Happy Halloween and some Slime Punch.

We're not super into Halloween around here, but we do love having reasons to celebrate, dress up, and of course, make special drinks.

If you're looking for something last minute to sip on after trick-or-treating, or while you're passing out candy, we have a great one for you. Not too gory, still a bit silly, and made with things you might have on hand.

We bring you: S l i m e Punch.

Here's what you'll need:

2 c seedless green grapes

2 c sugar

1 c lime juice (we used sweetened and cut back on the sugar)

8 c club soda

1 c gin (optional--we made ours without so we could sip it with the niece and nephew)

This is enough to make about 8 servings. We cut back since there were only a few of us partaking.

Here's how to do it:

Freeze your grapes so they can act as ice cubes. About 45 minutes to an hour.

Pour in the club soda. And add green food coloring for an extra "slime-y" looking drink.

Stir in the lime juice and sugar until it's dissolved.

Finally, add in your frozen grapes.
 (They'll float at first which is extra fun, so try to keep them frozen as long as possible before serving.)

That's it! It's the perfect refreshment for those tired trick-or-treaters (and their parents).

Happy Halloween friends!

PS. Take a look at what the toddlers in our life will be wearing this year :

The Man in the Yellow Hat (made by Kirst, isn't it great?), and his monkey, Curious George.

Have you ever seen a cuter pair?

What are you guys dressing up as for Halloween? Making any fun drinks to celebrate?

TheAdams- Beer Can Chicken

So...most of us have those nights where we don't really want to get the kitchen dirty or maybe just don't have time to figure out a main dish for the family. Beer can chicken is one of those meals that is a great standby and can be fixed easily without much mess, but best of all is almost impossible to screw up.

What do you need for ingredients??? 
Just grab a beer out of the fridge (I use a 24oz can because we typically try and get a larger chicken), some seasonings, and a whole uncooked chicken.

The nice part about this recipe is that you don't have to be really precise or make up your own sauce or anything that takes time before you are ready to cook.  I usually use a pre-mixed rub that we have around the house or you can experiment with your favorite seasonings for your own unique rub.

Take 6 tbs of the rub mix and spread 4 tbs on the chicken.  Open the beer (you can either drink half or pour it out, you know my preference), and take a knife or scissors and cut small holes into the top of the beer can.  Use the other 2 tbs of rub mix you have left over and pour the mix slowly into the half of beer you have left over through the holes you cut in the top.

Be careful on this part because it will likely fizz over if you pour it all at once.  While all this is going on, have your grill on high so its ready for cooking whenever you are done with the chicken.

Turn half of the grill off and leave the other side on high, grab the chicken and carefully place the beer inside the chicken making sure its not too top heavy spilling the beer mixture.

Balance the can with chicken on top on the grill, over the side that has been turned off.

That is ALL! Leave the chicken on the indirect grill side for about 1 1/2 hrs turning 1/4 turns occasionally just to give a nice even cook to the outside of the chicken.

The chicken will start to look puffy and crunchy on the outside when it is getting close to being done, but I always check internal temp with a meat thermometer to make sure it hits 170 degrees.

When it's done, use tongs to extract the beer from the chicken's butt. The meat should fall right off the bone- enjoy!

 

sips photoshoot outtakes

Besides her genius in flavor parings, our sister/sister-in-law, Jordan, is also brilliant behind a camera lens. Since she was in town this week, we asked her to snap a few photos for the blog.

There were some keepers for sure... Of course, there were also some hilarious outtakes. And why keep them to ourselves when we can share them with you?

As you can see, there was a lot of laughter involved during our little photo shoots (is there any other way?). Please tell us that we're not the only ones that have to take seventy-six pictures just to get a couple usable ones?

ps- Jordan would want us to put the disclaimer on here about how the pictures of the boys were totally last minute, taken at night, and not representative of her work (that's true, by the way- there's only so much you can do when you wait to take pictures until 10:30 the last night she's in town). So- sorry about those ones.

halloween drink round up

With Halloween just around the corner, we thought we'd share some of the genius (and delicious looking) Halloween Sips floating around the internet!

Peach Lemonade Coolers
Sinister Cider Cocktail
Black Lagoon Cocktail
Swamp Sips
Boonilla Shake
Witches Brew
The Jack O' Lantern
The Black Widow
The Candy Corn 
Spider's Kiss
Poison Apple Punch
Creepy Potions (for kids!)

Have you seen any fabulous Halloween-ish drink recipes?

Better, have you tried any out?

BITES- cheesy potato balls

I don't know about you guys but around these parts most of our nights have been consumed with watching the World Series. (When your husband is from Texas and they make it to the World Series, you don't really argue.) So if you're like us and you're looking for an appetizer to pair with your beer for the big game, these cheesy potato balls (that the boys have nicknamed The. Balls.) are quite the crowd pleaser!

INGREDIENTS
8 baking potatoes
1/4 cup minced onion
8 ounces cream cheese
8 ounces sour cream
2 T butter, softened
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Bake potatoes at 350 for an hour and a half. Let cool. Peel and shred the potatoes (we used a ricer, but you can just use a fork if you don't have one).

Mix cream cheese, sour cream, shredded cheese, onions, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper in a large mixing bowl. Add in shredded potatoes and mix.

Scoop out spoonfuls (you can use an ice cream scoop but we didn't). Roll in parmesan/corn flake mixture. Line up on cookie sheet.

Bake at 425 for 35 minutes. Pair with your favorite brew and tune in to your favorite team. In our case, GO RANGERS!