Summertime Watermelon Mojitos

We wanted to try something new and here it is! These Summertime Watermelon Mojitos are very tasty! I adapted my recipe from here. These were nice to sip on the back porch while reading a new book.

If you happen to have a nice little herb garden already in order, growing mint, you are good to go!

Summertime Watermelon Mojitos  
makes ~3 1/2 servings, refrigerate for 2-3 hrs prior to serving so its ice cold 
10 oz (1 1/4 cups) Bacardi light rum
4 thick slices of watermelon, seedless
3 limes, juiced
20 large mint leaves
1/2 cup simple syrup (make this: mix 1 cup sugar & 1 cup water, simmer until dissolved, cool)
sprigs of mint for decoration 
  
1. In a food processor, blend until smooth, the watermelon and mint leaves.
2. Add watermelon mixture to a pitcher. Stir in the Bacardi, lime juice and simple syrup.
3. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours before serving, or until ice cold.
4. Pour into glasses and top with a sprig of mint. Serve!

These drinks are really refreshing and oh so tasty! Make sure to refrigerate your mix before serving! I found that making them on the fly and serving immediately wasn't as tasty. We did add ice to our drinks which helped a lot.

These are great with a light simple summer dish to pair it with, like this Barefoot Contessa Roasted Shrimp Salad which is soooo delicious. Who doesn't love dill?!

We had an amazing meal! If you are looking for something new to try, give both of these recipes a taste!

Chocolate Malted Martini

Ever since visiting a piano bar in Milwaukee, WI, in 2005, I have been in love with Chocolate Malted Martinis (wow has it been 9 years already?!). Unfortunately their martini was SO good, I  haven't been able to find one that came close. To be honest, I'm not even sure of the name of the martini that I had all those years ago! But I remember it tasting like Whoppers.

I wanted to see if I could perfect a recipe that came close. Little did I know that that would be a challenge! Although this recipe comes close to that very first malty martini that made me go crazy, it still isn't exactly right. Maybe I should call the place and ask about the martini... But this one is definitely chocolaty and tasty too.

Chocolate Malted Martini- serves 1
-Whoppers (or Robbin Eggs)
-1 T. half and half (1.5 oz)
-1 T. malted milk powder (like Ovaltine) (2T.)
-3 T. chocolate vodka (1.5oz)
-1 oz. (2 T.) chocolate liquor
-1 T. chocolate syrup (optional)
-ice

Combine all the ingredients (minus the Whoppers) in a shaker and shake. Strain into a glass and add a few Whoppers. Done! You may also add a drizzle of chocolate syrup to the inside sides of your glass before you pour your martini in, but I like my plain :o)

Cheers!

Toddler Smoothie Cup (+recipe)

Our family ❤ loves ❤ smoothies. We have one every morning for breakfast!

Since Christian is now 15 months old, he has gotten to the age where he wants everything that we have, so I decided it was time for him to have his own smoothie cup.

I looked around a tad here and there, not desperate to find anything. Low and behold I found a cup that was pretty awesome {AND} not where I'd expect to find one! Can you guess where?

The Target dollar section!!! I couldn't believe it!

Even though it was in the dollar section, it was actually $3.  That's still an awesome deal, especially for what you get. 

There were two different kinds, all Star Wars, a green one with Yoda and a black one with Darth Vader. We stuck with the Jedi. :o)

Even though this cup was only $3 is has some awesome features.

To start, the straw is awesome. It comes with a lip towards the bottom so that it cannot be pulled out. The material the straw is made out of is a durable heavy plastic that would be hard to bend if chewed on. (I'd love to use a glass straw with Christian since that's better for you than plastic, but he's still too young!).

There is a nice rubber (I'm guessing) sealer on the inside of the lid's rim which helps the cup keep a suction preventing leaks!

The lid also has an inner lid rim on the inside that fits down into the cup while it's screwed on. Even more leak protection! Plus it helps prevent little ones from taking the lid off.

Not noted in above picture: The hole that the straw fits through ALSO has a lip around it. This does prevent our heavy smoothies from pouring out most of the time, but not water!

Here you can see that some smoothie has found its way out.

Testing out the cup:

Yep, that straw doesn't come out!

What if I tip it? Nope nothing comes out! Although one day I'm sure if he leaves it tipped long enough something might come out the straw or straw hole.

This 12 oz, double paned cup is perfect for protecting little hands from the cold smoothie. You can also see that his little hands can grab most of the cup too. It's a good size! I think I'll go back and buy another. Once they are gone from the dollar section, who knows if I'll ever be able to find them again!!

One con: hand wash only :o( 
Since we will be using it every morning, I'd have to hand wash it any way since I don't run my dishwasher every night.

*Note: The straws can be bent if chewed on long enough! Christian has figured this out! We also now own 4 of these cups because of how great they are and bonus: we have found the cups with different characters!*

Baker Family Smoothie
-one banana
-one container of greek yogurt (~5oz)
-orange juice, ~2 cups
-frozen strawberries
-ground flax seed (optional)

1. Mix banana and oj together.
2. Add yogurt and flax seed, then mix.
3. Top off with a handful of strawberries, mix and serve! Yum!

Enjoy! Christian always does!

DIY Hot Chocolate Bar

A really easy way to help set the holiday season mood, is to create a Hot Chocolate Bar! All you need is a trip to the store for a few items!
My Hot Chocolate Bar was served with:
-biscotti
-cute Straws (Target $1 section find!)
-mini marshmallows
-whipped cream
-tiny candy canes
-cinnamon sticks
-mugs
-pumpkin pie spice
-rich & milk organic hot chocolate mix
-chocolate chips

This is something that is easy and quick to set up. PLUS, you can leave it out and others can help themselves. Make sure to replenish your items through out the holiday season!

Some other optional items to include: 
-Peppermint Schnapps (yum!) 
-Baileys Irish Cream
-sprinkles 
-butterscotch (instead of chocolate) chips
-spoons
-Hershey's Cocoa
-big AND small marshmellows
-milk
-DIY Heart Shaped Whipped Cream Marshmallows
-homemade hot cocoa mix 
-peppermint marshmallows

There are SO many possibilities!
Cozy up and enjoy a cup of hot cocoa from your Hot Chocolate Bar!!

Summer Brewed Iced Tea

What better way to start off summer than with gardening and iced tea? (We’ll get to the gardening later). I have never been one to love iced tea. I’ve always thought that it was too bitter and flavorless. Over the past few years however, I have started to develop a taste for it. I must say, I am definitely a sweet tea kind of gal. 

After a friend re-introduced me to my new found love of tea, she showed me how she made hers. She used an iced tea machine... I can honestly say I never knew there was such a thing! Really? I guess it’s like a coffee machine, but brews with tea bags for tea. So I decided I wanted to make my own tea, but without the large contraption of a tea machine. I learned that I love, especially during summer, drinking mint tea. More specifically spearmint tea. It’s very refreshing and light.

First, I filled a huge pot with hot water and started it to boil. Then I added my 5 tea bags of Bigelow Mint Medley Herb Tea. (This tea is also caffeine free which is important because I’m a nursing mother). 

*When I made my first batch I started out with 9 bags of peppermint tea. What a rookie mistake. It was WAY too strong, and I really didn't like the peppermint. I had to water it down considerably before it was drinkable. I tried 9 bags because I calculated the ratio of ounces of water, for a regular glass of tea and tea bag, to the larger amount of water I was using. Needless to say, that didn’t work, and all I needed was 5 bags. This still makes the tea very flavorful.*

I let the tea brew in the hot water for about 5 minutes. I removed the tea bags and added plain, regular sugar to the hot mixture, about 3/4 cups. (When I used real sugar cubes, I guestimated). The sugar dissolves very quickly since the water was hot.

I then let the tea cool in the pot. It was still warm when I transferred it to my drink dispenser (a cheapy jug I found at my local grocery store in the seasonal aisle, but it was fine). Since it’s plastic I didn’t worry about it cracking by putting it straight into the fridge.

 

Ready to serve!!

How do you like your tea?