I'm always glad when spring and summer bring around the tropical drinks. Fruity cocktails are always good, but especially so when the sun is bright and the skies are blue. Unfortunately, we've had several solid weeks of rain recently, so it hasn't been warm at all. I've decided to ignore that fact and pretend that it's summer already (while staying indoors) with this strawberry lemonade daiquiri.
The strawberry lemonade adds an interesting twist to the daiquiri, combining a more traditional strawberry flavor with the twist of lemon. I just used a Country Time mix for the strawberry lemonade. You can make just a cup at a time, or make a full pitcher and use what you need for your cocktail. Close your eyes while you're sipping this, and you can imagine that you're on a beach somewhere sunny. At least, that's what I'll be doing with this one.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup strawberry lemonade
1 oz silver rum
handful of frozen strawberries
ice
fresh strawberry and lemon
To Make:
In a blender, combine strawberry lemonade, rum, strawberries, and ice.
Blend until it reaches a smooth slushy consistency and there are no more big ice pieces.
Garnish with a strawberry and lemon slice. And don't forget a straw!
You can also switch up the flavors in this daiquiri if you're not into strawberry lemonade, by using other juices or mixes. If you have paper umbrellas, they would be perfect to add to these drinks!
I love me a good, classic margarita. It's actually the first drink I had on my 21st birthday! While I personally love many different kinds of cocktails, I definitely come by this one honestly. My mom only ever drinks two things: tequila and champagne. They're complete opposites, so if it's not one kind of celebration, it's got to be the other! So margaritas are one of our favorite things to enjoy together. And since the weather is getting warmer and Cinco de Mayo is right around the corner, this week's Happy Hour is all about that salted rim.
This recipe is about as foolproof as it gets–just three ingredients! It's easy to put together a pitcher for a last minute get together, or even if you're just having a friend over for a drink in the summertime. And since I prefer my margaritas on the rocks, you don't even need a blender. Alright, enough chit chat. Grab some limes and let's get started!
INGREDIENTS (MAKES 1)
1.5 oz silver or blanco tequila
1 oz freshly squeezed lime juice
.5 oz Cointreau (not triple sec)
ice
salt for the rim
DIRECTIONS
Use the lime rind to wet your glass rim and coat in salt.
Add all ingredients to your glass filled with ice and stir a few times until chilled.
Garnish with a lime slice or wedge and serve immediately.
Classic margaritas are the perfect recipe to have in your back pocket. They're simple, refreshing, and I don't know very many people who don't like them, so they make a great party drink!
I love my margaritas to have a heavily salted rim. It really helps balance out the flavors for me. But if you prefer it without the salt (or even with a sugared rim!), feel free to do what you like best.
Do you prefer your classic margaritas frozen or on the rocks?
Oh man, Easter really snuck up on me this year! I never feel fully prepared when it falls so early on the calendar. Add that to the fact that I've been stepping back from blogging for a bit (more on that in Friday's post) and you get a belated-semi-holiday-themed recipe. But after making this, I absolutely had to post it. You'll thank me for sharing, I promise.
If you're like me, you have a ton of leftover Easter candy that you don't know what to do with. So I made this ah-mazing Cadbury creme egg milkshake to use up some of the ones we had left! ...If you don't have any leftovers, then first of all, congratulations for not over-buying on the candy like I did. And second, now all the Easter candy is on sale! So it's really pretty win/win today, folks.
Ingredients:
vanilla ice cream
chocolate ice cream
milk
Cadbury creme eggs
To Make:
Fill your blender with both kinds of ice cream. I've found that a 2:1 vanilla to chocolate ratio works best, because the chocolate is a stronger flavor.
Add milk and blend well.
Add a whole creme egg to the blender and blend until smooth.
Pour into your glass and top with whipped cream and sprinkles (and a cherry, of course)! Garnish it with another creme egg, if it's not sweet enough for you already.
This milkshake is so delicious; the blend of the chocolate and vanilla really brings the whole thing together. And you get little bonus bites of Cadbury egg every now and then! What could be better?
What kind of Easter candy is your favorite? Any that would work well in milkshake form? Tell me in the comments!
Happy St. Patrick's Day! This isn't a holiday I usually go all out for, but any holiday that includes drinks is one I'll happily celebrate. I'm not a huge fan of beer, however, so I made this drink so I can happily participate in the spirit of the holiday too! This cocktail is inspired by a leprechaun's pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I love the rainbow sugar rim; it adds such a festive touch to the whole thing.
Ingredients:
3/4 oz Goldschlager
1/3 oz butterscotch schnapps
apple juice
colored sugar
edible gold stars
To Make:
Dip the rim of your glass in corn syrup and then in the colored sugar.
Pour the Goldschlager and butterscotch schnapps in a chilled martini glass.
Top with apple juice and stir.
I used paper plates to rim my glasses–one for a circle of corn syrup, and the other for all the colored sugar. You can use a bowl, but I found paper plates to be the perfect size for my glasses and their flatness helped coat them evenly all the way around.
You can use any cinnamon schnapps you like–I chose Goldschlager because of the gold flakes in it. However, when you only use 3/4 oz you don't get enough gold for my taste, so I added some edible gold stars on the top too. Add them just before serving, so they don't completely dissolve before anyone gets to see them!
If there's one thing I love, it's award show season. I love the red carpets, the speeches, people getting excited about receiving recognition for their hard work, and of course, all the glitz and glamour. I love spending Sunday nights curled up on the couch in my pajamas while watching my favorite celebrities get all dressed up.
The grand finale of awards show season is, obviously, the Oscars. This is the most prestigious award, because it's voted on by their peers–actors vote for actors, directors vote for directors, etc. So if you're like me and want to pretend you're a part of the Academy too, here's how to throw the perfect Oscar party!
If you're going to be members of the Academy for the night, everyone has to fill out a ballot. These are perfect for the beginning of the party while everyone is still arriving. Fill them out while watching the red carpet–just make sure you finish voting before the show begins at 8:30, or it'll be too late! You can choose one person to score them and have people turn them in to keep the winner a surprise until the end, or just go by the honor system and have everyone score their own.
Hang up gold fringe curtains behind your food table to add glam to the room. Or you can just hang them against a wall to create a perfect backdrop for your well-dressed guests to take pictures in front of!
Going to the movies is all about the popcorn, so here are three amazing recipes for munching on throughout the show! For all three of these recipes, I used unsalted, unbuttered white popcorn made on the stovetop–the perfect blank canvas for adding flavor!
Celebration Popcorn
1 c vanilla candy melts
1 c vanilla cake mix (just the powder)
sprinkles
Melt the vanilla candy melts and stir in the cake mix. Melt them together for another 10 seconds, then drizzle the mixture over your popcorn. You can toss the popcorn with the mixture to coat it more evenly if you want. Add the sprinkles over the top and let dry before serving.
Oreo Popcorn
~12 Oreos
11oz White chocolate chips
Crush the Oreos until they're finely chopped, but not completely turned to dust. You'll still want some bigger cookie pieces. Melt the white chocolate chips in 30 second intervals and stirring until they're completely smooth. Drizzle the chocolate over the popcorn, or toss the popcorn to coat it more evenly. Add in the cookies and toss until they're mixed in evenly. Let dry before serving.
Garlic Parmesan Popcorn
4 T melted butter
1 T minced garlic
1/2 c parmesan
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and allow it to cook for 3 minutes. Spoon the mixture over the popcorn and toss to coat evenly. Add parmesan while it's still warm, toss, and serve. (This one is my favorite!)
These cookies are the real star of the show. Just use your favorite cutout sugar cookie recipe–make the same number of Oscar men and circles, and then just cut stars with the rest of the dough. A cookie cutter would work great for this, but I didn't have one, so I printed out a 6" silhouette of the statue and just traced it with a knife! They're not perfect, but I still think they're adorable. And as long as they taste delicious, who cares, right? After they've been baked and cooled, cut out a small slit in the center of each circle, just barely big enough for the base of the trophies.
Ice your cookies with a glaze made from 3/4 c powdered sugar and 2 T milk. Mix it up with a fork and add a couple drops of yellow food coloring to mimic the gold of the statues. Let the glaze dry. Stand the men up in the slits of the circles–if your cuts are too wide or they're just not staying upright, use a small amount of melted white chocolate to glue them in place. Are these not the cutest?
Rim your champagne glasses with gold sugar to glitz them up too.
And of course, what are the Oscars without awards? Give mini Oscar trophies to your guests for getting the most right on their ballot, best dressed, and anything else you can think of! Who are you watching the Oscars with this year? And more importantly, who are you voting for?? Tell me in the comments!
