Fall drink

Hello blogging world. I have disappeared for a bit but I am hoping to reappear now for awhile. I feel like my blog needed a break, I needed to step back and see what was working and what wasn't working. I noticed I wasn't writing for fun, but because I felt I needed to. So, I wanted to make sure this was for me- not just because. So, I am starting fresh- a clean slate- to try again. I am hoping this refresh will get my butt in gear and start creating again, which it already has. I have a recipe at the bottom of this post. However, I felt it was time to reintroduce myself.

I am Jenn. Sometimes it's Jenny. Othertimes it's Bean. Or even J. It depends on who asks. I live in Chicago, but am from Michigan. I miss Michigan and the woods, the prairie doesn't suit me. I like a cup of flavorful tea (Caprihana is my favorite right now), cute boys (mainly my dashing & adorable husband, Keith), puppies (my dog is a peach, her name is Loki), history (I am pretty much an amateur scholar of US presidents) and anything sparkly. I have three nieces, a sister, amazing parents,  a handful of in-laws, a loving husband and a bunch of friends (including MEG who co-owns this blog, but is a very busy lady!). I am often daydreaming of Scotland, Mackinac Island, what I am buying/making people for Christmas, new recipes and how I wish I lived in a cool Victorian house. I love music, laughing and reading. But most of all I love creating.

Okay, so that's me. Boring stuff done. NOW, let's get on to a fall drink that I stumbled on and decided to try out. A pumpkin white russian.

So, what I did was get a tumbler, place some ice in the tumbler. Pour in an ounce of pumpkin flavored vodka, followed by an ounce of Kahlua. I then finished it up with milk and gave it a stir. To really set off the pumpkin flavor I added some pumpkin pie spice on top. Deeelicous.  Of course, with any milk based drink, I can only really stomach one- however that one was really tasty. Remember: drink responsibly.

Recipe: Vanilla Lemonade

Today was a gloomy day. You know those days when it DOWNPOURS all day and then turns into 80 plus temps with humidity. Plus it just wasn't a great day. So, I decided to make myself perk up in a delicious way.

I found some delicious, huge lemons. So, of course I need to make myself lemonade, no question.

Here's what you need:
-Juice of 4 lemons
-1/2 cup of sugar
-6 cups of cold water
-1/2 tbsp of vanilla
-Ice

I juiced 4 lemons and then strained it to get out the pulp (yuck!). I added the sugar and vanilla. Then I poured in the water and stirred until dissolved. Add ice to your cup and pour. It's delicious!!! This lemonade is a bit tart, because I wanted to cut back on sugar. The vanilla adds something really extra.

Enjoy guys! 

Cocktail recipe: Blueberry infused vodka and lemonade

Chicago is almost at summer temps. Today was 90 degrees! Tomorrow will be 70, which is more my style. However, one good thing about hot, hot temperatures now- we have a grill!! That's right, instead of heating up our whole apartment with cooking we can take it outside. So, we invited a friend over for some turkey burgers and I made a special cocktail for the occasion- blueberry infused vodka and lemonade.

Keith got me this nifty gift that will allow you to infuse any liquid with any fruit/herb. We have made some pretty delicious combos- my favorite was blood orange blueberry and tangerine lavender. This time I went for simple, just good old blueberries.

First rinse the blueberries, then take a small handful and put it into the bottom of the infuser.

After that put the lid on, by put on the lid you actually grind up the fruit and make it into a juice.

Attached the bottom to the top of the infuser, and pour in your choice of beverage. This time we picked vodka. You can use anything though- lemonade, wine, water, etc.

Next step is Keith's favorite- SHAKE IT

After making sure it's good and mixed (about three minutes) Put it in the fridge for an hour minimum. We mixed it with some freshly squeezed lemonade I happened to pick up at the grocery store and there you have it, a fresh cocktail for a hot summer day.

It comes out a bit more pink that you would think, but that's just the blueberry juices mixed with the yellow lemonade. Go figure. Anyway, stay cool out there, drink responsibly and happy summer!!!

Recipe: Chocolate Mint Martini

Last night, I was in the mood to make a cocktail. Although, recently I have decided to give up booze for a bit, I decided to make one for Keith. I pounded over all of our choices- we have a pretty well stocked bar, but not as many mixers. So I evaluated what we had and decided for a pretty easy- but strong- drink called the chocolate mint martini. I also topped it off with a thin mint cookie, which we are slowly eating all of the cookies in our household and will not be replacing them. (ugh, time to lose weight!) 

Here is my recipe for this easy cocktail:

• 1/2 ounce of creme de menthe
• 1/2 ounce of creme de cacao 
• 1 ounce vodka

Mix all ingredients in a shaker with ice for over 15 seconds. Strain and pour into a martini glass (or cocktail glass in our case) Serve. Enjoy responsibly.

I hope you like this cocktail and are looking forward to more blog posts. There are good things in the works, including a room renovation and recipes I want to share.

Have a great weekend!

Recipe: Butterbeer [Guest Blog Post]

Greetings and salutations dear readers! This is the M.P.'s first official guest blog post. My name is Keith Hand and I just so happen to be married to the M.P.'s very own Jenn. Many of the recipes you have seen on this site come out of Jenn and I trying new things. The following recipe came out of our honeymoon trip to Universal's Islands of Adventure. Ladies and gentlemen I present to you: Butterbeer!

I pieced this recipe together from numerous sources online and modified it to make it easier to make individual servings.

BUTTERBEER

Tools

• A mixing bowl
• A whisk
• A 1 teaspoon measuring spoon
• A 1 cup measuring cup

Ingredients - Whipped Cream

• 1 cup of heavy whipping cream
• 7 oz marshmallow fluff

Ingredients - Butterbeer

• 1 teaspoon of Butter Extract
• 1 teaspoon of Rum Extract
• 12 oz bottle of Cream Soda
• Optional - Whipped Cream Vodka (maybe butterscotch?)

Once you have all of your ingredients and tools together I would recommend starting with the whipped cream topping... because whipped cream is delicious. This recipe will make enough for numerous servings of butterbeer, but I am sure you could figure out other things that need to be topped with it if you don't want that many.

TOPPING

You are going to want to add the heavy whipping cream [1 Cup] and the marshmallow fluff [7 oz] in the mixing bowl. Then you are going to whisk that bad boy until it becomes delicious whipped cream. This can take a while.

You start with this splashy mess.

 You end with pure, unadulterated heaven.

THE BUTTERBEER

To make an individual serving you are going to start with the extracts. Add the butter extract [1 tsp] and rum extract [1 tsp] to a cup (preferably a souvenir Butterbeer mug from Universal).

 Then slowly pour in the cream soda [12 oz bottle].

 If you want you can add in some whipped cream vodka [1 oz to a butt-load].

At this point you are going to want to slowly stir the beverage to preserve the carbonation. Then dollop the whipped cream topping onto the Butterbeer. I would also recommend trying a 1-3 spoonfulls of the topping first.

ENJOY!

Welcome 2014! (And a drink recipe)

I am excited for 2014. I feel like it's going to be a good year. One full of possibilities and changes for the better. I am still confirming my resolutions, so I haven't been able to start any. However, I have decided I need to read over 15 books this year and write at least 200 pages of anything. I need to get my creativity back. 

Anyway, Keith and I rang in the New Years very low key. We watched movies and hung out on the couch. It was kind of really fun. Keith and I decided to have a dinner of appetizers and we made several different kinds of drinks. We decided on several "vintage" cocktails, including the Pink Lady. The Pink Lady has been around for awhile. During Prohibition (1920-1933) it was already well known. Traditionally, pink lady is made with egg whites, however I found a recipe that didn't use it.

Here is the recipe we used:

• 1 and 1/2 ounces of gin
• 1/4 ounce of grenadine
• 3/4 ounce simple syrup
• 1 ounce heavy cream
• Shaker of ice

 

Pour one shot glass of heavy cream in the shaker with ice. 

After rinsing out the shot glass, pour a full shot of gin, then half a shot. Add to the shaker

Keith measured out ounces using my teaspoons. To get 1/4 ounce I used 1 and a half teaspoons of grenadine. 

 Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. 

 

Enjoy! But be careful these are tasty and kind of strong. Also, its a cream drink which can be heavier then other cocktails. As always, drink responsibly. 

I hope 2014 is great for everyone and you visit back here often. We will have more posts in the up coming year! Hooray!

Recipe: Pimms' Cup

So, I have a friend who swears by Pimms no. 1. I have never tried it before. I think the only time I really even considered purchasing it, was in this small booze shop in Scotland when I lived there and I was looking at things I had no idea what it was. After passing it for a small, teeny whiskey bottle which was gross, I kind of forgot about it until recently. Keith got me a book, which mentioned Pimms and I decided it was time to try it.

I know, Pimms is suppose to be a more summery drink. That being said, it was in the mid-40s yesterday!! 40S!!! So, of course after walking around without a coat on, it felt like summer. Keith and I whipped up a few Pimms' Cups.

Here's how:

1 and a half ounces of Pimms No. 1
A lemon Lime soda

Ready? It's so hard.... Mix them in a cup. We added an ice cube and some mint and cucumber for garnish. Then enjoy responsibly.

Hope everyone had a great holiday season! My resolution is to post more in the new year, so let's hope I stick to it!

Fall Recipe: Crockpot Apple Cider

It is officially fall! However, Illinois did not get the memo and it has been around 80 degrees all week. No sweatshirt weather here, which is my favorite kind of weather. Keith is back to full time work and full time school, so our visiting hours are very limited. He asked if we could go to the apple orchard after work on Saturday, but everything closes at 6 and he didn't get home until 5:30. So, I decided to bring it to him. I went to the farmer's market in town and picked up two cider mill donuts. Then I made a pot of apple cider in my crockpot. It was super easy and really, really delicious.

Recipe: Crockpot Apple Cider

Ingredients: 

• Apple juice (since it was only two of us, we got a small one)
• Cinnamon sticks
• Caramel Syrup
• Crockpot
• Mulling spices (optional, but delicious)

So, how do I make this delicious beverage?
Pour the apple juice into the crockpot. I have done this for a large crowd and used around 2.5 large bottles of apple juice, but this time it was only us so we went with a small bottle. Then add cinnamon sticks. Again, this depends on your crowd, for our small bottle we only put one in, for a larger bottle I would add 2. So, for around 2.5 of the larger bottles I added about 5 or 6 sticks in there. I also put in a tablespoon of mulling spices for good measure. Put the crockpot on high for about 1 hours, then low for 1 hour. (or you could do low for 3 hours, it's just to get the cinnamon and mulling spice flavor spread out through the drink).

When its time to serve, I had to use a ladle and a sieve, to get out the larger pieces. Some recipes will tell you to put the caramel syrup into the crockpot and let it cook. I did that last time and it became almost like a pulp and didn't add anything for me. This time, I poured the warm apple cider in a mug, then put in the caramel syrup into my mug. It worked like a charm.

Optional, again: Keith and I had some caramel apple flavored vodka we had laying around and since we were staying in for the night decided to add some of that to our drinks. The result was delicious. But again, you need to drink responsibly and be over 21 to indulge :) 

Well, I am ready for the fall and hope you are now too with this recipe. Cheers.