Appletini Jell-O Shots

I am going to a 4th of July party tomorrow at a close friends house and wanted to bring something festive.  Her dad is quite the Appletini maker and so he helped to inspire this creation.  I never really found a recipe for this- just saw ideas and variations and made this my own.  I did try one tonight and it was really good!  You can definitely taste the alcohol, almost an after effect, but it isn't so strong that it is unpleasant at all.  I think the cherries are adorable and fun!  I recommend using lime flavored jell-O.  I heard there is a sour apple flavor, which I am sure would work great, but I never found it.  You definitely want the bright green color.  The recipe is easy to double, and I would imagine you could do more with it too if you had a big enough pan!  I bought my 2 ounce containers and lids (125 of them!) from Smart and Final for about $6 total, and I have enough left over to try this out again!  So many possibilities!  I am inspired! ;-)   

Appletini Jell-O Shots

3 oz box of lime jell-O 

8 oz. water

5 oz. Sour Apple Pucker

3 oz. Vodka (I used regular but apple flavored would certainly work.) 

maraschino cherries

disposable 2 oz. cups and lids (maybe sprayed muffin tins would work?)

This makes about 16 one-ounce cups (which I guess makes sense since that is how much liquid you use!)  Actually, I made a double batch and got 35, which is about 17, so I guess those cherries fill up the cups a touch. :-) 

Boil 8 oz of water and put one cherry in each cup while you wait.  Add in the Jell-O mix and stir for two minutes, until fully dissolved.  Add in the Sour Apple Pucker and Vodka, and then transfer to a measuring cup with a spout so it is easier to pour.  Fill each cup just to over the cherry, about half way.  Let chill in the fridge for at least 3-4 hours or overnight.   

Sangria

So my girlfriend Nicole makes this amazing Sangria.  I am embarrassed to admit that I may have forgotten my manners at least once by drinking WAY more than my share of this stuff, but she still invites me over when she makes it so I guess I am forgiven. :-)

Nicole spent a summer in Spain and said that they use canned fruit cocktail juice to sweeten their Sangria.  She hasn't tested it as of yet so I am sticking with her original recipe because its my favorite. I've also had good Sangria at restaurants but definitely NOT fresh out of a wine-looking bottle, I dumped that whole thing down the drain.

Sangria

1.5 L (128 oz) Burgundy (cheap red wine, not sure if even Two Buck Chuck would work here)

4 oz Cointreau or Triple Sec

4 oz Brandy
1 large can of fruit cocktail

Fresh fruit (fresh oranges, lemons, apples but whatever you have should be OK)

Sprite to almost fill the jug and to sweeten (or fruit cocktail or simple syrup) 

Green Monster Smoothie

  


My sister Kat turned me on to the idea of sneaking spinach into my kids smoothies.  I used to always do it in blueberry-banana smoothies because the purple would mask the green.  Then she sent me a recipe for a drink called the "Green Monster" where the spinach is front and center.  The creative marketing name appealed to my son, and since he was game, of course his little sister was in.  Now Christopher is always trying to get Jason to try this, saying "you can't even taste the spinach!" ;-) Which is just about true.  These are yummy and healthy and a good way to get a lot of veggies in with minimal effort, and the kids fight over who gets to help make them.  I love seeing them so excited to eat spinach!

Green Monster Smoothie
1 frozen banana
1/2 C. vanilla greek yogurt
1 C. milk, roughly
1-2 Tbsp. peanut butter
2-4 C. fresh spinach
ice

Put bananas, yogurt, milk and peanut butter in the blender and mix it up until smooth.  Fill the rest of the blender with spinach (no joke, it is probably 2-4 cups really) and then blend it again.  You might have to help poke the spinach down but it will pulverize it pretty quickly.  I usually add some crushed ice at this point for texture, blend again until desired consistency, and serve!  This one drink I split three ways and it is a fair amount for each of us.  You can also freeze it to have the next day (takes about an hour to thaw) but it isn't as good as on Day 1.

I definitely recommend freezing the bananas ahead of time, preferably in bite size chunks.  Vanilla yogurt is FAR superior to plain, found that out the hard way.  A little honey will help if all you have is plain.  Regular (non-Greek) yogurt works too but I figure the extra protein helps.  The original recipe calls for Almond Milk and I've made it with that before, and its delicious, but we don't always have it so I just use regular milk now.  The peanut butter is really what gets you on the calories, but it is really good so I just go for it.

Hot Chocolate from Scratch

We didn't have hot chocolate mix one night, but the family needed it and Google came to the rescue.  Christopher thought I was a genius making this from scratch.  Add marshmallows or whipped cream. :-) 

Real Hot Chocolate

1/3 C. semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup sugar
4 cups milk

Break or chop the two squares of unsweetened or semisweet chocolate into smaller pieces.

In a saucepan, add: 2 chopped squares unsweetened or semisweet chocolate, 1/3 cup sugar and 2 cups milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring continuously. Once the mixture comes to a boil, add the remaining 2 cups milk and heat all the way through. Do not allow the hot chocolate to come to another boil.

Remove from heat and serve immediately.

Real Hot Cocoa
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup sugar
4 cups milk

In a saucepan, add: 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 1/3 sugar and 4 cups milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring continuously. Heat all the way through without allowing the mixture to come to a boil. When steam begins to build and a few bubbles escape along the sides of the saucepan, the cocoa is done.

Remove from heat and serve immediately.

Drinks

So my sister is a bartender!  Well, not really- she's a lifeguard, but she took one of those bartending classes that I've always wanted to do, and one day I had her e-mail me a bunch of drink recipes.  Here they are!  Enjoy!  (And be safe!) 

Cosmo
1 oz vodka
½ oz triple sec
½ oz lime juice
½ oz cranberry juice

Apple Martini
1 part vodka
1 part Sour Apple Pucker schnapps
1 part apple juice

Mojito
1.25 oz spiced rum
12 mint leaves
1 tbsp sugar
½ oz lime juice
2 oz soda

Place mint leaves in bottom of glass. Add crushed ice, Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum, sugar, and lime juice, and muddle. Add soda water and garnish with mint leaves.

Lemon Drop
1 1/2 oz vodka
1/2 oz triple sec
1 tsp superfine sugar
3/4 oz freshly squeezed lemon juice
lemon peel, garnish

Mix the vodka, triple sec, sugar and lemon juice in a cocktail shaker half filled with ice cubes. Shake well to make sure sugar is blended. Pour strained liquor into a sugar-rimmed martini glass and garnish with a twisted peel of lemon.