With St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner, I am sure many of you are looking for a good green cocktail. Usually if an alcoholic drink is green it contains one of two things: green creme de menthe, or melon liquor. I have nothing against either flavor, but if you are looking for something a little different you have come to the right place!
Remember Little Hugs? Tiny barrels of sugar laden “fruit drink”…ahhh, childhood. Well, the lemon-lime flavor is the perfect shade of green to make a lovely St. Patrick’s day drink while steering clear of the usual suspects. I mixed it up with Pinnacle Whipped Vodka and some Sierra Mist. Before I tried a sip, I named it the Whipped Leprechaun.
After I tried a sip, I realized I had something on my hands that transcended March 17th. This thing tasted like one of those popsicles that I spent my summers slurping down as a kid. You know, the ones with the cream inside? I renamed it the Whipped Popsicle. Don’t want to box myself in you know.
This drink is perfect to celebrate St. Patty’s Day with or to sip by the pool come summertime, and I know from all the Facebook and Pinterest posts I’ve been seeing lately that a bunch of you are already thinking summer.
Whipped Popsicle
2 oz Pinnacle Whipped Vodka
Lemon-lime Little Hugs drink
Lemon-lime soda of your choice
Add vodka to glass. Fill 3/4 of the glass with the lemon-lime Little Hugs drink, and then top off with lemon-lime soda. Stir, add ice, consume (unless you are under 21 – in that case just go eat a popsicle and come back when you’re old enough!)
Today I got a little break from the pre-Christmas running around madness. Presents are all wrapped, cookies are baked, make-ahead mashed potatoes for Christmas Eve dinner are made…ahead. What better way to enjoy some downtime than with a cocktail?
This drink was inspired by those chocolate covered marshmallow and caramel santas that you can buy at the drugstore this time of year. I love those things!
While I was whipping this up, I thought of a Christmas song called The 12 Daze of Christmas by Fay McKay. It’s not something they ever play on the radio – I’m not even sure how I ever heard it in the first place – but they should, because it’s freaking hilarious.
So if you too could use a little drink and some music to unwind this evening, play that and make this:
Chocolate Caramallow Cocktail
1 oz Pinnacle Marshmallow Vodka
2 oz Godiva Chocolate Liqueur
splash of half & half
ice
caramel sundae syrup, chocolate syrup and marshmallows for garnish (optional)
Combine marhsmallow vodka, chocolate liqueur, half & half, and ice in a cocktail shaker and shake until frosty. Drizzle caramel sundae syrup inside martini glass, then pour in drink. Garnish with marshmallows and chocolate syrup.
A bunch of friends on Facebook have been posting one thing every day this month that they are thankful for. I have decided to go the opposite route, and take a moment to send a little “thanks for nothing” to those who have pissed me off over the past few days.
1. T-Mobile: Thank you SO much for porting my phone number BEFORE my phone arrived so that, for the past two days, I had no cell service of any kind. And a double thanks for informing me, when I called and spoke with your snotty support twit, that yes, you would be charging me for those two days even though I was NOT receiving service from you. Way to impress a brand new customer, douchebags.
2. Asshat at the grocery store: It was so kind of you to prevent me from backing out of my parking spot (after I had to fight through the throngs of ignorant morons INSIDE the store just so I could get some lettuce and cans of beans) by sticking your cart directly behind my vehicle while you loaded your bags into the trunk of your ridiculously stupid, giant SUV. You rock.
3. Handful of NHL players: It was so cool that you decided to put together a game in Atlantic City to benefit Sandy relief organizations, and even cooler that you scheduled it for one of the ONLY DAYS ALL YEAR that I actually have plans. Every other weekend I sit around on my ass doing nothing, but not the day you are holding the game. Potentially the only hockey game I could have seen this season and I can’t go. BOO! (But still YAY for the cause!)
Oh, and another BOO for this stupid ass NHL lockout. While you are busy fighting over your hundreds of thousands of dollars, there are people who work for minimum wage in your arenas that are OUT OF WORK because of you! Get over yourselves, all of you!
4. This last one requires a bit of back story… A little over a year ago, a woman ON A BICYCLE crashed into my car which was parked on the street (something I rarely ever do). She took off my power mirror, and dented and scratched the front end of my car. Apparently my neighbor across the street saw what happened, and made sure she came up to the house to tell me what she did. My boyfriend answered the door, and when she said she had hit my car and was going home to get her insurance info (homeowners I guess?) he believed her. Had we known that the only reason she came up in the first place was that she had been nabbed trying to just take off by the guy across the street we would have just called the cops. Anyway, of course she did not come back, and we had not taken any info from her.
So last week my boyfriend is out front and the lady drives up and says, “Oh, I see you got the car fixed. How much did it cost so I can pay you?” Mind you, over a YEAR has gone by at this point. So he tells her the cost to replace the mirror (I still have the lovely marks from her bike handle bar) and she says, “I don’t have a job, I can’t pay you,” gives her address, and drives off in her BRAND NEW Toyota Corolla.
So I want to thank her for a). drunk biking or whatever the hell she was doing when she crashed my car, b). saying she would return that day to take care of things and then disappearing and c.) randomly showing up a year later to rub in my face that she still hasn’t paid for the damage to my car, and apparently doesn’t have a job but has a much newer, nicer car than I do. Piss off.
OKAY, I feel a little better now. On to some things I am actually thankful for.
I would like to express my thanks to The Domestic Rebel for this blog post, in which she alerted me to the fact that such a thing as Hot Cocoa with Marshmallow 3 Musketeers bars exist in this mad world. I found them today, and they are awesome.
I might actually try her recipe in which she melted the candy bars down to make icing for cupcakes (hello, genius!), if I don’t eat the whole bag first.
Next, I would like to thank Pinnacle Vodka for making Pumpkin Pie flavored vodka. I have had so much fun making drinks with this stuff over the past month and today I might have outdone myself…
I loooove those mucho mudslides you get at Friday’s or Applebee’s, loaded up with ice cream and whipped cream and chocolate syrup. So after a twenty minute argument with customer “support” at T-Mobile, this was just the thing I needed to bring my happy back.
Pumpkin Mudslide Ingredients
1 oz Pinnacle Pumpkin Pie
1 oz Kahlua
1 oz Baileys
2 scoops coffee flavored ice cream
ice
chocolate syrup and whipped cream for garnish Directions
Blend liquors, ice cream and ice in blender. Drizzle chocolate syrup around the inside of a glass, pour in drink, and top with whipped cream.
Mmmmmmm….what was I annoyed about??? Oh, that’s right, not a damn thing! : )
Lastly I would like to say thanks to those of you who, whenever I manage to post something, take a few minutes out of your busy day to read what I have to say here in my blog. It’s been awesome so far getting to interact with all of you and I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! (If you aren’t in the U.S., just have a happy Thursday!)
If you read my last post you would know how excited I am about Pinnacle Vodka‘s newest flavor – Pumpkin Pie. While everyone else was anxiously awaiting the iPhone 5, me and my old LG Optimus were waiting to wander into a liquor store and find that blue bottle with a slice of pumpkin pie floating enticingly on the label.
Find it I did, and it is soooooooooo good. I’ve been ready for fall since the beginning of June, and now that it is finally near there is no better way to usher in the season than with my Caramel Pumpkin Pietini. Not only is this one fabulous drink, it is also a tribute to these pumpkin cupcakes topped with caramel butter cream which I just learned today that I will NEVER be able to buy again because the bakery that makes them is closing. Please pause for a moment of silence while you drool over the deliciousness…
Oh, Pumpkin Cupcakes. How I will miss you…
Sniffle, sniffle.
What better way to drown one’s sorrows than with a nice drink?
Like Mary Poppins, I pulled numerous goodies from my bag of tricks to make this martini. Aside from the obvious Pinnacle Pumpkin Pie, I knew I was going to use RumChata in this recipe – it’s a rum cream with a nice cinnamon flavor (you have to have cinnamon in your pumpkin pie!). Since I wanted to add some caramel flavor to the drink I had to look no further than my dwindling bottle of Baileys Caramel. Lastly, I don’t know about you but I can’t have pumpkin pie without whipped cream on top, so added a splash of Pinnacle Whipped to the mix. A little half & half to up the creaminess factor, a crushed graham pie crust rim and a sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice were the finishing touches.
Caramel Pumpkin Pietini
2 parts Pinnacle Pumpkin Pie
1 1/2 parts Baileys Caramel
1 part RumChata
1 part half & half
splash of Pinnacle Whipped
ice
crushed graham crackers/graham pie crust and pumpkin pie spice for garnish
Combine all the liquids and ice in a cocktail shaker and shaky shaky shaky! Crush graham crackers/graham pie crust and rim glass. Pour drink into glass and sprinkle with pumpkin pie spice. End up with this…
Just in case you are wondering, I used these little mini graham pie crusts from Keebler. I like the taste better than a dry old graham cracker, and the size is perfect. You get enough crumbs to rim a few glasses without having a ton left over.
We’ve got months of pumpkin weather ahead and I’ve got a pretty full bottle of Pinnacle Pumpkin Pie vodka. Anyone have any suggestions for other things to mix it with? I’d love to hear your ideas!!
Seriously, I need help. No, not that kind of help. I swear, I’m not an alcoholic. The last drink I made was last weekend (Key Lime Martini- yummy!) and I haven’t had one since. Until tonight.
I had some bananas ripening on top of the fridge that I needed to do something with and lots of rum leftover from the Rum and Coke cupcakes, and since I am off from work tomorrow and Tuesday (woohoo! four day weekend!) I decided to mix up a new cocktail. It’s really good. The only problem is that I don’t know what to call it.
Here’s the recipe:
As Yet Unnamed Cocktail
Ingredients:
1 cup milk (I used unsweetened almond milk, due to some bizarre adult onset lactose intolerance)
1 ripe banana
1 shot dark rum
1 shot Bailey’s Caramel
1/2 shot Creme de Banana
ice
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
And then, after you’ve had one, tell me what I should call it! I was thinking of all the typical monkey type names…bananas and all that jazz, but I think they’ve all be done. Then my boyfriend said I should call it BananaFanaFoFana (is that how you spell that nonsense?!). Cute, but when this recipe goes viral and drunk people everywhere are ordering it at bars that’s going to be quite a mouthful. “Can I have another BananaFanFo…aww, just make me some more monkey juice bartender!”
So, any thoughts? Or are you too busy busting out the blender? ; )
I had a bunch of key limes leftover after using some to decorate my Rum and Coke Cupcakes. It being a Saturday night and all, I decided to make a cocktail. My new best friend, Pinterest, quickly offered up a recipe for a Key Lime Martini and it just so happened that I had all the required ingredients.
I doubled the recipe so the boyfriend could partake as well, so I needed one shot glass full of key lime juice. As I stood squeezing my eighth tiny lime I thought to myself, this better be worth it.
It was most definitely worth it. Creamy, sweet and a little tart. The only way it could have been better was if I had some graham crackers to crush and rim the glass with.
2 tablespoons cream of coconut (I put in an extra tablespoon – I LOVE cream of coconut!)
1 shot pineapple juice
Directions
Add all ingredients to a martini shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a martini glass. Serve.
So I have my drink, I get to sleep in late tomorrow, and Ian Somerhalder has a spot on this old episode of Law & Order: SVU that I am watching. Aside from the fact that a mosquito just came into my house and bit my elbow (seriously, isn’t there a way to eradicate these spawn of satan?!), life is good.
Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend! Here’s one for the ladies…
I never would have thought that a cocktail could look like a bruise, but tonight I have succeeded in creating one. I don’t know if this is an accomplishment to be proud of, but here it is… the Black and Bloopy!
I bought this lovely little tub of Electric Lemonade Slush Mix from Tastefully Simple. Add water, vodka (I used Three Olives Loopy) and then stick it in the freezer. I did this a few weeks ago, and then promptly forgot about it. Then today happened, and today was one of those days that needs to end with a cocktail. After I hacked out enough to fill my glass I gave it a taste. Good but VERY sour! So I decided to add some grenadine for a little extra sweetness. The end result was a very good, although oddly colored alcoholic slushy.
This one is pretty easy! Buy some of this slush mix from your area Tastefully Simple rep (support your local business while you booze!), add water and the vodka of your choice per the instructions on the container and freeze! When serving, if you want your drink to look like its been in a bar fight drizzle in some grenadine.
Last weekend was perfect. Sunny weather, an extra day off from work, the unofficial start to summer… Instead of going “down the shore” as we say here in Jersey, I came down with a cold.
When I get sick, I go all out. I don’t spend a day or two feeling like crap and then bounce back. I get bring-in-the-CDC-and-maybe-a-voodoo-healer-for-good-measure sick. The highlight of every day this week has been bedtime, except for that one night there was a freaking giant spider running around on my bed. Unfortunately it was real, and not some Nyquil induced hallucination.
So now it’s another lovely Saturday and I STILL feel like garbage! In order to cheer myself up (and in hopes that some alcohol might kill of the super germs that have taken over my body) I decided to make myself some sangria.
At first I browsed some recipes online but a lot of them required ingredients that I didn’t have, nor did I have the energy to put on some respectable clothes and go to the store. So I decided to just wing it with stuff I had in the house.
Not only does it taste great, I just LOVE the colors!
I am now back in my Angela-shaped indentation on the couch with my tissues, sangria and a package of Twizzlers that my wonderful boyfriend picked up for me, watching Tough Love New Orleans. I feel better already. : )
Summer Green Sangria
Bottle of white wine (I used Smart Cookie Sauvignon Blanc)
20 fl oz lemon lime soda
6 fl oz pineapple juice
1/2 cup melon liqueur
Agave nectar to taste (if you want a little extra sweetness)
Blueberries, one orange, one kiwi
Combine wine, soda, pineapple juice and melon liqueur. If desired, add agave nectar to taste. Give it a good stir, then add blueberries, orange slices and sliced kiwi. Let sit in the fridge for a least an hour to let the flavors combine. Then…enjoy (preferably in a nice sunny spot on the porch)!
This is a picture of me six years ago on the day I graduated from college -
Classy, aren’t I?
This is a picture that 2012 Angela would have sent 2006 Angela a few weeks before said graduation (if one could do those types of things…) -
College went something like this for me:
Ugh, I don’t know what I want to do, but I have to go to college…. Oooh, I’ll be a Liberal Arts major. That’s broad enough…. Oh wait, I like to write – I’ll be an English major!…. If I have to write ANOTHER FLIPPING PAPER about a book I am going to go jump off the Ben Franklin Bridge…. I’ll switch my major to Political Science! I like politics, and all that matters in the end is that I have a degree of some sort, right?…. RIGHT?!
I went to Rutgers University (it’s a good school) and my lack of direction aside, I was no dummy. I graduated with honors.
Six years later, to quote Sandra Bullock‘s character Lucy in While You Were Sleeping, “I go to work and I sit in a box like a veal.” Granted, she sat in a toll booth while I sit in a cubicle, and my lovely desk job has probably turned me into a much fattier piece of meat than a veal but you get the point.
Is this where I wanted to end up, with a yearly salary that is STILL a smaller number than the amount of money I had to take out in student loans to finance my useless Bachelor’s degree? (Still paying those back by the way…) I guess that’s what happens when you don’t have a plan but even years later I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up (some more).
I guess I should just be happy that I’m not graduating NOW, when a picture like this would be the most apropos -
There is one good thing I took away from my college years (aside from that lovely, EXPENSIVE piece of paper hanging on the wall in my home office) and that is Starbucks Passion Tea Lemonade. There was a Starbucks on campus. Going there for my PTL fix was the only thing I looked forward to every day.
Last week at the grocery store I saw Tazo Iced Passion teabags. The thought that I could now make my drink at home instead of paying Starbucks the six dollars and a kidney it costs for a Grande Tea these days made me very happy. Then I had an even happier thought, and that involved Limoncello. Enter, Tipsy Tea Lemonade…
This one is pretty simple. Prepare the tea according to the directions on the box and sweeten it (or not!) to your tastes. I used honey to sweeten mine. Once the tea is chilled fill a glass with half tea and half lemonade. As you can see, I used a bottle of convenience store lemonade (if you don’t have a Wawa where you live I’d like to offer my condolences) but if you want to get fancy feel free to make your own! The last step is to add as much Limoncello as your drunken heart desires. I used about a shot glass full. Mix, add ice and ENJOY!
Cheers to all the recent grads! Make this drink for your poor mothers when you all have to move back home for the next ten years…
Peanut Rum Creme. Sounds a little strange, no? This is what I thought when I saw a drink called Banana Nut Bay on the menu at Rum Bar in Philadelphia last year. However, other ingredients were Creme de Banana and cream of coconut and I figured something with those flavors could never be bad so I ordered it.
Oh Happy Day! This drink was soooo good! It reminded me of boozy Gerber Baby Bananas. (Yes, sometimes I buy a jar of baby bananas for a snack, so what?) Now, it was last year that I had this drink. I don’t know what made me think of it today but I checked out Rum Bar’s website and it appears that – for some bizarro reason – this tasty concotion is no longer on the menu. For a brief second I was broken hearted, thinking I would never again taste such deliciousness, but then I remembered Google.
1 oz Brugal Anejo Rum
1/2 oz Creme de Banana
1/2 oz Castries Peanut Rum Creme
1/2 oz cream of coconut
3 oz pineapple juice
Shake and serve with ice. Thank Angela for introducing you to a taste of heaven…
But wait – there’s more!! A few months after Banana Nut Bay, I was having brunch at Max Brenner’s and what do I see on the menu but another drink made with Peanut Rum Creme! This drink was called Satisfaction Guaranteed, and it did not disappoint! Castries Peanut Rum Creme, Caramel Liqueur and milk chocolate. It was a damn good drink on its own…extra bonus points for presentation!
I would say Peanut Rum Creme would definitely make a a great addition to any home bar!
