Mimosa Bar Teaser

Did you know that when you have a baby shower after the baby is born that it's ususally called a "Sip and See"? Now that's our kind of shower around here!


Kirstin threw a Sip and See shower this last Saturday!

The theme: Vintage Storybooks <--click there to see more shower stuff.

She did such an awesome job making the decor vintage

(which personally, I think is often attempted and rarely pulled off--can I say that?).

But my favorite part was the....

Mimosa Bar!

And yes, it was truly as fabulous as it looks.

So fabulous in fact, we've decided March should consist of  a "Mmm... Mimosa Mondays" series. We'll unfold all the little details of this little mimosa bar, and how to make one for your next brunch. (Or perhaps even just to brighten up your next weekend morning at home).


If you just can't wait for more details, start this week with the Classic Mimosa!


You'll need  Champagne and Orange Juice


Fill a champagne glass half with chilled champagne, half with OJ. 
It's just as easy as it is delightful.

So sip on that for now and stay tuned friends... 
"MMM...Mimosa Mondays" is  going to be great!

TheAdams: Black tooth tribute..

There's been quite a bit of celebrating around here lately.


After almost four  l o o o o n g years (or so Kirst and Adam would say),
Adam G is done with boards and all exams...
(unless he moves to another state or decides to go back to school, neither of which are really the plan, for now)
 F    O    R    E    V    E    R    ! !


So in honor of him and all his hard work,
We've been eating lots and lots of good food, which is the key to his heart.


And of course, being the drink bloggers that we are, we had an appropriately-themed drink to go with it all.


It was manly,
It was stiff,
It was perfect for a guy who just finished hours years, of studying Dentistry...
It was: The Black Tooth
And it was: delicious.


If you have a man in your life (ideally one who works with teeth) and you want to celebrate him... make this:


Equal parts of coke and dr. pepper.
Add in Jack Daniels to taste
Pour over ice
And cheers to the tooth man.

Adam L.                                                                                                   Adam G.

So, to Adam G, Soon-to-be Dr. G!

We're proud of you and all your hard work and studying...

And we promise not to drink these Black Tooth drinks all the time so as to not actually get black teeth.

Cheers!

 

Add a little spunk to your coffee...

I drink coffee most days.
I would say everyday, but I do have the occasional morning where I wake up a bit too late to make it, or even more occasionally, I crave tea instead.
But some mornings (like a Saturday, for instance) I have a bit more time to put into making coffee for me and the hubs. So...I like to add some spunk to it.

This last Saturday was one of those Saturdays... our coffee needed some spunk, some sparkle, some pizazz, if you will.

So in case you're in that boat too somedays, try this, it's delish...

Brew coffee as normal.
But use chocolate milk instead of cream/regular milk.
And add a splash of kahlua (reason again for Saturday being ideal).
Drizzle with caramel for an extra punch*

You'll fall in love with coffee all over again. Promise.


Also, if you need another tip that's not as spunky but is still a bit jazzed up, try this.

A weekend away and a Blackberry-Lemon-Mint Julep

Happy Monday! How were your weekends?

Adam and I had a great weekend of house-sitting/dog-sitting while his parents were away.

And... I'll just say it... when you're still "young marrieds" like us, staying at your parents can still feel luxurious. Can I get an amen?

You know, like having nice beer, having cable, and having a fridge full of treats that we don't normally get at the grocery store...what Adam and I like to think of as: the little luxuries of life.

Ok, maybe I shouldn't speak for all young marrieds,

but at least now you know where I'm coming from while reading the rest of this post.

So, this last weekend when we got to his parents I opened the fridge to scope out the "treats" and I saw a Costco size carton of blackberries! A few seconds after munching on a couple, I thought "I need to make a drink with these" (What? I can't help it. When you blog a lot, you start to think in blog too).

After doing a little research I found just the one with a few changes to make it our own.

Ready for it? 

It's a Blackberry-Lemon-Mint Julep.

You might be thinking "Wait a second.... what's a mint julep?"

Valid question. According to Wikipedia "The mint julep is a mixed alcoholic drink, or coctail, associated with the cuisine of the Southern United States. A mint julep is traditionally made with four ingredients: mint leaf, bourbon, sugar, and water."

So, in case you were just thinking that you need more mint julep in your life, or maybe you wanted another use for blackberries and didn't know what mint julep even was (like me), we'll share what we did.

Here's what you need:

1/4 c fresh mint leaves

1 c blackberries

3 T sugar

1/4 c bourbon

1 c Lemon la Croix water

Several small ice cubes

Mint for garnishing

makes 2 servings

Here's how to do it:

1. First, chop the mint finely. (But don't stress too much because it's about to go into the food processor/blender)

2. Put the blackberries, mint, and sugar into the food processor and puree.

3. Add in the bourbon, Lemon la Croix water, and ice.

4. Blend until smooth, and pour into your glass. Garnish with mint so it looks pretty.

It was refreshing and delicious. Adam said it was probably his favorite drink we've made so far!

A delightful little study break for two.

(Well I wasn't studying... and perhaps Adam shouldn't have had Makers Mark during a study break.... but let's not get caught up on details...)

So try it and tell us about it!

What did you think of your first Mint Julep?

Reader Feature: Recap and a Green Smoothie!

A couple of weeks ago we posted an announcement that we're introducing a new column: Reader Feature!

It all started when my parents sent me a picture of the Skinny Pina Colada that they made from Sip Your Way Skinny Month. After posting that, I learned that the reason they made that was to have a special "Beach Night" to help fight the winter blues and pretend to be at their favorite restaurant in Florida, Jimmy's.

My dad and Cathy                                          their good friends

Like I said, cute huh?

And...it's exactly what's this blog is for!

So since that announcement, we received our first submission!

It's for the Green Smoothie post that we did,

and it's extra special because it's from my cousin, Bethany!

I'm going to be embarrassing and post a picture of us from when we little (and one from now):

Beth, love the gum.

And I must add that this is a bit flattering because she is probably one of the best cooks I know.

Seriously, anything she touches in the kitchen, turns to "gold" (or whatever the cooking equivalent would be).

Here's what she said she did:

"I used store brand 4 berry variety of frozen berries

Spinach leaves

Ice

Non-fat store brand vanilla yogurt.

tip: I bought a huge tub of the yogurt because it was only $2.00, so it's definitely cheaper "

She said it was "great!"

Bethany, thanks so much for sharing!

Ok friends, who's next?

Just send us a couple of pictures of your drink that you made to sipsetc@gmail.com.

You could be the next reader feature:)

A Valentine's Message

One pretty well-known fact: we love our St. Bernard, Stetson.

One pretty unknown fact: he has a spot on his side shaped like a heart.

(In case we needed another reason to love him.)

What better day to share this random tidbit with you than on Valentine's day.

So... from Stetson, and from us:



valentines day drink round up

Do y'all have Valentine's plans? Going out? Staying in?

In the chance that you're cooking up something fabulous for your honey (or your family! or friends!), we thought we'd put together a little Valentine's Day drink round up. Enjoy!

Bailey's Cool Raspberry
Liquid Love
The Exclusiv Valentine
Chocolate Indulgence Martini
Valentine's Sparkler

Sippy Cup: Man with Yellow Hat party decor

So pretty much this week has turned into "link up to Kojo" week. But I wanted to show you another idea we used recently... and it just happened to work perfectly for Kirst's Curious George Shower (just like the Banana Puddin-tinis did).

It's the perfect craft to do with you little ones and decorate for a birthday party, costume party, or in our case a baby shower, that involves some kind of hat theme (Curious George, or what about cowboy/cowgirl/western/toy story party? Wouldn't that be fun?)! Even better, it's cheap (dollar store cheap) and easy (again, perfect with a little-r one).

I first saw the idea here . It's one of those ones that you see and think "how brilliant!... why have I never thought of this before?".  It'd be a great way to set the table for a party (like Sarah did on her blog), or a fun way to decorate cake stands, tables, and apothecary jars (like Kirst did).

Here's how to make it so it goes on top of an apothecary jar/cake dome/whatever else might stick up:
1. Wrap a yellow cup with electrical tape or brown vinyl (we couldn’t find any electrical tape). You might have to make several slits for it to sit right.
2. Cut an “x” in the middle of a yellow plate. *careful with your little with the cutting, but you already knew that:)
3. Tape the cup in place over the “x” using packing tape (put a little on the inside of each side of the cup).
4. Slide the top of your apothecary jar or cake dome through the “x” cut.

(obviously to just use it as a placesetting or to put across a hurricane there's no need for cutting "x"s.)

Like I said, cheap, easy, quick, adorable...perfection.

Can you think of another use for these little hats?

**for more details about the shower and other decorations Kirst used, check them out here**

A Drink Blogger's Valentine: Heart Shaped Ice Cubes

Kirstin loves Ikea.

Like, goes there every other week, loves Ikea.

Like, her 3 year old could probably give directions from their house, loves Ikea.

Ok,Want to know something else about Kirstin?

She loves Valentines day.

And not necessarily because of the romance of it (at least I don't think anyway),

but more so because she has fond memories of that being one of the only days of the year that her family got together to do "crafts" (aka make valentines).And because it's a great day to remind people how much you love them.

Now, I say all of that so you will understand exactly what I was thinking when I accompanied her and her two kiddos on their latest Ikea outting and saw this:

 Yep, a heart ice cube tray. Because for $1.99 (which is why most of the rest of us love Ikea) I could contribute to the Valentines Festivities and send my own little "valentine" in the form of ice. One heart ice cube tray, sold.

 Are any of you interested in decorating your ice cubes for Valentine's day to remind people they're loved? Fantastic. I'll show you just ONE of the many ways to use this baby...


1.Grab some of your favorite Juice. We used Berry Blast NakedJuice.

2.Grab yourself one enthusiastic toddler (optional. No toddlers needed, but I will say, if they're like my nephew they'd probably love to help)

3. Fill the ice cube tray with the juice (preferably a red kind in keeping with the "love" theme)

4. Let freeze. Obviously.

5. Pour a glass of seltzer, champagne, or another kind of juice (we used Mighty Mango NakedJuice for ours and paired it with some delicious red velvet pancakes for breakfast)

6. Serve it to your favorites as a little "I love you".



Banana Puddin-tini

One of my favorite things about this blog is finding special drinks for every occassion.

A couple weekends ago, Kirstin suggested that we come up with a drink for her Curious George baby shower that she threw for a few of her friends.

Done.

The search was on for some kind of yellow-ish, lemon-ish, or banana-ish drink for the party.

And thanks to Lisa Huff on Snappy Gourmet I found just the thing:

a Banana Puddin-tini!

I know, I know, a lot of people aren't banana-flavor-lovers

(unless you're like my bff, Liz, she'd probably confess that the banana milkshake from Chick-fil-A was her kryptonite)

but the overall consensus was still extremely favorable, so I think you'll be pleasantly surprised,

or, at the very least, make it for your banana-loving friends.

Here's what you need for our version of this banana-fabulousness:

1/3 c milk (we used 2%)

2 T Pinnacle Whipped Cream Vodka

1 t JELL-O Banana Cream instant pudding mix
crushed Nilla Wafers
low-fat cool whip
a Nilla Wafer for garnish (mini works better)

serves 1

Here's how to do it:

First, dip the rim of the glass into caramel sauce/cool whip (you can use either...Snappy Gourmet used caramel sauce-yum! We forgot it at home (cool), so in a pinch we used the cool whip and it worked out magnificently). After it's lightly coated, dip the rim into the crushed wafers. ** do this first so that your glass is ready for the drink once it's mixed.

Once your glass is rimmed, pour the milk, pudding mix, and vodka into your cocktail shaker over ice. Shake, shake, shake.


Then pour into your glass, top with cool whip, garnish with a whole wafer, and sip your little monkey heart out.


(To make a mocktail, or one "without sauce", obviously just leave out the vodka.
Just a word of caution though, these will be much more pudding-esque since the alcohol is what keeps it more liquefied. But it didn't seem like the pregnant ladies/non-drinkers minded all that much).

There you go friends, go bananas! (I'm such a dork)

Fan-Themed Parties

We're going to be honest, this years superbowl is leaving a lot to be desired around here. The Patriots and the Giants? Yuck. And we might be just a bit bitter that our teams didn't make it, or even come close to making it, but out of respect for them, we decided not to develope a colored drink for the super bowl teams like we definitely would have should the circumstances have been different.

And so, we decided we would have Kojo do a little guest post for us about how to make a fan-themed party with fan colored food and drinks.

Click here to go over and check it out.

This was a party they threw for the Mavs last season, but it has some great ideas and obviously some blue themed things that could go for the Patriots (boo) or the Giants (boo) if those were teams you were choosing to cheer for.

We guess if you're going to watch the superbowl, which we still intend to do, you should at least have fun themed food and drinks. Thanks Kojo for sharing! 

Enjoy the game Sunday!