One of my favourite things about the holidays is all of the social gatherings that come with it. Sure, it can come with its stressors from a food-standpoint (although I have some tips for you here to help you get through it), but ultimately, it's a time to connect with old friends and family members you haven't seen in a while, indulge in delicious food and sip on yummy drinks!

Although I'm a Holistic Nutritionist, I have a secret love and a deep appreciation for beautifully crafted cocktails, wine, and craft beer. I've already coined my signature drink on my future-wedding day to be a Boulevardier. Or maybe a bubbly Kombucha Cocktail! I guess I have time to decide, haha!

And no, that doesn't mean I throw in the towel and hit the bottle come the weekend. I just really love the whole experience of kicking back with friends or my love bug, Randy, and mixing up a special something to enjoy together with our homemade healthy eats.

I'm also a big believer in balance. I make a point to eat as much #RealAssFood as possible throughout the week and on weekends so that when I do happen to have the glass of wine or cocktail here and there, I don't feel the negative effects as much. That, and being a Nutritionist means that you have all of the tools and skills to bounce back from a hangover much faster than you might have been able to before (thank you, B Vitamins, coffee enemas, lemon water, and exercise!).

So when a beautiful bag filled with Walter Craft Caesar Mix, Walter Craft Caesar Rim and Tito's Vodka arrived on my doorstep this past Friday, minutes before the weekend officially began, let's just say I was a little bit excited!

I remember when I initially came across and tried Walter's Caesar Mix a couple years ago, I was so excited! I have always enjoyed sipping caesars up at the cottage in the summer. But now, me and my Holistic Nutritionist heart could feel a lot better about doing so by using Walter's Craft Caesar Mix which is free of artificial flavours, artificial colours and high-fructose corn syrup. It's also made in Canada and gluten-free! While I don't abide by a 100% strict gluten-free diet, I keep gluten out of my diet for the most part since it makes me feel better and it makes it easier to serve to others who may be intolerant to gluten. It also has the Ocean-Wise stamp of approval, which implies that the clam juice within the mix is sustainably sourced to help conserve aquatic life as much as possible.

My love bug Randy and I headed up to the cottage this weekend after a quick video shoot on Saturday morning for some much needed R&R. This was one of the few weekends that we didn't have any holiday parties so we thought we would zip up to the snowy north in Victoria Harbour to rejuvenate ourselves before the holiday fun began.

The only expectations we made for ourselves this weekend was to:

Watch Christmas movies
Eat delicious food
Drink delicious drinks
Sleep in

I'm proud to say we did ALL of those things! We usually like to get outside and do some snowshoeing as well, but we were a bit unprepared this time by leaving our boots at home. Oh well, next time!

This morning alone, we crossed 3 of those things off our list. After a refreshing 9:30am sleep in, we got up to make brunch which was roasted veggies and over-easy eggs atop a portobello mushroom alongside a slice of sourdough bread and the most DELICIOUS caesar using Walter's Craft Caesar Mix!

While I had tried their Caesar Mix before, I hadn't tried their Caesar Mix which is a blend of salt, organic cane sugar, spices, dehydrated garlic and onion powder. It was SO yummy and sealed the deal for me!

Even though the snow-capped trees were telling us to drink a cozy cup of hot chocolate, it felt super Canadian to be sipping on a Canadian-made drink in such Canadian-esqe weather!

By the way, did you know caesars were first created in Calgary, Alberta in 1969? It can actually be hard to find caesar mix in other parts of the world because it's not much of a "thing" there. I remember when I spent my last semester of university in Australia, all I wanted was a caesar! It wasn't until 3 days before coming home to Canada that I was in a bar in Australia on Canada Day, sipping on my first caesar in over 6 months! The bar had imported caesar mix just to celebrate us crazy canucks!

Now I'm sure you already have some sort of caesar recipe down pat already, but I think you'll love the little twist that this one has to offer. Walter's calls this one "Nice" (instead of Naughty) Christmas Classic Caesar! The main difference from the caesar that you might be used to is that it uses rosemary. At first I didn't know how I felt about this, but my taste buds and I were pleasantly surprised! It totally gave it a nice Christmas-y flavour!

And of course, the Nutritionist in me loves to make use of fresh herbs and spices, especially rosemary. Rosemary is packed with antioxidants and contains iron, which helps to oxygenate our blood cells. You'll also find an abundance of B vitamins, which if you didn't know, are a hungover person's best friend. That's because we deplete our B vitamins when we consume alcohol which are responsible for giving us energy! There's your nutrition lesson for the day.

But you came here for a super yummy healthy caesar recipe, didn't you? Let's get to it!

Healthy Holiday Craft Caesar "The Christmas Classic"

Ingredients

1 oz vodka
4 oz Walter Craft Caesar Mix (Mild Spice)
3 dashes Worcestershire sauce
1 dash hot sauce
squeeze fresh lemon juice
1 lime wedge
1 sprig rosemary, ripped into 1" pieces
small dish filled with Walter Caesar Rim

Directions

Fill a small dish with Walter Caesar Rim and get a small cocktail glass
Run the lime wedge around the edge of the glass. Turn it upside down into the Walter Caesar Rim until all edges of the glass are covered
Muddle the vodka and fresh rosemary together in the glass
Fill with ice and add remaining ingredients
Dress or garnish as you wish (I shaved fresh asparagus for a festive dressy touch!)

What's your favourite holiday beverage?