Valentine's Ombre Drinks

I just found out that hats are not allowed at my son's elementary school next year.

Booo.

I thought that was the great part about having a boy? You know, them being all low-maintenance and everything.  Slapping a hat on them and sending them out the door.

Umm, do they even realize what a huge inconvenience this is?  This will probably add an additional minute and forty five seconds to my morning routine.  Where am I supposed to find that kind of time?

Will there be a complimentary breakfast served at school to make up for the time I will have to take away from toast-making or orange juice pouring in order to style his hair appropriately?

Starving children typically don't do well in school.

Don't they know that??

It's so hard to be a mom these days.


Sarcasm aside, remember the layered drinks craze of last summer?  For Valentine's day I came up with a cute ombre version to make my kids.  So pretty and soo yummy.  The trick of course, is layering these drinks in the right order.

Check the label on the back of the drink and look at the sugar content.  The highest amount of sugar is the drink that should go on the bottom.  The lowest will go on top.  Do not use drinks that contain the same or similar amounts of sugar or they will just mix together like regular drinks.  For really defined layers, choose sugar contents that are pretty drastic.

Happy Valentine's Week!

Wish me luck with all this hair-doing I'm going to be doing.  I should probably start practicing!

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Hot Cinnamon Caramel Apple Cider

Is anyone else feeling the sting of holiday craziness yet? I know it's only mid-November but my to-do list is a mile long. 

I mean that literally.

Like, I have to fold it into fiftuplets to fit it in my purse.

Like, people probably think I'm Santa Clause cause I have a list cascading out the back side of my purse when I go out.   Which I obviously scribble on MEANINGFULLY whenever kids crash into me wearing those skate shoes and then don't apologize. 

I'm sure they know I'm Santa cause I look like him and everything.

And yes, fiftuplets is a real measurement.

The good news is that I am not a procrastinator- so even though this month is going to be INSANE- by December I should have all my presents bought/made and wrapped, treats baked, packing lists made, and decorations up, so I can sit on my butt and stare at the Christmas tree and eat baked goods for the entire month of December. 

I highly recommend this method. 

I can't wait for Thanksgiving to be over so I can share lots of Christmas treats with you!

Also- This cider is about 500 times yummier than it appears.

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Hot Orange Cinnamon Cider

Thought I'd share our favorite cider with you.  It's the perfect drink for a rainy Fall day and it's a snap to make!

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Candy Corn Soda

My 4 year old had surgery this last week so I disappeared from the world for a little while.   I decided to clean the house like mad beforehand, make some easy meals and avoid emails, blogging, texting, etc while he was recovering.  Honestly, the last few days have been wonderful.  My mom took my littlest guy and I just got to play with Chase.  We colored dinosaur coloring pages, cut out a pumpkin patch and taped all the little pumpkins up on his bedroom wall, did Lego sticker book, watched Dinosaur Train, read books.  It was heaven.  I found myself wishing every day was like this and that laundry and dishes and errands just didn't exist, and that I could always be the nicest mom ever.  Bringer of Sprite and cookies and narcotics.

That was the plus side.

The down side was obviously the whole surgery bit.  But he took it like a champ and was so brave.  When the anesthesiologist took him I was fawning all over him telling him how brave he was and how I would see him so soon bla bla blah.

 I'm pretty sure he rolled his eyes at me.

At 4 years old he's so much braver than I am.

The weird part is he did a surgery prep class beforehand and asked lots of question so he knew exactly what was going to happen and when the time came he still strutted right into the O.R.

I'm so glad he's not like me.

 


I did a lot of baking before surgery day and I invented this Halloween-y soda for ya'll.  I really did invent it for you because I hate candy corn but I know there are so many candy corn lovers out there.  This soda is made from real candy corn so it tastes just like the real thing.   This may not be the greatest soda to accompany a burger but if you love candy corn you'll love this as a sweet Halloweeny treat.

Anybody else excited it's almost October?

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Tiki Punch Freeze

 

I am apparently the only one whose school district hasn't started back up again.  (And we still have 9 days of summer... WHAT?)

I'm sorry, four months of summer is just too long.

If the Halloween decorations are out my kid should already be back at school.

I'm going finger-lickin' insane without a solid routine or schedule.

Basically the only good thing about it still being summer is finishing up the last of the summer treats.

Tiki punch freeze is a little spin off of the root beer freeze's I posted recently.  I just used a can of Tiki Punch (any sparkling fruit punch will do) in place of the root beer.  It is surprisingly good, and tastes kind of like a sweet sherbet.

It's quite a bit sweeter than the Rootbeer freeze, so smaller glasses may be in order, or you can always add some ice to water it down a tad.

Let's start saying goodbye to summer, shall we?

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Frozen Hot Chocolate

Summer.

I'm over it.

Does that make me a bad person?

Is it sacrilege to say I'm counting down the days to boots and leaves and Fall treats and baking with pumpkin?

Is it weird that I bought Christmas presents yesterday?

{These questions are all rhetorical.  Unless you happen to agree with me, I mean.}


Today I was so bummed to find no apple cider at the store and no Halloween M&Ms at Target.  I had to step back a little and re-evaluate my life a little and pull out my calendar book to check which month it was.

I went home and decided to compromise with this recipe. It's frozen so it's obviously summery.  But it's also hot chocolate which is a Fall/Winter treat.  Best of both worlds.  (Sing Hannah Montana here.)

Also, it's delicious.

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Rootbeer Float Freeze

Did you know it's national root beer float day? I have a 4 year old who is in love with all things root beer.  Root beer gum, root beer cupcakes, root beer barrels, and you guessed it- root beer floats.  We like to do a blended freeze version that perfectly combines the root beer and ice cream in every slurp.  It's way easier to eat and less messy for kids.

Yes, we did have these for breakfast today.

Happy Root Beer Float day!!

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Olympic Rings Drinks

Sometimes things don't work out as planned.  I had this great idea for Olympic rings drinks that used gummi saver rings to flavor Sprite.  (A lot like these Blowpop Drinks).  When I got home and opened the bag I realized that green and red were the only Olympic rings colors in the bag.   BUMMER!  

So I googled Olympic Rings drinks and found that they actually served such a thing in Beijing several years ago!  All I could find was a picture but it inspired me so I felt like I should post the link with my recipe below.

I ended up using miniature fruit slices to make my rings. You can read on to see the process but it's pretty easy.  If, on the other hand you can find tropical gummisavers or something that come in yellow and blue, feel free to save yourself some time and just use those.

Let the games begin!

{next week that is.}

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Patriotic Layered drinks

Today our kids are in bed with fevers and flu so I thought this would be a good time to post some of my old recipes before the Olympics next week.  I'm not sure I can watch Tangled or Blue Planet one more time.

These drinks were all over pinterest and we couldn't resist trying them for the Fourth.  I was not at all convinced they would taste good  and was pleasantly surprised.  I think my red and white layers combined pretty well although I didn't really care for the blue.  I didn't really like the Polar Blast Hawaiian Punch as it is though, so that was probably my problem.

In case you haven't done these, the secret is to fill your cup up completely with ice and then pour the drink right on top of the ice as slowly as possible.  Sometimes it's good to wait for a minute and let the drink settle before continuing to pour more. 

You absolutely must layer these drinks in the right order.  Check the label on the back of the drink and look at the sugar content.  The highest amount of sugar is the drink that should go on the bottom.  The lowest will go on top.  (No sugar/calorie free is fine for the top.)  My white layer and blue layer were only about 7 grams different in sugar and they ran in to eachother a bit, so if you want really defined layers, choose sugar contents that are pretty drastic.

I have a Halloween version of these floating in the back of mine brain so hopefully it will make an appearance come October. 

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Shirley Temples

Did you notice my new look? I got a blog makeover this weekend! I am so not computer savvy or techy so this is big news.  It has been bugging me for awhile and I finally sat down and made some changes.  

(When I say "I"-  I really mean my husband.  I ate snacks and peered over his shoulder and nodded as he explained things to me and pretended to understand.) 

I also finally set up a Pinterest account for Dip It In Chocolate, which I have been meaning to do for awhile.  Click on my light blue Pinterest icon on the top right to follow me, and I'll follow you back.  My boards are pretty empty for today but I'm sure they will fill up soon with lots of things to make your pants tight. ;)

Since I was so busy being computer geniusy this weekend, I didn't have much time to bake, but I did make some delicious drinks.  These are low-calorie since they're made with Sprite Zero.  (About 30 calories plus cherries.)  And by saving all those calories you can eat the delicious cookies I have ready for you tomorrow!

I do try to conserve calories for you in the summer time, you know... ;) 

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Patriotic Pop-Rock Rimmed Blowpop Drinks {Kid-friendly}

Drinks that taste like blow-pops.  How could this not be a good idea?  These are made with Sprite, so they are kid-friendly and the extra "pop" makes them fun for the Fourth.  These would be cute for any kids party and in any variety of colors and flavors.  (Omit pop-rocks if you wish.)

For this drink I dyed my Sprite blue and then used a red Blow-pop... dummy idea because after awhile it started to turn my drink purple.  This is probably why I got a C in Art.   I'd recommend looking for blue poprocks (tropical ones can be found at Dollar Tree) and using those for the rims, and then a cherry or watermelon Blowpop to color the drink red. 

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Hawaiian Lava Flows

While my husband and I were engaged I did a semester of school in Hawaii with my good friend Natalie, while he stayed on the mainland to work. We didn't have a car in Hawaii, so the bus had to get us wherever we wanted to go.

(Nothing like riding the bus to make you feel like an adult, let me tell you.)

Natalie and I used to sit on the side of the road by the bus stop and call the bus hotline to find out 'how many more minutes' until the bus would arrive. (That always made me feel pretty adult-like as well.)

Anyway, we'd hop the bus and ride it down to Turtle Bay Resort/Hotel.  And then we would head to the pool.

Errr... by taking the back gate.  And walking very stealthily.  And perhaps wearing swimsuit coverups that matched nearby shrubbery. 

But once we we'd snuck in we'd get to lay out, slap on some Maui Babe tanning lotion and drink in the Hawaii sun.

We'd always get asked for drink orders and I'd wonder which room I should charge it to.

(Just kidding.  But kind of not.)

Turns out if you're white, they assume you're a resort guest.  And they let you lay by the pool.  Every. Day.  And apparently they think you live there because how else do they not notice that you never. go. away.    ??

Probably they thought I was Paris Hilton or something and just live at hotels.



I eavesdropped on so many great conversations at that pool.

Don't pretend you don't do it.

How can you not listen to the details of a six-year-old's birthday party that totaled almost 12,000 dollars?

It's like a train-wreck, you just can't look away. Also, apparently if you're wearing earbuds people think you're not listening.

Who knew?

Anyway, since I was SO moral-minded and just couldn't bring myself to order lots of drinks to other people's rooms, I never got to taste Turtle Bay's Hawaiian Lava flow.

But I so wanted to.

So Turtle Bay resort, here's to you.

Thanks for the great tan for my wedding.  The relaxation. And some priceless gems of wisdom.

("OMGOSH... do not EVER hire her to do your balloons. She brought shiny teal instead of iridescent aqua and she used trashy ribbon! The floats were ALL wrong, I think her sister is transgender and I heard she got her dog from the pound!")


This "Real Housewives" stuff?  It's for real.

 

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Birthday Rims

We have a birthday tradition at our house of waking up to a donut cake on the morning of your birthday.  We stick a candle in the top of the "cake", sing Happy Birthday, and dig in.  I think it's a great way to begin a birthday. (sugar = happiness in my world)

This year I thought Chase probably needed a birthday-rimmed glass of milk to go along with his donut cake.  These rims could easily be adapted for any holiday by varying the color of nonpareils/sprinkles.

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New Year's Pop Rocks Rims

Have you noticed I'm into rims lately?  Mostly because they're so quick and so easy and kids flip for them.  We used Martinelli's with watermelon pop rocks today.  I don't personally care for the carbonated drink WITH the carbonated candy, but the kids are all about it. Next time I'll pair mine with a non-carbonated punch instead.  I like to do my rims deep so the kids get more pop-rockety-goodness, but you can do sophisticated super thin rims if you like.  These can be adapted for all holidays and occasions just by varying the color scheme.

This has been a great year for my family and I'm so pleased to have been able to share some pieces of our lives with you.  Best wishes for a wonderful 2012 to you all!

PS- In case you're wondering if that's a super huge bag of poprocks...  The wine glass is actually super small.  It's the perfect size for our 4 year old who gets to use it at Christmas and New Years so he can feel all sophisticated-like.  I bought it at World Market.

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Chocolate-Dipped Candycanes (Stirring sticks!)

When I was in high school my friend and I used to pay visits to places like the firestation.  Sometimes we would take cookies and sometimes we would take a paper and a pen on assignment for a non-existent "school project" where we had to ask questions like, "Do you have a dalmation?"  Mostly we were there for the eye candy and the potential of getting to use the firepole. 

Now that I am old and married and entirely uninterested in firemen or feigning school projects but still a little interested in firepoles, I am more aware and thankful for the sacrifice of public works figures like these. And I feel like at Christmastime all these people should get SOMETHING.

These candy canes are fantastic for that because they're cheap. (A box of 12 candy canes is like 98 cents and everyone knows that chocolate isn't actually bought, but magically appears in your pantry.) Also they are super cute.  So that is why I love to give these as gifts. 

And the potential of someday getting an offer to slide down the firepole.

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Peppermint Whipped Cream (For hot cocoa or cupcakes)

Sorry I always have to spout off randomly to you before I ever give you a recipe.  I like to hold them for ransom so I can talk to adults for 3 minutes of my day (Love my 3 year old but he wants to talk about "human bodies" all day and that kind of disgustingifies me.)  PS-  Don't call social services on me.  When I say he wants to talk about human bodies, he wants to talk about the skeletal system and circulatory system and how the small intestine absorbs food, and what the white blood cells fight with.  Sometimes he calls me the names of germs, which personally I don't find that hurtful because I don't even know what they are.  As you can probably guess-  it's nice to have a real chat once in awhile where I can talk about adult things.  Like cake batter snack mix.

So, I have to ask.  Has anybody seen Jack & Jill?  What did you think of it?   I laughed through the whole movie.  Probably because I'm immature.  But then I found out that it only got 1 star on IMDB.  ONE. STAR.  I thought they reserved that kind of rating for movies like 101 Dalmations II or Land Before Time XII.

So I would probably feel better about myself if somebody else could tell me they thought Jack & Jill was hilarious as well.  (If you hated it you don't need to tell me. I don't want to go through life thinking I'm a bad movie judger. You know?)

Anyways, this whipped cream is perfect on the Peppermint Rims I posted a few days ago.  Also, it's freaking delicious.  You can just plop it in a cup of cocoa, or you can stabilize it and use it to pipe on chocolate cupcakes and add some peppermint pieces.  (Also freaking delicious.)  By the way, I didn't stabilize mine, so your cupcakes will definitely be prettier than my cupcakes.  No worries. And if you stabilize it, be sure to double the piping gel because that recipe only makes half as much as this one.

If you are using it to frost cupcakes you may want to add more sugar.  It is  lightly sweetened which is perfect  for cocoa, but it may need a little umph to replace frosting.

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Peppermint Hot Chocolate Rims

Can we have a little chat about couponing real quick?  I do not watch couponing shows.  I have heard of them.  I have heard there are people who spend hours a day cutting coupons and who actually *make* money when they go through the check-out line of the grocery store.  To be honest, I am completely befuddled by this.  Sometimes I get ambitious and I look through those coupon pages that come in the newspaper.  I usually end up throwing them away when I realize the coupons either require you to buy twelve sticks of deoderant to get a free one, or save you 25 cents on a package of paper towels.  (Since the big package of paper towels costs like $10 and I spend 25 cents on gum like every time I pass a gumball machine, I find this slightly ridiculous.  Also, being OCD I have panic attacks when I have a million little crumpled coupons overflowing out of all the corners of my purse, so I usually decide it's not worth saving the 25 cents.) 

Anyways.  This was before I discovered Coupon Loving Chicks through Lark's Country Heart (possibly the nicest person in the world and totally the reason I have more than six Facebook friends).  These ladies find coupons for you and post them on their Facebook wall.

Coupon of the day- A 10$ gift card when you spend $50 at Target.  (I'm just gonna assume that I'm not the only one that can't get out of there without spending $50-$100.)  It's basically free money!  Plus then you can justify spending $10 on Lipsmackers or boot socks.  Maybe coupons *are* good for something after all. I am totally converted.

Visit Target's Facebook page, and follow their link to print the coupon; it's only good through Dec 3rd!


Now that we have that out of the way.  I'm going to show you my favorite way to serve hot chocolate, and one of my favorite Christmas "recipes".   Peppermint rimmed mugs.  The great thing about this is it takes about 2 minutes to do. It's INSANELY easy. (Read: Edward Scissorhands can do this.  And he has no hands.)

Also it looks fancy so everyone will think you're kind of a domestic diva.

Plus peppermint hot chocolate is kind of the best.

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Gingerbread Hot-Chocolate Stirring Sticks

So I found this package of Gingerbread Men marshmallows at Target last week. 

 

I had no idea what to do with them but I couldn't resist buying them cause they were stinkin' cute (and like $1.25).  I ended up making these little hot chocolate stirring sticks for my kids.  The best part is even little ones can help skewer the marshmallows.  They taste alright but are nothing special.  They are coated in a sugary mixture so that's why they look a little powdery.

Anyway- easy peasy, and great for a snow day.

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Cherry Watermelon Jolly Rancher Soda or... Cherry Watermelon Granita

In case you  haven't noticed yet, my maturity level is a little closer to a tweens than a mature adults'.  I buy Lipsmackers on a regular basis and have chip sandwiches for lunch about 4 days a week.  Sometimes I watch One Tree Hill.  So after the Jolly Rancher cupcakes, the soda was pretty much inevitable.  If you are a mature adult you probably aren't even reading this because it sounded nasty.  It's not.  It's delicious.  Make it for your kids.  They will love you for it.

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Super Citrus Smoothie

I hate it when I'm making a milkshake and boys just start showing up in my yard.


(I totally found that on Pinterest, but whatev. I thought I would share the laugh with you.)

These aren't milkshakes.  Actually, they're kind of  *gasp*  healthy. Maybe the healthiest thing I will ever post, since this blog IS supposed to be about chocolate. I've had a bad cold lately (which probably explains why I haven't posted any delicious treats lately- I do apologize. It's rare that food leaves me disinterested.)

These are *kinda* like Jamba Juice Coldbusters.  Which are pretty much the center of my universe.  Well, really these aren't all that much like Coldbusters, except they both taste citrusy, but if you like those, I promise you will like these too.

By the way... Jamba should totally deliver.  Who's with me?

Enough rambling.  I have a date with Mr. Nyquil anways.

Let me know if your smoothie brings any boys to the yard.

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