Sour Apple Martini

Earlier in the week I was looking for low calorie cocktail recipes.  This one came up quite a few times in my searches.

1 part Vodka
1 part Apple Pucker

Myrecipes.com

We did not have lime juice, so we experimented until we found the right proportions.  1 to 1 seemed right.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Cheers JD! ;-)

Strawberry Smoothie

I found this easy recipe in my Betty Crocker Bridal Edition Cookbook.

1 pint (2 cups) strawberries
1 cup milk
2 containers (6 ounces each) strawberry yogurt (1 1/3 cups)

Place all ingredients into a blender.  Blend for 30 seconds on high.  Pour into four glasses. 1 serving (@ 1 cup) is 130 calories.

I followed the recipe as written. 

How did it turn out?
It was definitely easy to make and pretty good.  It wasn't very sweet, even I could have gone for just a touch more sweetness added (maybe a tablespoon of sugar? suggestions welcome).  It was still pretty good, and definitely a nice low cal treat; refreshing on a summer evening.

What about the kids?
Walter was pumped.  He was getting this as his dessert after dinner, and he drank it down quickly and was sad to learn there were no seconds.  Mara liked it too, but was too ready to play to finish her glass.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Orange Julius

Josh took the lead on this recipe today.  We got home late, and I had no creativity left.  He quickly flipped through the Immanuel Lutheran, Canton, KS cookbook, and came up with this lovely treat.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup Orange Juice Concentrate

1/2 cup Milk

1/2 cup Water

1/4 cup Sugar

1/2 Tsp. Vanilla

5-6  Ice Cubes

Directions:

Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth.  Serve.  Enjoy.

How did it turn out?

This drink is delicious!  It tastes just like the drink you'd buy at the mall.  Fabulous and easy, just the way I like it!

What about the kids?

I'll have to get back to you.  They went to bed early, but we'll make it again for them soon.

Rating: 5 out of 5



Cedarwood

Josh found this recipe at allrecipes.com while searching for a summer drink recipe. 

Ingredients

• 1 fluid ounce lemon juice
• 2 fluid ounces vodka
• 4 fluid ounces cranberry juice
• 3 1/2 fluid ounces ginger ale

Directions

1. In a tall glass over ice combine lemon juice, vodka, cranberry juice and ginger ale. Stir and serve.

Allrecipes

The juice we had was Cranberry Raspberry.  We also used a shaker to cool the drink instead of putting ice cubes in the glass.  I measured all of the liquids, and as you can see, the glass is already quite full.

How did it turn out?

It is an interesting combination of flavors.  The lemon is pretty distinctive and I can't taste the alcohol at all.  It is not super sweet.  I'd say, not bad.  I may have one more.  I'm still trying to get used to it.

What about the kids?

The kids had to go to bed early because we went to the water park, and they skipped nap time.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Stout Beer Ice Cream Mini Floats

While perusing the Pillsbury recipe site, I came across this recipe, and I knew that my husband would be very interested in it.  I also knew that I would likely hate it, but it was an interesting idea, so I decided to give it a shot.

Pillsbury

INGREDIENTS

1 cup premium vanilla ice cream

1/2 cup stout draught beer (from 14.9-oz can)

3 tablespoons chocolate-flavor syrup

DIRECTIONS

1   Using small ice cream scoop (about 1 tablespoon each), place 2 small scoops in each of 8 shot glasses. Slowly pour about 1 tablespoon beer into each glass.

2 Drizzle each with about 1 teaspoon syrup. Serve immediately with small spoons.

I used Guinness beer, a store brand vanilla ice cream and Hershey's chocolate syrup.

How did it turn out?

I was pleasantly surprised.  Once the ice cream was sufficiently mixed with the beer, it didn't taste too bad.  When I got mostly beer, I didn't care for it because I don't like Guinness, but together it was surprisingly good.  Josh liked it a lot.  It was right up his alley.  He'll have another larger version later to finish off the bottle of Guinness we bought.

What about the kids?

They enjoyed a lovely bowl of vanilla ice cream for dessert tonight.  ;0)

Rating: 4 out of 5