorite brand lettuce
1 cup grated Monterey jack/ Colby cheese
1 cup Cheddar cheese
4 tablespoons freshly chopped cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/4 cup lime juice
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:
In a frying pan place onion and cook for a minute. Add ground beef, Mrs. Dash, Italian Seasoning, Tabasco, two tablespoon cilantro leaves and red pepper. Let cook through thoroughly.  

When cooked let cool a few minutes. Then in a large bowl layer the meat, beans, half lettuce Monterey Jack/Colby cheese, salsa, rest of lettuce, and cheddar cheese.


In a blender add rest of cilantro, red wine vinegar, lime juice, sour creams, garlic and olive oil. Blend well and serve as dressing over salad.

Meet our new kittens--Day 1 through 3

We lost one of our cats on April 1. We had her for 18 years. For the past couple of months we've been looking for a new cat. We attended several of the local organizations and shelters to look for the perfect one, but none jumped out at us. My husband was specifically looking for a calico cat.

My sister had a litter of kittens and we found one we liked. It was a calico, just like my husband wanted. Unfortunately most of the litter died from a cold.

My sister worked hard to save the litter, even taking one to the vet to see what problem they had. The vet prescribed medication, but it didn't work. She had a litter of six and ended up with one still alive. It wasn't the one we wanted so we went looking in other locations.

Tuesday we went to the local Animal Shelter in Martinez, CA to look. I was really set on getting a kitten because I was hoping to find a cat that didn't have a lot of history and maybe bad memories. 

We searched through dozens of kittens and cats and found two we just adored. They were in the same cage at the animal shelter.

One was a male and one a female. They were both three months old, but they were not from the same litter. The male is a week older than the female.

The female is a striped, grey and black, tabby. The male, although listed as a tabby, is actually an American Shorthaired. His body is filled with the swirling markings of the breed. Who knows their may be another breed in there as well, but he definitely is strongly American Shorthaired.

We had to wait until Thursday to pick them up, which was nice because that was my husband's birthday. They needed to have their surgeries and a wellness check up before we could take them home.

We have a 9 year old male Siamese mix at home already. Eevee (my son at 7 years old named him after a Pokemon character) hasn't taken well to the new additions yet.

We put the kittens into our bedroom with the master bath closed off at first. It has a tile floor in case of accidents.

The paperwork all said that they would be quiet and probably groggy on the first days home because they had their spay and neutering done.

Not these two. They were so excited to be out of those cages they were running all over the place and playing with the toys we got for them. We spent quite a bit of time with they. They were also both very hungry and ate up a storm.

They barely settled down the whole day.

Day 2

The second day was a little quieter. At least in the early part of the day. They quickly learned their way out of the bathroom and moved into our bedroom. They played under the bed, chasing each other about. Finally they settled in for the morning and most of the afternoon.

At one point in the day we put them back in the bathroom behind the kid gate and brought the older cat into see them. They were curious. Eevee didn't like them. He growled and hung out by the door. At one point the little girl went in to use the box. Eevee became curious by the sound, but only got close enough to go see what was happening. He quickly moved back by the door.

Finally, after his continued hissing, we just let him back out. The whole thing probably only lasted five minutes or so. We did this again later in the day, still Eevee didn't take to them.

After Eevee went to bed with out son, we let the kittens come out of bedroom by opening the door to the rest of the house. They explored a little but eventually made their way back into the bedroom on their own.

Day 3.

We are quickly learning that these little ones enjoy waking at 6:30 a.m. Too bad it is Saturday morning.

I made sure they had some dry food and water and then went back to sleep. By the time I woke up a few hours later they were sound asleep, but once I was up and moving around they followed. When I feed them the canned food, they acted like they hadn't eaten in a week, even though I heard them crunching dry food earlier.

While they love playing together they are getting more social with us. The little girl is a wildcat. She's not going to be shy. The little boy gives as good as he gets, but he's a little more patient and just waits for her to come to him. She's more into chasing him. He is quick to come see us, while she still watches from under the bed, until he comes out to make the first move.

Once they are up and in our arms they purr away. She much louder then him. Very cute.

We did the introductions with the older cat again this afternoon which didn't go well again. Eevee hissed and growled and stayed at the door. We'll have to try again later.

Now they are back to sleeping the afternoon away under the bed.

Tonight is July 3, our city is having our annual cityhood celebration. There will be fireworks and I'm sure, since tomorrow is Independence Day, we'll have our share of kids, and adults, around the neighborhood with illegal fireworks and firecrackers. Who knows how the two will handle those. Even our older cat doesn't handle them well.

By the way, it took a while to name them but we've finally settled on Katy Purry, for the female, named for pop star Katy Perry and Del Rio (although the Del part might change) for the male, named for the Spanish name for "of the river" to correspond with the swirls on his back.