Beer-Glazed Ham

I bought 3 lbs of ham the other day at Lindsay's request and decided to do a beer-glaze with it. It's a sweeter glaze (lots of brown sugar!) and I know that Linds, the boy and I will all eat it (again, Luke picks but doesn't care much for a variety yet...I'm patiently waiting until he gets older since Linds was the same way). I made mashed sweet potatoes and some other kind of veggie (insert preggo brain excuse here) with it, and had plenty of leftovers to use it in a quiche, sandwiches and other leftover plates. I always love when I can get full use out of a bulk purchase!

Oh, and this photo is an old one and obviously does not match the description above.

Beer Glazed Ham
Ingredients
1 boneless fully cooked ham (3 lbs.) 
1 can beer
1 cup packed brown sugar  
2 T balsamic vinegar
2 tsp ground mustard

Directions

1. Place ham on a rack in a shallow roasting pan (I didn't have a rack, so I rolled up some foil to keep the ham from sitting right in the pan). Score the surface of the ham, making diamond shapes ½ inch deep. 
2. Set aside 2 T beer. Pour remaining beer over ham. 
3. Bake, uncovered at 350 for 1 hour. 
4. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, vinegar, mustard and reserved beer; spread over ham.
5. Bake 40-45 minutes longer or until a meat thermometer reads 140, basting occasionally.

Ice Tea w/ a Kick

My friend, Christy, made a special request for the ice tea recipe from Lindsay's party, so here it is! It's an excellent drink AND the mixers are all calorie-free, so I like to think of it as totally fine to drink when dieting or counting calories ;-)


Ice Tea w/ a Kick
Ingredients
1 packet of Crystal Light ice tea (decaf unless you want to be up all night!)
1 cup vodka
1 cup peach schnapps or triple sec
5 or 6 cups water

Directions

1. Mix everything together and chug-a-lug!

Rum Balls

A dear, dear friend of mine (who happens to be a drinking buddy) nicknamed me "boozy cubes" awhile back. At first, I wasn't sure whether to be offended, complimented, or find a placement in the in-between gray area, but after thinking about it, I embraced my alcohol-y  nature and decided it was a good fit! Plus, Sarah (the BC-nickname originator) is a superb friend who would only leave the best compliments for me ;-)

In keeping up with tradition of my booze-loving nature, I decided to make rum balls for our MOMS Club cookies exchange. I was trying to decide what to make last week (looking for a super-easy, super-quick recipe since trying to do those in conjunction with Lindsay's party was going to be craaaaaazy). They were up my alley - chocolate, liquored up, and simple! - so I gave them a whirl.

Now, I had partied Friday AND Saturday night, so by the time Sunday rolled around, i was NOT looking for any booze to creep into my diet. I took a little nibble of the rum balls and maybe it was my poor, pathetic liver screaming, "HELP!" but I could have sworn they were a shot in a cookie. I took them trepidatiously, hoping not to offend anyone with their awfully liquored nature, but to my surprise, everyone was surprisingly accepting. No one felt they had any overly-boozey aftertaste. I was SHOCKED! They were delicious, but I seriously thought they were way too rummy.

Since we got the okay from several parties, I'll post the recipe. I thought they were delish...just had a potent rum taste to them! So, if you partake, be forewarned and enjoy :)

Rum Balls
Ingredients

Vegetable oil cooking spray
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
3 large eggs
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dark rum
Coarse sanding sugar, for rolling

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 12-by-17-inch rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray; set aside. Melt butter and chocolate in a small heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally. Set aside.
2. Whisk together eggs, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in chocolate mixture, then fold in flour. Pour batter into prepared baking sheet. Spread evenly with a rubber spatula. Bake until top is shiny and a cake tester inserted into center comes out with some crumbs attached, about 10 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack.
3. Break up brownie into small pieces; transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With machine on low speed, pour in rum, and mix until crumbs start to come together to form a ball.
4. Shape into 1-inch balls, and roll in sanding sugar to coat. Transfer to a baking sheet; refrigerate, uncovered, until cold, about 2 hours. Serve chilled or at room temperature. Rum balls can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 1 week.

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Rum Balls - Martha Stewart Recipes

October Munchin Mamas

I love Munchin Mamas day because it means I never have to cook leftovers :) (We all bring tupperware and divvy up the remaining food.) Our theme this month was "frighteningly delicious" and as I posted before, I brought the Green Grog. We also had a bruchetta-y calzone, easy mac-and-cheese, a yummy pumpkin/spinach ziti, and all the cookies, cupcakes and pumpkin cheesecake you could ever imagine! Needless to say I was STUFFED by the time we left :)

Here was our spread:

For the first recipes...

Easy Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
3 tbsp. butter
2 1/2 c. uncooked macaroni
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 lb. sharp cheese, grated
Dash of pepper
1 qt. milk

Directions

1. Melt butter in baking dish. 
2. Pour uncooked macaroni into melted butter and stir until macaroni is covered well. 
3. Stir salt, pepper and cheese through macaroni. 
4. Pour milk over all. 
5. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour. Do not stir while baking.

For the second recipe...

Baked Ziti with Pumpkin & Sausage
Ingredients
Nonstick cooking spray
4 cups (12 oz.) dry regular or whole-wheat ziti
1 can (15 oz.) LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Pinch cayenne pepper
1 can (12 fl. oz.) NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Fat Free Milk
4 links (12 oz.) fully-cooked Italian-seasoned chicken sausage, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 pkg. (6 oz.) or about 4 cups pre-washed baby spinach
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded part-skim or 2% milk reduced-fat mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup (1.5 oz.) shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425º F. Spray 4-quart baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Prepare pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta cooking water and set aside for later use. Drain pasta; return to cooking pot.
3. Meanwhile, combine pumpkin, flour, garlic powder, salt, nutmeg and cayenne pepper in medium skillet over medium heat. 
4. Slowly add evaporated milk, stirring until smooth. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 to 3 minutes or until mixture begins to thicken slightly. 
5. Pour over pasta in pot. Add sausage and reserved pasta cooking water; stir well.
6. Spread half of the pasta mixture into prepared baking dish. Top with spinach. Cover with remaining pasta mixture. 
7. Lightly spray piece of foil with nonstick cooking spray. Cover ziti with foil, greased-side-down.
8. Bake for 20 minutes or until heated through. 
9. Combine mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses in small bowl. Remove foil; sprinkle with cheese mixture.
10. Bake, uncovered, for an additional 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

The third recipe...

Caramelized Onion & Tomato Calzone
Ingredients
2 tsp olive oil
8 onions, thinly sliced
Pinch sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tblsp chopped basil (I use a little more!)
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 lb prepared pizza dough
3 plum tomatoes, diced
3/4 cup shredded mozzarella

Directions

1. Heat oil in skillet; add onions, sugar and 1/4 cup water. 
2. Stir as needed until beginning to color - about 12 minutes.
3. Add salt and another 1/4 cup water, stir as needed until sweet & deep brown - about 30 minutes.
4. Cool, add basil and pepper.
5. Preheat oven to 450F Spray baking sheet or pizza stone w/ cooking spray.
6. Flour work surface and roll dough to coat with flour. Knead briefly & divide into fourths. Roll each piece into 6 inch rounds.
7. Place 2 rounds on baking sheet. Divide mixture, tomatoes & cheese between rounds. Cover wtih remaining 2 rounds. Pinch edges to seal.
8. Bake until golden; about 15-18 minutes.

And for the sweets!

 We all definitely enjoyed this round of MM!

Green Grog

Today is our October meeting of the Munchin' Mamas and we're having a "frighteningly delicious" theme. I debated what I wanted to make and almost made these little sausages wrapped up to look like mummies (i.e. pigs in a blanket, Halloween-style), but when I saw what everyone else was bringing, I realized no one had any beverages. You all know that I can't resist a good beverage (particularly if it's laced with some "spirits" if we're going with the whole holiday theme?!), so I'm making Green Grog.

For those who aren't familiar with "grog" - it is a rum drink that is usually diluted with water. If you'd like the history lesson, it's named after British admiral, Edward Vernon (1684-1757). Vernon always wore a grogram cloak (hence the "grog") and served the diluted rum mixture to his sailors.

This time, I'm diluting it with juices, soda and sherbet!

Green Grog
Ingredients
2 (12 fluid ounce) cans frozen limeade concentrate
2 (12 fluid ounce) cans frozen lemonade concentrate
2 (2 liter) bottles lemon-lime flavored carbonated beverage
1 (750 milliliter) bottle rum
2 quarts lime sherbet

Directions

1. In a large pot, combine limeade, lemonade and lemon-lime soda. 
2. Stir in rum (add more to taste if desired.) Mix in the lime sherbet.

September 19 - Restaurant Fest!

The 31st annual Restaurant Fest in West Chester was today, so a few of my mamas and I decided to go. I've never been...and now I know I'll never miss it! We had a BLAST! There were over 50 restaurants from the area and hundreds of craft vendors that lined Gay Street and some of the side streets nearby. It was hella packed, but the crowds were definitely worth it. All of the restaurants offered different dishes from appetizers through desserts, and there were so many different flavors that every palate left satisfied.

We started the day off with shots at Kildare's (they let us use their bathroom, so we felt we just HAD to give them some business?!), then went booth to booth sampling everything from reuben egg rolls, to sausage/spinach/crab stuffed mushroom caps, seafood crepes, chicken satay, hawaiin chicken skewers, "up cakes" (upside down cupcakes...more frosting coverage...brilliant!), kettle corn...the list goes on. We spent some time in the "beer garden" where they served a few different brews and some pinots (both red and white). Naturally we had to add a shot of Jameson to the mix at Landmark, too. It was a fab time with fun friends! Below we all hopped on one of the motorcycles they were raffling off. When Linds saw the picture later, she told me, "mommy - you HAVE to buy a motorcycle so I can ride on it like you, Miss Christy and Miss Sarah!" Suuuuure, kid... ;-)

Vacation Update!

I have so much catching up to do! We've been in Atlantic City for the past four days and have been enjoying lazy days, filled with food, booze, gambling and quality family time. We arrived on Sunday afternoon to the Lucky Beach House and by the time we got there, no one was up for cooking or even going out, so we ordered some pizza from Tony Boloneys - it was some of the best damn pizza I've had! If you check out the site, make sure to look at the "erotic pizza" if you dare...we all looked at them and it gave us a good giggle.

On Monday, we took a stroll along the boardwalk and played a game of mini-golf. We drew names earlier in the day and the winners were allowed to order the losers around the following day - ironically, we all drew our spouses/partners?! Scott and I ruled the course and won by a good 6 strokes. That came in quite handy for Tuesday when I needed some recovery time ;-) After golf, we had a "lupper" at the Rainforest Cafe - I got the guacamole burger (burger, guac, pepperjack cheese and an onion ring) and we all ordered tropical drinks in their cool flashy cups. Totally touristy, but fun!

Yesterday, was a recovery day for me...I was kind of hurtin from Monday's boozey adventure post-Rainforest Cafe, so I just nibbled during the day. That evening we decided to order Chinese and go to town on some lo mein, shrimp with broccoli, General Tso's, beef with broccoli, and egg rolls. After a late-night trip to the Claridge, Zach and Rachel beat us to all of the leftovers...but the boy and I needed to win back our money (which we did!).

Today we're planning to hit the Atlantic City Outlets and maybe do an appetizer feast at Applebee's (they have a super cheap special) and then come home for tropical island drink night. I <3 vacation!!

May 5 - Tacos

Happy Cinco de Mayo! In honor of the holiday, I whipped up some tacos (although I was out of lettuce, which for some reason I always feel is a very important part of a taco). Everyone loves tacos here - Linds ate FOUR in their entirety! - and there are rarely leftovers. I added Frank's hot sauce to mine, which gave them a delicious kick. Afterwards, I ditched the hubby and kids and went to my friend Christy's house for some margaritas, sangria and nachos. Fun, fun!

Playing catch-up...busy weekend!

WOW! Let me just say it was a SUPER busy weekend! We were gone all day Friday (MOMS Club activity and happy hour play-date at Julia's house), all day Saturday (sunning while the kiddos played at Christy's and then a visit from Lynzy and Conor who we haven't seen since New Year's!), and then the boy helped install cabinets at casa de Kurzeja on Sunday, so Sarah and Critter spent the day with us. By the time Monday rolled around, I was wiped out!

As for dinners...let's see. On Friday we did some quick pasta with jarred sauce (I used Bertolli's Four Cheese Rosa sauce - alfredo sauce mixed with tomatoes...pretty good!).

On Saturday we ordered out since we had company. Scott had stained part of the deck and we didn't know if it would be dry or not, so I didn't defrost anything. We got some Venice pizza and wraps...always a good meal and they deliver, which is nice (and a rarity for us out here!).

On Sunday, we dined at the Kurzeja's and let me tell you, they never disappoint in the food department! Sarah grilled skewers of chicken satay and fillets of salmon, put together a salad with some incredible homemade dressing, and I braised a bag of baby carrots. Topped off with wine and Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches, it was an incredible dinner! I still need to get her satay recipe, but here's the braised carrrot recipe:

Braised Carrots
Ingredients
1 lb. bag of baby carrots
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water (or chicken broth)
Parsley

Directions

1. Place carrots, butter, brown sugar, salt and water (or chicken broth) in pan over medium-high heat. 
2. Bring to boil. 
3. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes or until carrots are tender and liquid evaporates. 
4. Sear slightly for color and top with parsley.

I don't have any pictures, but suffice it to say - FANTASTIC!!

Guest Blog!

My sister-in-law, Jen, wrote the first guest blog for Dining with the Rissers! She is married to the boy's brother and has two sons - Ryan (7 years old) and Brett (almost 5 years old). I don't envy her grocery bills - I know her boys can eat her out of house and home! She wanted to share her recipe for Penne alla Vodka...it's quick and easy (and has vodka in it - how could it be bad?!).

Penne alla vodka
Ingredients
2 Tablespoons butter
1/3 cup Vodka
1/2 cup cream
1 1/2 cups tomato sauce
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium to medium-low heat. 
2. Add the vodka and reduce by half (about 4 to 5 minutes). 
3. Add the cream and tomato sauce. 
4. Simmer uncovered over low heat 10 to 12 minutes. 
5. Serve over cooked Penne pasta. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese prior to serving (optional).

*I will also add cooked chicken breasts to this sometimes. Sauté up some chicken breasts that have been pounded thin, coated with flour, and browned in butter. Add the chicken breasts to the sauce as it is simmering to allow the chicken to finish cooking and give the chicken flavor. You can also add some shrimp to this as another option. Add the shrimp at the last bit to cook. This recipe is quick and easy. My kids like it. I serve with bread and some vegetable.

Thanks so much for sharing, Jen! Here's a photo of her with Miss L when Linds was born.

If anyone else has a recipe they'd like to share and guest blog on Dining with the Rissers, please let me know!

Jello Shots!

Tomorrow is Mom's Night Out (wahoooooo!), and I signed up to bring a bottle of wine. Well, I started thinking about it and figured that there will be plenty of beer and wine to partake in, why not do something unique?! So, I decided to make Jello shots! And these are no ordinary Jello shots...

The first set I made were pretty basic - raspberry gelatin and Stoli Razberi (raspberry flavored vodka). The recipe is simple - substitute 1/2 the water for vodka - although it may have a few extra splashes of vodka since I'm not one to skimp on the fun!

The second kind I made were Captain-n-Coke shots. Instead of using water, I boiled Coke Zero (1 cup), dissolved cherry gelatin in it, then mixed in some Captain (1 cup). Well, okay, it's Admiral Nelson. The cheaper knock-off (BUT, to my defense, it has a higher amount of alcohol). I did try reaching for the boy's Private Stock, but was given a stern look and knew better than to even think about it.

The last kind is the one I'm most hopeful about. They're margarita Jello shots! As many of you know, during the summertime, margaritas are my drink of choice (and I'm not one to turn them down the rest of the year either, just so you know). I was going to do lime Jello (or even the margarita-flavored Jello) and tequila, but seriously, that's a cop out. A margarita is a sophisticated drink with many components - each which should be celebrated and enjoyed even in shot form. I used a recipe I found online (had to halve it though because I only had 3 oz. of Jello) and want to give them a shoutout - http://dailydrinker.com/38/. This guy doesn't know me, but dude has a great recipe and deserves some love for sharing it with me! PS: read his directions. Seriously, I was dying the entire time. Out of respect for his content, I'm not going to lift it; instead, visit his blog and try out his recipe. I don't think you'll regret it!

Can't wait to see how these turn out tomorrow!

Mar. 14 - Uno Chicago Grill

We had a gift certificate for Uno Chicago Grill and decided to have a "family afternoon" and go bowling and have dinner there. We wanted to hit up the BounceU in Exton, but they only had open bounce early in the afternoon, which would have conflicted with naptime. I'm not usually a schedule freak and don't mind skipping a nap here and there, but these two were in desperate need of a nap by noon, so bowling it was! The boy isn't a bad bowler (nothing hugely impressive, but not too shabby), and I'm pretty crappy at it, but somehow I won by 6 points. Linds even impressed us with her skills - both using the ramp and rolling it down the lane.

After bowling, we headed over to Pizzeria Uno and had our dinner. Linds got some mac-n-cheese, but spent most of her meal eating Scott's and my calamari appetizer. We also split their pizza skins (deep dish pizza crust filled with mashed red potatoes, cheese, bacon, sour cream and chives) and lobster sliders (lobster in a mayo sauce with lettuce on slider buns). The calamari was as good as you can get in a non-seafood chain restaurant, the pizza skins were absolutely delicious (and probably a good million calories or so?!?) and the sliders would have been better with far less mayo (and I love me some mayo!). The boy and I also split a pitcher of sangria which was excellent (and gave us about 6 glasses in the $15 pitcher - not bad at all). All in all, it was a decent meal and a great adventure of a day!

Cooking FAIL

Soooo, I had a major cooking FAIL yesterday that I didn't have a chance to post about. It's almost too embarrassing to put out there - I haven't screwed up much food lately (used to in BIG ways, but I've gotten much better). It was when I was cooking some Pillsbury garlic crescent rolls. How in the heck can you screw those up? Well, after they were finished, I pulled them out of the oven and tossed them on top of the stove to let them cool for a few minutes.

Next thing I know I smell something burning and look back to the stove - somehow the back burner was on (either I nudged it on with the pan accidentally or I forgot to turn it off when I was cooking the meat for the ziti). The heat conducted through the metal baking sheet and it totally burnt all of my crescent rolls. I love those darn rolls and when I saw them crispy black on the bottom I thought I could salvage them and just eat the top halves...well, that was FAIL #2. I took a bite of the top half and of course the nasty char-grilled flavor had seeped its way through the entire thing. All of them ended up in the trash. ::sigh::

Like I said, I used to be an awful cook...the butt of all cooking jokes in my family.

• There was the time my sister and I made chocolate chip cookies and I forgot to add in the flour - a completely runny mess.
• There was the time I mixed up salt and sugar (1/2 a cup of salt did seem like a tad too much at the time, but what did I know?). 
• There was the vodka pasta sauce that got me tanked after the bowl of spaghetti was finished (I thought cooking with alcohol burns the booze off?). 
• There was the crockpot chicken that was supposed to be cooked in sherry (which I thought was red wine), and I didn't have any, so I cooked it in merlot. It turned purple. That was way off.  Sherry is white wine, by the way.

Oh, lord, so many more dishes I've destroyed (coq au vin, chicken marsala - this is why I hate cooking chicken, by the way)...I could go on and on and on. So, even as you read all these blog posts and think to yourself, "gee, Erica can cook a helluva meal," please remember that I can really screw up a meal, too! Make me feel better - *please* share YOUR food fails with me.

Jan. 18 - Lasagna & Amish Bread

I *finally* broke in my bread maker! I decided to make the frozen lasagna I bought last week at BJs (a 12-person size lasagna for only $6.50!) and I figured what better side dish than some bread? It was super easy once I figured out how to take the bread pan out (which was a good 20 minute ordeal) and it tasted delicious! The lasagna was pretty good, too (nothing like a homemade one, but god it's so nice to have a quick easy meal every so often!).

On a separate note, El Vez was phenomenal! We got 2 pitchers of margaritas, the Nacho Mamma appetizer (nachos with black beans), and then I got the enchilada sampler (black bean, shrimp and chicken) and the boy got surf and turf tacos. We were way too stuffed to get dessert, but they sounded so good. Maybe next time? Here's my margarita!

Here's the Amish Bread recipe - it's not strikingly full of flavor, but it's a great, soft bread - Linds couldn't get enough!

Amish Bread
Ingredients
2 3/4 cups bread flour
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon dry active yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup + 2 tablespoons water

Directions

1. Put ingredients into bread pan starting with wet ingredients, then dry ingredients, and finally the yeast.
2. Select white bread setting; press start.
   

Bake time is about 3 hours or so and it makes a 1 - 1 1/2 lb. loaf. Here's the finished product!

Jan. 8 - Leftovers & Wine

One of my goals this year is to lessen the amount of food we waste (we toss WAY too much stuff), so we're going to be doing a lot more leftovers than we have in the past. There is some baked potato pizza and mixed-up enchiladas we haven't finished, so we'll have that for dinner tonight.

In place of a recipe, I wanted to share my new favorite wine! We received a bottle of Funky Llama wine from Scott's uncle and it is EXCELLENT. I looked it up on the PA Wine & Spirits site and they sell it at all of the stores for only $7 for small bottle or $13 for the big one. We polished off a small bottle of the pinot noir easily last night. I'm not usually a red wine drinker (I prefer white), but my taste buds are slowly learning to enjoy a wider variety. I'll still take a glass of Blue Nun any day, but I think I could get used to some reds on an occasional basis, too.

Blender Recipes

My dear friend, Sarah, just received her very first (ever in her life!) blender. Now, as a bit of a history - my blender is my second best non-human friend (my computer, naturally, is my B(N-H)FF). When I was just a mere few weeks pregnant with Luke, it broke - I thought my world was ending. I remember writing on the mommy forum I belong to the following "eulogy:"

Pre-pregnancy, my blender was my best friend - bringing me icy margaritas, blended vodka punch drinks, kahlua milkshakes and the like. We had a rocky relationship...me, overusing it, abusing it, always wanting more. But it was kind and gentle - and always provided for me.

Then, the horror, I tried making a non-alcoholic milkshake for Linds and myself last night, and she did not like that. She sputtered and spun - and disintegrated the plastic pieces on the base that makes that little inside spin with glory. She's off in a better place now (the trash can...soon to be dump). And I'm all alone. With things to blend. But nothing to blend with.

Please, if you will, give her a five second salute of silence for all of her courageous work over the years. She will be missed. 

So, in understanding that, when Sarah shared with me that she had NEVER owned a blender, I was just in shock. Luckily, that situation was rectified this past Christmas and now she has a blender - but nothing to blend! Here are a few of my favorite blender recipes.

First of all, one must have the perfect frozen margarita recipe! This is courtesy of my Uncle Doug who, to this day, still makes, hands-down, the best margarita I've ever had in my life.

Margarita Ingredients

• 8 – 12 oz. tequila
• 6 – 12 oz. triple sec
• 12 oz. frozen limeade
• splash of lime juice
• Crushed ice

Directions

1. Blend all ingredients.

Another favorite of mine is one I happened on by accident. I was looking for a good summery low-cal drink and found one for a strawberry-kiwi Crystal Light. After searching through nearly every grocery store in the area, though, I have yet to find that particular kind. Instead, I use the C.L. fruit punch and it is SCRUMPTIOUS! A blender will be plenty if you're looking to get tipsy and the entire blender (if you use diet ginger ale) is only 300ish calories - can't beat getting drunk on less than 300 calories worth of booze!

Vodka Fruit Punch Ingredients

• 1 tub of Crystal Light Fruit Punch
  
• 2 cups of diet ginger ale or diet lemon-line soda
  
• 1/2 cup vodka
• 2 1/2 cups crushed ice

Directions

1. Place ginger ale, vodka and drink mix in blender container; cover. 
2. Blend until drink mix is completely dissolved.
   
3.  Add ice; cover. 
4. Blend on high speed until smooth. 
5. Pour into 6 martini glasses.

Another one I enjoy (but have only done once) is a watermelon margarita.

Watermelon Margarita Ingredients

• 1/2 watermelon, chilled, rind removed, sliced, cut into large chunks
  
•  4 cups ice cubes
• 1 cup lemon-lime soda
• 1 1/2 cups tequila
  

Directions

1. Combine in blender and puree until smooth.
   

And just so that this whole post doesn't revolve around booze, here are some non-alcoholic concoctions that can be blended together for tasty treats.

Non-alcoholic Combinations

• 1 cup of milk, low-fat vanilla yogurt, 1 small banana, 2 tsp honey, 4 ice cubes, OR
  
• 1 cup OJ,1/2 cup frozen strawberries, 1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt, OR
  
• 1 tablespoon peanut butter,1 cup low-fat chocolate yogurt, 1/2 banana, 1 tsp cocoa powder, 4 ice cubes

Enjoy!