Madras Slushes

Is it me or does everything taste better in slush form?

Remember our Brandy Slush post? I mean really, who knew Brandy could taste so good?

For whatever reason, at the first sign of warm weather, my instinct is to go get a slushy. Ask Adam, it's true.

I'm not entirely sure why, but I think it has something to do with my childhood "Slurpee after soccer practice" routine. Perhaps that, paired with the fact that it was rarely warm outside where we went to college, (Grove City College--go Wolverines!) and so when it was, we'd treat ourselves with slushies from Sheetz.

Whatever the reason, I crave slushy things when it's hot outside.

A couple weekends ago, I ventured off from my normal recipes and tried making a Madras. In the process I thought to myself "why not get crazy and make it a slushy Madras?" So that's what I did.

For those who don't know, a Madras is easily confused with its vodka-cranberry cousins like the Cape Codder(vodka-cranberry), Sea Breeze (vodka-cranberry-grapefruit) and Bay Breeze (vodka-cranberry-pineapple).  It obviously has the vodka-cranberry components, but adds in a bit of orange juice into the mix.

Want to make one too?

Here's what you need:

1 1/2 oz vodka

3 oz cranberry juice

1 oz orange juice

10-12 ice cubes

(though I would have probably added more ice so it was a bit slushier)

a clementine for garnish

Here's how to do it:

combine all ingredients into the blender

blend until smooth

 

serve in your favorite glass

garnish with a clementine slice (it's more petite)

The combination of tart, sweet, and slush was perfect way to satisfy my warm-weather cravings.

Bites: Spiked Banana Bread

Today's post is a recipe. But not for a drink. I did use whipped cream vodka in the making of the recipe, though, so I figured it still counts. Plus, it is yu-ummy. Like bananas foster in a bread. Yummy.

It all started when I ran out of sour cream. My go-to banana bread recipe has sour cream in it. And I didn't really want to run to the store. So I searched my favorite food blogs- smitten kitchen and how sweet it is. This triple fudge banana bread looked lovely, but I am also out of chocolate chips (who doesn't have chocolate chips on hand? Seriously.). I settled on this jacked-up banana bread recipe.

Since the theme of the post is "But-I-Didn't-Have-Any," of course, I mixed up the bananas, butter, egg, sugar, and vanilla and found that we don't have any bourbon. Are you kidding me? But sitting in the liquor cabinet, right where the bourbon should've been was Pinacle Whipped Cream Vodka. Since I was already committed to the banana bread at this point, why not, right?

And, the result? Sheer loveliness. Foster-y, banana-y glory.

Oh, and here's the recipe (but, like I said, it's adapted from the recipe at Smitten Kitchen)

4 overripe bananas, mashed

1/3 cup melted butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 t vanilla

1 T whipped cream vodka

1 t baking soda

pinch salt

1 t cinnamon

pinch nutmeg

1 1/2 cups flour

Mash the bananas, pour the butter over them. Add the brown sugar, egg, vanilla and vodka. Mix well. Add the baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg and mix well. Add the flour. Mix. Add batter to a greased bread pan. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes.

DELICIOUS. Like making-me-hungry-just-looking-at-these delicious. Try it.

Blueberry Spiked Lemonade

Like I mentioned last week, it's been gorgeous around Denver lately.

Gor-geous!

It's amazing how much nice weather perks you up, isn't it?

And everyone else seems in a cheery mood too.

So why not cheers to the extra cheeriness with this Spiked Blueberry Lemonade

(or even with just regular blueberry lemonade) 

To make a single serving:

Take a handful of blueberries and muddle them in the bottom of a glass.

(Ideally you can use a muddler, but we just used a spoon to mash them and it worked just fine)

Then take 1 1/2 c of cold water,

 1T (or more depending on your taste) of lemon juice,

and 3T of sugar

and a shot of vodka

and combine it with the muddled blueberries.

Then shake it up until the sugar is dissolved.

You my want to strain out the blueberry seeds and skin, but we left them, and it was great!

Garnish with the leftover blueberries, and toast to Spring!

Happy Birthday Kirstin (and a Chocolate Milk Martini)!

You probably don't know this, but today is Kirstin's birthday!

And since she was so sweet about what she wrote for my birthday,

and I don't think I get to say this stuff about her enough,

and so you can get to know her a bit better,

I thought I'd share some of my favorite things about her here:

1.She's beautiful inside and out.

2. How much she loves her family (immediate and extended). I was seriously hard pressed to find a picture of her to put on here where she wasn't posing with a family member.

 In fact, I was unsuccessful.

3. She's seriously one of the most generous people I know. I'm not sure we've said this on here yet--probably not, because why would it come up?--but my Adam, me, and Stetson (did we mention he's a St. Bernard?) are currently living with their family until we are a bit more settled here in Denver. And Kirst and her Adam have pretty much gone by the philosophy "what's ours is yours". I just hope that some of this generosity rubs off on us, but I know at the very least I know I have never been so thankful.

4. She's quirky, and funny. In fact pretty much the perfect mesh between the two. 

5. She loves to travel.

6. She's passionate-- about diet coke, sushi, the beach, and some more important things too:)

7. She is a great friend and a great encourager. She throws showers for people all the time (even for people who she just met) and will always take a phone call from a friend regardless of how busy she gets.

And so, in honor of Kirstin, I tried to find a drink that used some of her favorite things: Magic Shell, dark chocolate, and whipped cream.

The Chocolate Milk Martini + some Magic Shell for rimming = just the thing.

Here's what you need:

2/3 c milk

3 t Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Syrup

2 oz Pinnacle Whipped Cream Vodka

Hershey's or Smuckers Magic Shell Ice Cream topping (again, for rimming)

Here's how to do it:

First mix up your milk and chocolate.

Then add in your vodka.

Stir well.

Then pour your Magic Shell onto a plate or into a wide bowl.

Take your empty glass and turn it upside down to coat the rim in chocolate.

It should harden.

Then pour in the drink.

It's ok if some of the Magic Shell breaks off into the drink. It's like adding chocolate shavings.

Happy Birthday Kirstin!

Do you have anyone special who has a birthday coming up?

What kind of special drink can you think of to customize for them with things they love?