Daily I find myself penciling things into my planner from now until the end of he year…yes, I am old skool and still write stuff down on a calendar!
With each reminder, time and date that I enter, I become more and more aware of how fast the holidays come and go. Each year I try to do better at being more organized and less stressed.
Unfortunately they only had two and unfortunately they’re only sold online, but I snatched them up and thought I could fill them with homemade infused vodka for Christmas.
I love the festive color. Going to pour it into these decanters & mason jars and pair it with a nice hot cocoa mix for a couple friends and neighbors to help with burning the holiday midnight oil.
Also going to add a recipe for this holiday martini…
Candy Cane Snowtini
{via}
Substitute “parts” for “ounces,” and this will make 1 cocktail.
2 parts Candy Cane Vodka
1 part simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water, boiled until sugar dissolves)
1/2 part heavy cream
ice
mini candy cane to hang off the rim of your martini glass
In a cocktail shaker filled with ice (or leak-proof water bottle, if you’re resourceful like me), mix Candy Cane Vodka, simple syrup and cream together. Shake vigorously for about 30 seconds.
*****
I tell you, after Halloween it’s all downhill to December 31st.
This weekend I took the time to rethink the homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte and, based on this recipe, I think I found the method and ingredients that work for me.
I hope you’ll enjoy it, too!
The first time I attempted this, I used 1 cup of coconut almond milk for the pumpkin mixture. I LOVE this stuff, but for some reason my coffee wasn’t creamy enough…I make our coffee strong and like it on the lighter brown side once I add my creamer. With the coconut almond milk in the pumpkin mixture, it was still way too dark and I didn’t particularly care for the flavor. {I will continue to use the coconut almond milk in my smoothies and on cereal/oatmeal, however, just not in my coffee}
: Perfected {in my opinion} DIY Pumpkin Spice Latte :
1 cup whole or 2% milk {I used whole since that’s all we had on hand}
1/4 cup pumpkin puree
Couple dashes of pumpkin pie spice
Mix until blended and heat slightly in the microwave. Add 1 tbsp brown sugar to the bottom of a mug and fill with freshly brewed coffee. Top with half the warmed pumpkin milk mixture and add whip cream and cinnamon for a special treat!
Makes 2 servings.
This won’t be something that I do every morning, but is a nice addition to a slow-moving autumn weekend morning.
*****
Annnnnd, since we are not quite experiencing the Fall temps here in So Cal yet, here is an easy iced version for an afternoon pick-me-up and a great way to use leftover coffee.
{just place your extra coffee from the morning in the fridge so it’s nice and cold when you need it}
: Pumpkin Hazelnut Iced Coffee :
Heaping tbsp pumpkin puree
Splash milk
Splash hazelnut creamer
Leftover cold coffee from your fridge
Lots of ice
Whisk pumpkin, milk and creamer together in a small mug or bowl. It may seem a little thick, but will be fine once you add the coffee and ice. Fill tall glass with ice, pour in pumpkin hazelnut creamer and then fill with iced coffee to the top of the glass. Stir well and sweeten, if needed. I just used the whipped cream as my sweetener! Don’t forget to add a little sprinkle of pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon to your whipped cream.
It is Monday, so turn it around and make a hot or iced version of this Fall fave.
Root Beer floats are so {summer} to me. Soft scoops of vanilla bean ice cream floating in root beer. Or Coke. Or even Diet Coke.
Jay and my dad had one at Disneyland and I knew I wanted to make them at home.
I like to serve them in the 8 ounce jelly jars ~ just the perfect amount. Who am I kidding, I could polish off one 3 times this size.
We’ve all had that punch at baby showers at one time or another with rainbow sherbet and 7-up, right? When I saw this post, it reminded me of individual servings of this fun, refreshing punch.
Put your glasses {or jars} in the freezer to get them nice and frosty.
Add a couple scoops of your favorite flavor of sherbet.
Or just vanilla.
Top off with 7-up, Sprite, Sierra Mist, Fresca or any other lemon lime soda.
If you’re using vanilla ice cream, you can use root beer, Coke, Dr. Pepper, cream soda or even Orange Crush…like a 50/50 bar!
Orange Crush would also be perfect with orange sherbet, don’t you think?
The possibilities are endless with these little floats.
Another birthday party down in the books…this makes party number twelve between the two kiddos. I LOVE planning their little parties ~ this year for Elliott we decided to do a small sleepover to celebrate turning SEVEN.
She decided on a mermaid theme and I was immediately on board! Give this mama a theme and she’s immediately in action…scouting out little goodies, trinkets and treasures.
I found the invites at Marshall’s for $3.99! They came with 8 invites and 8 thank you notes…since we were keeping party small this year, these totally worked.
Elliott wanted to go to the pool with her friends which totally made sense. The weather here had been HOT for weeks, but the day of her party was supposed to be in the high 60s/low 70s! I thought about canceling the pool, but the mermaids suited up and spent about 2 hours swimming, jumping, splashing and diving.
{Matching nightgowns from Target for 50% off were part of their goody bag…they showered, shampooed and got in their jammies before we headed home}
{I also found some cute shell bracelets at our local drug store for 75% off months ago}
{The seahorse bowls and plates were from a random Kmart visit ~ 75% off before Christmas. These also went home with each guest}
{Above the table, on a big branch, I hung some Dollar Tree paper lanterns and a few jellyfish made and handed down from my friend, Mia}
{my mom made these seashell jars last summer and I filled them with Dum Dums}
The food was fun and easy…
{eating sushi after the pool}
{my four-legged [octodogs] didn’t quite look like the ones on Pinterest}
I invited the mamas over for drinks and appetizers, too. I threw together a quick 7-layer dip and picked up a sushi platter at Trader Joe’s. My neighbor, Sun, brought some Korean BBQ on a skewer ~ yum!
The mama mermaids sipped what I called Mermaid Tail Martinis ~ Vodka, Malibu, pineapple juice, blue curacao {shake that in a cocktail shaker and pour into a martini glass} add a splash of Sprite and float a mango mochi on top. I premixed a pitcher of the drink and then shook it with ice as needed. Do not add the Sprite before shaking because of the carbonation. Ratio: 2 cups vodka, 2 cups Malibu, 2 8.45 ounce cans {or the equivalent} pineapple juice, 1 ounce blue curacao. Makes 8-10 servings. The mochi can be found at Trader Joe’s and is like a little ball of ice cream.
The mochi sort of melts into the drink and makes it creamy. One mochi lasts for about two drinks…there are only six mochi to a pack so I needed to stretch them out and it worked perfectly for each guest to have one.
The cake was just a four layer cake with vanilla cream cheese buttercream. The girls also had Elliott’s favorite cotton candy push pops.
{candy sushi made with halved powdered donuts and rice krispie treats topped with a Swedish fish and then wrapped with a strip of fruit by the foot [I used Market Pantry brand from Target]}
{they drank blue lemonade out of little plastic coconuts from Dollar Tree}
The mamas left around 9:00 or so and then we were on our own to get the girls to bed! I cleaned up the kitchen while they watched their favorite Disney Channel shows and all four were asleep by 11:00pm ~ I was shocked.
7:00am wake up call courtesy of Holden!
I told Elliott she could choose any cereal she wanted and she decided on Fruit Loops…a special birthday treat. She also wanted monkey bread, but wanted to call it {mermaid bread}.
After breakfast, they lined up and I did glitter nails with polish from her friend, Emilie…
I also borrowed a mermaid cardboard cutout that my friend Mia also did for her twins’ recent mermaid luau party and we took some fun pics before the girls headed home…
*****
Not gonna lie…I was exhausted at 11:00am Sunday morning when the little mermaids swam back to their mamas!
But it was the perfect little homespun birthday celebration and I loved every minute of the planning.
Screaming/giggling/singing/dancing first graders are lots of fun.
Jay & I survived our first sleepover!
Tomorrow is the REAL birthday for my {almost} Memorial Day baby.
But all this changed 4 years ago at Jay’s company holiday party. For they past four years his company has hosted the festivities at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley and for the past four years I have enjoyed almond stuffed, bacon wrapped dates at the appetizer station. Every year, not only do I look forward to attending this event with Jay, but I look forward to coveting these sweet, salty, crunchy morsels and overindulging in them.
Last week at Elliott’s dance class, I overheard two other moms talking about a date smoothie. I see the medjool dates all the time at Trader Joe’s and thought I’d pick up a package and add them to my morning smoothies to change things up a bit.
Enter the {Spiced Date Smoothie}…
{2 cups crushed ice, 1/2 cup vanilla almond milk [or milk of choice], 1/2 cup plain yogurt, 2 seeded & chopped medjool dates, 1 medium banana and a sprinkle of cinnamon}
Blend until smooth and enjoy! I will say that the dates are pretty hearty and it may take a minute or so to process them in the blender. The package said to refrigerate them after opening which makes them a little harder and more difficult to blend. You can either chop them fairly well before blending or throw then in just halved or quartered to get bigger pieces in your smoothie. I like to use the big milkshake straws and get bigger chunks of dates up the straw from time! They are nice and sweet and chewy and add texture to the drink.
I found my straws at Ralphs hanging on those random little clip racks in one of the aisles.
This smoothie reminds me of the boba teas in that you get a little surprise up your straw every once in awhile as you sip, but instead of it being a tapioca ball, it’s a chunk of date!
It’s yummy.
So, don’t pass up the dates next time you’re in Trader Joe’s or your local grocery or market. They have lots of health benefits, too!
When Jay and I were on our honeymoon in the Virgin Islands, we were introduced to the juice of the {soursop} fruit. Wiki describes the flavor as “a combination of strawberry and pineapple with sour citrus flavor notes contrasting with an underlying creamy flavor reminiscent of coconut or banana.”
Yesterday while in Target, I found some {Guanabana} nectar and noticed that the picture on the can looked like the prickly soursop fruit…a quick Google search confirmed it and a couple cans landed in my cart!
39¢ at Target ~ run out and grab some now for your margaritas later!
I’ve been working on a simple, yet festive dinner menu for Cinco de Mayo.
Let me start by saying that I think we’re going to have to fetch the ice cream maker from the garage rafters and make some Dulce de Leche Ice Cream with Salted Pecans for dessert!
Secondly, I saw these cactus glasses at Dollar Tree a couple weeks ago and have been thinking about them ever since…..went today and they had ONE left!
Wah.
I just think they are so cute and the perfect vessel to hold these gorgeous pink Cactus Pear margaritas…
Jay and I enjoyed sipping these margaritas at Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill in Vegas and they are definitely something worth trying to recreate at home ~ the problem is where to find the cactus pear juice?!?
Tomorrow I will be tracking down some more of these {prickly} glasses and the ingredients to fill them on Saturday evening.
Meanwhile, we have our vibrant papel picado hung across the kitchen and are ready to celebrate!
{as seen here on our trip to Olvera Street over Spring Break}
*****
Kicking myself that I didn’t pick up a set of those glasses when I first saw them.
Hope your week has been smooth so far. Mine has been drama-free thus far and I have been able to get up to the gym the last couple nights which was always good for me and seems to make life smoother.
Last week I {invented} a little breakfast smoothie with one of my new finds via Instagram. A friend posted some {Cookie Butter} from Trader Joe’s during Lent and I immediately fetched a jar to enjoy on/after Easter! It is fabulous alone on a spoon, on bagels, Ezekiel toast and graham crackers, but I thought I’d incorporate it into a smoothie in place of peanut butter and see what happened!
{Cookies & Cream} and Banana Smoothie
You will need: 2 cups crushed ice, 1/2 cup almond coconut milk, 1/2 cup plain low fat yogurt, 1 banana, 1 tbsp ground flax {flax meal} and 1 tbsp. TJ’s cookie butter
Place all into a blender and blend ’til smooth!
Pour into a glass, add a straw and enjoy!
*****
And speaking of {sailing}, we plan to take a quick little trip to the beach this weekend.
Last time we went to the beach {in January!} Jay captured some cute pics of the kids just frolicking in the sand…this time I wanted to plan a little better with their wardrobes and hair and have a little Nautical inspired photo shoot at the shore.
I had originally picked up the anchor tee for a gift for a little girl….when the guy rang it up, it came up as boy’s. I thought it’d be cute on Holden so I set out to find something complementary for Elliott and stumbled upon this little striped number with the big bow on the shoulder. Both of them will wear rolled up jeans and bare feet ~ I think it’ll be perfect for some fun photos to get us excited for summer.
*****
Make the most of the rest of your week…Saturday and Sunday will be here before you know it!
2 Tbsp extract of choice {vanilla, almond, coconut ~ I’ve used all three and they’re all excellent!}
Cinnamon, optional
3 cups water
*****
Take your french press and add your brown sugar, extract and a couple shakes of cinnamon if you desire. Add in your 3/4 cup coffee and 3 cups water.
Place into ‘fridge overnight.
In the morning {or for an afternoon pick-me-up} just press down the grounds and pour half the press into a tall glass with lots of ice. No need to add sugar, just your favorite creamer or a splash of milk!
{I get two servings out of one press}
Pop it into your cup holder and carry on with your day!
Be sure and give a little honk or a wave at your local Starbucks as you drive past!
{I’m not telling you to boycott your fave coffee establishments, just letting you know you can save a little green here and there when it comes to caffeinating yourself!}
Note: I enjoy the almond the most. Almond extract is easy to find, but it comes in itty bitty bottles. To remedy that, just run to your nearest Smart & Final and pick up a 16 ounce bad boy for less than 6 bucks…
