Day 154 : Raspberry Sauce & Raspberry Lemon Shake

I wanted to make a lemon shake and got the idea to add raspberries, but I didn’t just want to throw whole berries into the mix.  A few years ago I created this raspberry sauce I knew would be perfect for this so went ahead and whipped some of that up and then used a bit of it for the shakes.  You will end up with extra sauce, but it is great over ice cream, on pancakes, or drizzled over cake, etc.  Tonight I used sugar free/fat free pudding because it’s what I had on hand, but honestly I HATE them.  I hate that fake sugar flavor and the feeling it leaves on my teeth, so unless you are dieting (and in that case you are likely aware of the issue and it doesn’t matter) I would suggest using the regular version.

 

Raspberry Sauce

Serves : makes about 1 cup              Time to make : 5 minutes

Ingredients :

• 1 cup frozen raspberries
• 1 1/4 T. sugar
• 1 T. raspberry preserves
• 4-5 T. prepared pink lemonade (I just make a glass from the powder and measure from that)

Directions :

1. Combine ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. 
2. Push contents through a sieve to remove seeds.
3. Cover and store in the fridge.

Raspberry Lemon Shake

Serves : 1                 Time to make : 5 minutes

Ingredients :

• 1 cup vanilla ice cream
• 1 T. raspberry sauce
• 1 1/2 T. lemon pudding mix (instant)
• 1/2 cup milk
• whip cream

Directions :

1. Combine all but the whip cream in a blender and blend until smooth.
2. Top with whip cream.

 

Day 148 : Nutella Iced Coffee

Ok, so I know it’s starting to look like I have a nutella addiction…. and maybe I do, but I came up with this the other night and just had to share it with you all!  Although I enjoy making blended frappes at home with my nifty machine I have been craving just iced coffees lately and have been experimenting with new versions of that.  This is simply YUMMY!  Creamy, chocolatey, nutty, and satisfies both my need for dessert and coffee all at once!

I don’t measure when making my coffees, so below are just estimates.  Feel free to add more or less to your taste.

 

Nutella Iced Coffee

Serves : 1              Time to make : 5 minutes

Ingredients :

• 1/2 cup strong brewed coffee (I use hazelnut espresso beans)
• 2 T. nutella
• 1 T. chocolate syrup
• ice
• 2 T. fat free half and half
• milk (top off)

Directions :

1. Brew your coffee, then with that combine the nutella, chocolate syrup, and 2-3 ice cubes (helps it to blend) in a blender on high until well mixed.
2. Fill a tall glass about half full with ice then pour the coffee mixture over top.
3. Add the half and half and fill the rest of the way with milk.
4. Stir.

 

Day 147 : Islander Smoothie

I often make a parfait using similar ingredients, and in fact I believe I have shared it here, but today I just felt like having a drink for breakfast.  Normally I have fresh ingredients on hand, but today I was down to some I had frozen from before and I didn’t want to deal with thawing and then cutting them so into the blender they all went.  Add a bit of milk and you are left with a nice thick, creamy, and island inspired smoothie!  Even better yet… it’s healthy!

Sorry for the boring shot… as I said I didn’t have any fresh ingredients for garnish and the frozen one broke in half when I tried to slice one side.  It may look boring but it tastes great I promise!

Islander Smoothie

Serves : 1                      Time to make : 3 minutes

Ingredients :

• 1/2 large banana sliced and frozen
• 1/2 cup frozen pineapple chunks
• 1 container (I think about 6 oz) vanilla greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup low fat milk
• 2 T. shredded coconut (sweetened)

Directions :

1. Combine banana, pineapple, yogurt and milk in a blender and blend on high until smooth.
2. Add the coconut and blend until combined.

Day 144 : Margarito

With so much on my plate this week I just wanted a nice little something to relax with.  Based on what we had on hand this is what I came up with and I think it suits me perfectly since it combines two of my favorite drinks!  You get the fresh mintyness of the mojito mix, and the sweet/sour of the margarita mix.  Throw in a bit of alcohol and you’re set! lol

Anyway, I better get back to work.  So much to do and so little time to do it in!

Margarito

Serves : 1          Time to make : 3 minutes

Ingredients :

• 3 oz. sweet and sour mix
• 2 oz. mojito mix
• 2 oz. light rum
• 1 oz. cointreau
• ice

Directions :

1. In a shaker filled with ice, combine all ingredients and shake til well mixed and chilled.
2. Strain into a short glass with ice.

Day 142 : Creamy Lime Cooler

Since the weather never got better yesterday we rescheduled for tonight which meant a quick recipe for me.  I have lots to do yet tonight so I will just make this brief.

The drink is awesome!  I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I really like the creamy, but not thick texture and the lime with the pineapple is perfect.  I added the zest of the entire lime, and I really like the little pieces in there for some added texture and of course color.  I also went ahead and put the juice of the full lime in.  I will list the recipe as I made it below rather than the original.

Creamy Lime Cooler

Serves : 1              Time to make : 5 minutes

Ingredients :

• 1 cup pineapple juice
• juice of 1 lime
• zest of 1 lime
• 2 tsp. powder sugar
• 3 large scoops vanilla ice cream

Directions :

1. Combine ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Day 139 : Fizzy Wizzy Juice

My son named this one, and got the idea from Wow Wow Wubzy I believe.  It was just something I came up with on the spot for a little treat and though it is super simple and can hardly be called a recipe he LOVES it and requests it almost every night now.  This, from my VERY picky eater….

I assume it would work well with all sorts of combinations for the sherbert and the sparkling water alike.  I am going to get the pineapple sherbet next time and I can’t wait to browse through the sparkling water section just to find something to accompany it!  Anyway, it’s a great dessert on a hot day, very reminiscent of a float, and the best part is that once the sherbert melts it just becomes a fizzy drink!

Fizzy Wizzy Juice

Serves : 1          Time to make : 2 minutes

Ingredients :

• 2 scoops raspberry sherbert
• 1/2 cup lime sparkling water, chilled

Directions :

1. In your glass of choice place the scoops of sherbert and pour the sparkling water over top.  It will fizz and create a sort of shell on the sherbert. 
2. Dig in!

Day 134 : Nutella Shots

Ok, I know I did an alcohol drink yesterday for my blog, but as I was browsing recipes for this week’s meals I came across this one and just HAD to try it!  Nutella is one of the best things ever, and best of all I already had the liqueurs on hand!  Well sort of…. it actually calls for godiva chocolate liqueur, but I substituted godiva mocha liqueur and added a bit of chocolate syrup.  It is SO good, and would be great as a full drink instead of shots as well.  I really like the look (and taste!) of the nutella rim too.   This is the drink I would order for me and my girlfriends for ladies night so we could do lots of shots before we really felt the effects lol.  It’s not strong, but it’s also one that you gotta be careful with because you will want to keep drinking them and they will probably sneak up on you.

Beyond the above mentioned change I also used fat free half and half instead of the heavy cream called for in the recipe just to save a few calories.  I imagine it would be even better with the cream though.  I got about 8 shot glasses (1.4 oz. each) out of this.

Nutella Shots

Serves : 8 shots            Time to make : 5 minutes

Ingredients :

• 3 oz. frangelico liqueur
• 3 oz. godiva mocha liqueur
• 1 oz. chocolate syrup
• 1 1/2 oz. fat free half and half
• ice
• nutella

Directions :

1. In a shaker filled with ice combine frangelico, godiva mocha, and half and half.  Shake 15-20 seconds until well mixed and chilled.
2. Rim shot glasses with nutella, then strain drink into them.

Day 133 : Captain’s Nest

It was a great day today.  Had to take the little one in to the doctor to get his shots, but even with that rough start it was a good day.  The sun was shining, the temperature was perfect, we got some much needed yard work accomplished, went on a family drive, got a mocha from my favorite new coffee place, went out to eat, and found some fun decorations for our flower beds.  I decided to finish the night with some adult beverages to really relax.  I asked Jeff what type of alcohol from our veritable liquor store he wanted me to base the drinks off of, and his choice was Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum.

I looked on their website and this one sounded right up my alley.  According to Jeff it turns his “manly” alcohol into a girly one, but that’s ok with me lol.  The drink was pretty good, but I think it could have been a lot better if I had not used up the last of our fresh pineapple earlier today and been forced to use canned for this.  The pineapple juice is one of the prominent flavors of the drink is just nothing compared to fresh!  I also might have preferred my usual orange juice of choice (sunny D) over the more bland variety I used since I had it on hand from a different recipe.  Like I said though, the drink was enjoyable and had a nice tropical taste to it.

I just want to take a second to explain the picture tonight…. I was admittedly a little drunk at the time (had a large margarita with dinner lol) and I thought it would be great to push the pirate/tropical theme with a pirate’s treasure chest and other various items I had from Tahiti and whatnot.  I raided my jewelry box, my son’s rock collection and took his pirate chest to get what I have to say looked like a nice bit of loot!  And then I threw the tropical stuff in as well with the captain morgan bottle.

Captain’s Nest :

Serves : 1                Time to make : 3 minutes

Ingredients :

• 1 oz. Captain Morgan’s Original Spiced Rum
• 2 oz. pineapple juice
• 2 oz. orange juice
• 1/4 oz. amaretto
• lime slice
• ice

Directions :

1. Combine rum, pineapple juice, orange juice and amaretto in a shaker filled with ice.  Shake until well blended and chilled.
2. Strain into an iced filled glass and garnish with lime slice.

* as a variation… I made enough for two, and instead of 4 oz of orange juice (2oz per serving) I used 3 oz. juice and 1 oz. cointreau.

Day 130 : Chocolate Banana Protein Shake

In keeping with the eating healthier I am also trying to get more protein into my diet.  I decided to get some soy protein powder the other day to have on occasion for breakfast or a snack.  I got some Gensoy Chocolate powder and it’s pretty good just mixed with the milk, but I tried this recipe suggested on the can today and it was quite tasty!

I can’t wait to come up with other ways to make it better, or even other ways to use the powder.  I am thinking about using some raspberries in it next time to start.

Chocolate Banana Protein Shake

Serves : 1                      Time to make : 5 minutes

Ingredients :

• 1/2 cup ice
• 1/2 ripe banana
• 3 rounded T. chocolate soy protein powder (such as gensoy)
• 1 cup milk

Directions :

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until frothy/smooth. 

Day 125 : Derby Special

On a whim I told Jeff to purchase some cointreau last weekend without really knowing what it was.  I just knew that I had often come across it in my recipe searches and felt aggravated when I didn’t have any.  I remembered it being for things like margaritas is all.  Well it turns out that it is an orange flavored liqueur, and not a cheap one at that!  I already had triple sec on hand which is an orange liqueur but I must admit that the cointreau does taste a bit better…. sweeter maybe.

Since today is Friday I figured it was a good day to have a drink.  I searched through my huge book of drink recipes for those that called for cointreau and suddenly there were a lot fewer than I remembered and those that did call for it also required things like vermouth, brandy, or gin…. none of which we keep on hand.  I came across this one and it was the only one that we had all the ingredients for so that’s the one I chose lol.

The funny thing is that both Jeff and I felt that it tasted rather like a gin type drink in the end.  I was assuming it would be more like a margarita given the ingredients, but it was definitely more like a gin drink and something more for Jeff than I.

Derby Special

Serves : 1                  Time to make : 5 minutes

Ingredients :

• 1 1/2 oz. light rum
• 1/2 oz. cointreau
• 1 oz. orange juice
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• ice

Directions :

1. Add approximately 4 oz. cracked ice to a blender
2. Pour in light rum, cointreau, orange juice and lime juice.
3. Blend at medium speed until smooth.
4. Pour into a highball glass.

Day 107 : Orange Pineapple Mojito Spritzers

Trying to finish up some leftovers and whatnot before I go grocery shopping again so making simple recipes until then.  Tonight I wanted a nice refreshing drink to relax after a typical Monday.  I might have rather had some alcohol in them, but I decided to let the whole family in on the fun instead.

I came up with the recipe on the fly, just looking around at what I had.  I think it turned out pretty well, and Perrin definitely agrees since he had 3 small glasses lol.  Archer went nuts over it too, but we didn’t let him have as much since he’s only 1.

Orange Pineapple Mojito Spritzers

Serves : 4            Time to make : 5 minutes

Ingredients :

• 4 T. Orange Pineapple frozen concentrate
• 1 1/2 C. Roses Mojito Mix
• 16 oz. lime sparkling water
• ice
• lime wedges for garnish

Directions :

1. Combine juice concentrate and mojito mix in a pitcher and stir until well mixed.
2. Add ice, then slowly add the sparkling water (so it doesn’t foam up) and stir.
3. Serve in a glass with more ice, and garnish with a lime wedge.

Day 104 : Blood Orange Lemonade

While out shopping the other day I noticed they had blood oranges at Yokes.  I have seen them on tv, and have always wondered what they could possibly taste like so I decided to buy a couple.  I had no idea how I wanted to use them, but I was leaning towards some sort of drink since I figured I would likely get the best taste of the blood orange that way with fewer other ingredients to get in the way.

I came across this one while searching and thought it sounded perfect.  The original recipe is for double the amount, but I am glad I decided to make half because to my surprise when I cut into the second orange (which was not part of the recipe) that I wanted to use as garnish I discovered that it was not “bloody” at all, and in fact there was just a slight amount of red inside.  Having no knowledge of blood oranges I am not sure if this is something that happens once in a while or what, but it surely would have been a disappointment if I had needed for the recipe!  I still cut it up and threw it in though since I didn’t want to waste a perfectly good orange, bloody or not.

You definitely won’t find a more SIMPLE recipe and though the flavor is somewhat understated I found this drink to be quite refreshing.  I tasted a bit of the blood orange before mixing it in and it was very good.  Sweet and citrusy with just a hint of something else, which according to an internet search is raspberry.  I dunno, maybe it’s a hybrid of the two?  Anyway they are very good.  It also results in a nice pretty pink color to the lemonade!

Blood Orange Lemonade

Serves : 4            Time to make : 10 minutes

Ingredients :

• 8 cups cold water
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 blood oranges, juice of
• 2 lemons, juice of

Directions :

1. Combine water and sugar in a pitcher and stir until sugar is completely dissolved.
2. Pour in the juice of your blood oranges and lemons and stir well.
3. Cut up what’s left of one of each lemon and blood orange and submerge in the lemonade.
4. If you want, add some ice as well.
5. Chill and serve.

Day 102 : Tiramisu Frappe #2

Ok, so I know I already did a similar drink for my blog not long ago, but I had a moment of genius when I was trying to decide what to use the rest of that sweetened marscapone I had left over from the other night.  I knew I could make a great tiramisu frappe with that and it turned out even better than I hoped!

If you didn’t catch the recipe for the marscapone it was just 11 oz of marscapone, mixed with 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and 1/4 tsp. almond extract.  It was for the stuffed strawberries I made earlier this week, but I have found other great uses for the leftovers including this one.  It’s a great little spread to have on hand I think.

Anyway, back to the drink.  It is rich, creamy, and really tasted a lot like tiramisu.  The other tiramisu drink I made was an adult only beverage, but this one can be enjoyed by anyone…. well anyone who is old enough to drink coffee that is!

 

Tiramisu Frappe #2

Serves : 1                 Time to make : 3 minutes

Ingredients :

• 2 scoops french vanilla ice cream
• 3 T. sweetened marscapone (directions listed above)
• 1/2 cup strong brewed coffee
• 1/4 cup milk
• whipped cream
• cocoa powder
• vanilla wafer

Directions :

1. Blend ice cream, marscapone, coffee, and milk in a blender until smooth and creamy.
2. Top with whipped cream.
3. Dust a bit of cocoa powder over the whipped cream, and finish with a vanilla wafer.

 

Day 90 : Midori Margarita

This doesn’t really need a long introduction… so I’ll be brief and get back to my drink lol.  It’s been a long week, full of editing, kids, and just life and it’s time to relax with a nice margarita!

 

Midori Margarita

Serves : 1       Time to make : 2 minutes

Ingredients :

• 1 oz. Midori
• 1 1/2 oz. tequila
• 2 oz. sweet and sour mix
• ice

Directions :

1. Shake the midori, tequila, and sweet and sour mix in a shaker with ice.
2. Pour over some crushed ice, and garnish with a slice of lime if you want.

 

 

Day 87 : Iced Cinnamon Mocha

Another hectic day so this is going to be brief.  Had pizza for dinner since Jeff was home late and decided a nice iced mocha would be a good after dinner treat, and there’s something very relaxing about the combination of cinnamon and chocolate.  I had just gotten some chocolate marshmallow ice cream from Schwan’s so just used that, but you can use whatever chocolate ice cream you have on hand.  I went a bit light on the sugar in this since I didn’t want an overly sweet drink and found it to be just right for me, but you can adjust to your tastes.

Iced Cinnamon Mocha

Serves : 1                 Time to make : 5 minutes

Ingredients :

• 1/2 cup strong brewed coffee or espresso
• 1/2 cup chocolate ice cream
• 1 packet splenda
• 1 1/2 T. cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 cup fat free half and half
• whip cream

Directions :

1. Mix in blender until smooth and top w/ the whip cream and another sprinkle of  cinnamon.