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!!!

Vintage Cocktail Recipe: the Moscow Mule

Have you ever had a Moscow Mule? It is delicious and pretty easy to make. However, having it in a copper mug adds a degree of deliciousness, so I would recommend buying a pair.

To make a Moscow Mule you need:

• 2 ounce of vodka
• 8 ounces of ginger beer (this is a soda, not an alcoholic beer)
• 1 tsp of simple syrup
• 2 ounces of lime juice
• ice
• mint and lime to garnish

Put ice in the copper mug and pour vodka in first. Next put in the lime juice and simple syrup. Lastly top off with ginger beer.
Delicious!

Enjoy and drink responsibly. 

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!