Watermelon Slushies

This refreshing drink is made with fresh watermelon - so perfect for summer!

Another first for me...posting a recipe with watermelon. My blog is almost 11 years old and I have never posted a recipe with watermelon in it. For very good reason, I don't like it. I like watermelon flavored things, but not actual watermelon. I did, however, try this because I'm absolutely willing to try something even if I know I don't like it. I didn't like Philly Cheesesteaks or Chicken Parmesan and I love them now. So who knows, maybe I would appreciate this slushy even though I don't like watermelon. Still don't like watermelon....however, my older two kids and husband loved it and have made it multiple times since.

Peach Blackberry Sangria #FantasticalFoodFight

Welcome to another Food Fight! Fantastical Food Fight is a group of food bloggers who will get a theme or ingredient each month and make some sort of variation for it. It could be traditional or nontraditional and can be found in a cookbook, on a blog, or be a blogger's own creation! For more details, check out this page.

It's time again for another Food Fight and this month's theme is RUM! Today is National Rum Day and that is how the theme was chosen. The Food Fighters were not given any particular type of dish so long as it contains rum or rum flavoring. I have to admit that I struggled a little with what I wanted to make because I don't have a lot of recipes saved with rum in them and I don't make a lot of food with rum. I did have a page from the September 2016 Food Network Magazine that was for a Mix and Match Sangria recipe. So the amounts of different ingredients are from that, but the choices were mine alone.

I have had sangria once and it was many years ago, right before I got pregnant with Mason. I had a peach sangria at TGIFriday's. It was so delicious and I hands-down knew I wanted peaches in this sangria paired with white wine and white rum. Nick wanted to do all berries, so I compromised with blackberries going into the mix as well. The recipe called for superfine sugar or light brown sugar and I used vanilla sugar that I had purchased for Kasekuchen. This is a pretty strong sangria and I personally would love to try it with a sweeter wine because I am not a dry wine aficionado. Maybe a tad less rum, although everyone else loved it. The peach and blackberry with lemon was delicious though!

The cups before the Sprite was added...

Perfect Iced Coffee

This large batch of coffee brews at room temperature overnight and is ready for morning after morning of incredibly delicious iced coffee!

I had been cooking my way through some cookbooks and found some new things to try of Ree's out of one of the 4 cookbooks of hers that I own. I love me some PDub and her recipes have never failed me. During the summer, I loved iced coffee and I've always wanted to make my own at home. I knew I could trust Ree's recipe and if you haven't guessed - I wasn't let down at all since I'm posting it! You could really make many variations with flavored ground coffee and you, as always, can put a variation of different creamers in it to make a different flavor coffee. It's really nice to have on hand and it's a quick way to get your cup of joe in the hot summer mornings. You literally just pour it over ice and add flavor if you want it and then DRINK! :)

Copycat Starbucks Strawberries & Creme Frappuccino

This copycat is dead on and just as lovely as the real deal. You can't go wrong with strawberries and cream!

Y'all know I am no stranger to copycat recipes. I am obsessed with them. I love finding recipes for my favorites and I love to come up with recipes for my favorites. This go-around I happened to find a recipe for my old favorite at Starbucks: Strawberries and Creme Frappuccino! I had my first Starbucks drink in Fort Gordon, Georgia when Nick was stationed there for AIT. The on-base hospital had a Starbucks in the lobby and every time Matthew (my oldest) had a doctor's appointment, I would get this drink with a chocolate chunk cookie. So it's definitely a nostalgic drink.

I have previously tried a different recipe for it, but it was nothing like the real thing and quite undrinkable, if you ask me. So I waited patiently until another recipe fell into my lap and this one is definitely a keeper. It tastes just like the real thing. It is wonderfully easy to make too. Honestly, the "hardest" part is hulling the strawberries and even that isn't too bad. This recipe does make one drink, so if you don't want to share, be sure to double, triple, quadruple, or more the recipe :)

Copycat Ocean Water

This Sonic copycat is such a fun drink to make for kids during the summer!

I have not yet had an actual Ocean Water at Sonic, but I think it may be something on our summer bucket list, especially after making this recipe! The coconut is the perfect touch for a refreshing summer drink. The blogger who I got the recipe for dropped adorable Swedish fish into her drink, but I had a bit of trouble with that. Instead, I placed them on the lip of the mason jar. I still think they look mighty cute. My kids really loved them. They don't get to drink soda very often and I think the blue color appealed to them.

Cranberry Spritzer

Liven up your holiday season with this non-alcoholic beverage that is fruity and fizzy!

I'm trying to be better about making recipes other than dinner and the occasional dessert. I'm so bad for never making beverages or snacks or appetizers or side dish recipes. I do make these courses during the holidays though, so, of course, I have a lovely beverage to share with y'all that is perfect for Christmas and New Year's/winter months. We had this on New Year's Eve. I was pregnant and obviously the kids can't have any alcohol, so we got to enjoy these nonalcoholic fizzy drinks :)

Pecan Pie Milkshake

If there is such a thing as leftover pecan pie, this is what it's for. This Pecan Pie Milkshake is decadent and delightful and very easy to make.

Today's is Veteran's Day and while I don't have a patriotic recipe to share, I do have MY veteran's favorite dessert with a twist. Nick served 8 years active duty army and now serves in the army reserves. He did a tour in Iraq and two in Afghanistan. Although I wasn't happy when he initially enlisted, over time I came to know nothing but military life and transition to civilian life has been strange to say the least. I do often miss our military family (but definitely not Fort Drum) and I'm thankful to have had that experience.

The years that Nick's unit wasn't deployed, we did a huge Thanksgiving. We all brought food (most of the women did the cooking, so all the guys cleaned up after dinner) and went over to one household to celebrate. Those Thanksgivings are some of my favorites. It was always a large group. There was singing, dancing, laughing, and it was always loud and happy. There weren't many leftovers though with such a crowd, so this recipe wasn't really feasible.

I improvised and purchased a 2-pack of pecan pie from the freezer aisle to make this treat for Nick. If you are able to stash a piece of homemade pecan pie this Thanksgiving, I highly suggest making this recipe! If not, your local grocery store should have the 2-pack, so you don't have to buy a whole pie. It's simple to make and it's oh-so-good!

During the holiday season especially, I find it important to support the troops in any way that I can (obviously, all the time is important, but especially at the holidays).  The USO does so much for the troops and we worked with them a lot to send care packages during deployments [their website]. Soldiers' Angels has resources for both care packages and holiday cards on their website. Operation Gratitude also has a multitude of different ways to give and help [their website]. I know that a Christmas card seems like nothing, but Nick came home from deployment with so many. We also have a lot of injured and recovering soldiers here on the homefront at Walter Reed, too. These soldiers are so happy to know someone is thinking about them. :)

Almond Joy Frappuccino

I'm not a big fan of Almond Joys. Let's just put that out there.

However...
I am a big fan of my husband's and he loves Almond Joys. So as with pretty much all the foods he loves (and because I put up with him), I've hoarded recipes to make for him. This was one I figured he would love because it combines Almond Joys with one of his all-time favorite things in the whole wide world: coffee.

Even though I am not the biggest fan of Almond Joys, I quite enjoyed this little cold coffee treat. I think that the chocolate and coconut worked together well and nothing was too overpowering :) And of course it got Nick's seal of approval!

Chocolate Hazelnut Coffee

It drives Nick nuts, but I will totally drink my coffee once it gets cold. It doesn't even have to have ice in it which apparently is sacrilege to even let it get cold in the first place. I also do like actual iced coffee. And that's why I just had to try out this lovely hazelnut iced coffee.

I am kind of picky with coffee flavors (with creamer), but I will do some hazelnut coffee any time. This particular hazelnut coffee actually has Nutella in it! And who doesn't like Nutella??? i mean it. Who doesn't? We need to find that person and help them understand the amazingness that is Nutella :)

Snickers Frappuccino: A Starbucks Secret Menu Copycat

I have a lovely secret menu at Starbucks infographic pinned...and instead of going to Starbucks to actually get the secret menu drinks. I will stay at home and make them. :)

The first one I wanted to try was this Snickers Frappuccino. It's basically a caramel frappuccino with some chocolate and toffee flavorings added in. It's very very yummy! If you need to thicken it up, you can be a little daredevil and add a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I also highly recommend coffee ice cubes instead of water ice cubes. Just for more delicious coffee flavor!

Starbucks Copycat Vanilla Bean Frappuccino

Alright, so I'm not big on Starbucks, but I do love to get their frappuccinos every once in a blue moon when I go to Target. I love all of them, but especially the Vanilla Bean one. I have been wanting to find a good copycat recipe for quite a while and I finally adapted one to suit my tastes and here's what I came up with!

Salted Caramel Coffee Creamer

My husband and I go through a ton of creamer. So it was about time for me to try and make my own - plus I wanted to try a recipe using it and I couldn't find Salted Caramel Mocha creamer anywhere. The only thing that is weird about making your own at home is that you do occasionally have to stir it up really good because some of the caramel/condensed milk likes to settle on the bottom. Otherwise, it's a great recipe and tastes so good!

Mango Coconut Smoothie

It just got cold in New York and I'm dreaming of warm summer days already. Some of our local grocery stores have some great frozen fruit mixes - this particular one is a favorite: mango, papaya, and pineapple.

This is just the most perfectly tropical, delicious, refreshing smoothie ever. I think it was the first thing I made in my Ninja blender when I first got it. If you use a blender/food processor a lot or have gone through too many, invest in a Ninja. They aren't sponsoring me or compensating me to say that, I'm just saying it from purchasing my own Ninja Kitchen System and using it :)

Raspberry Lemonade Slushy

My 6 year old is notoriously bad about eating fruits. I think the only way I can sneak any into his diet is if I make banana bread or he eats yogurt. Another way that I try and get him to get his fruit is with drinks. He's not a big fan of fruit juices (and neither is his tummy) and if it's a really thick yogurty smoothie, he usually drinks a little and then leaves it on the kitchen counter. Both of my kids are really into slushies though. I have to blame/thank the infomercials they saw on tv for the Slushy Magic cup thing.

I have to say that I really loved this too. Sometimes you really just don't want a thick dairy smoothie, but something more simple and refreshing. This was the perfect amount of sweet and sour - and it was gone in no time at all. Also as a side-note...I still love my Ninja [blender/food processor extraordinaire].

Drinks Week: Strawberry Nutella Milkshakes

I am so so late on the Nutella craze, but I am coming around slowly but surely. I love strawberry milkshakes and thought that it could not be more genius to add Nutella to them. Genius and SO good. These are dangerously addictive milkshakes and you'll be sorely disappointed if you don't make them as soon as possible!

Drinks Week: Pink Panties

I couldn't resist a drink called Pink Panties. I just couldn't. When we get together with friends or family, we try to play King's Cup (a drinking game) at least one time and my husband's favorite rule is the "in my pink panties" rule, where you must say that after everything that you say.

I will tweak this recipe next time I make it (which will be very soon). I thought 12 oz. of vodka was a bit much, so I brought it down to 5 oz. I split my drink in half and froze half of it. It's very sweet and tart, but it still had a bit of the concentrate taste to it, so I'm going to try having premade pink lemonade (like Simply Lemonade) and more ice next time. It was still so good! I love lemonade and love strawberries - AND the vodka was really good. It was my first time trying whipped cream flavored vodka.

Drinks Week: Peppermint Mocha Milkshake for One

New York is not my favorite place to live. In fact, it's my least favorite. The winters are long and miserable and the summers...well...they are just as bad. It's been cloudy and raining for most of the summer so far. There are days where it is in the 50s. This week looks like it's finally in the 80s. I think one thing that keeps me going is that we're getting close to counting down our LAST YEAR in this state...and then we get to go home to Tennessee.

So when I'm bummed and the weather is crappy, I turn to chocolate anything. Ice cream is always close to the top of the list of chocolate..and let's face it...coffee is always welcome. I've been wanting to try this recipe from How Sweet It Is for so long, but I don't like sharing and I didn't feel like making two once my husband stole a drink of mine. Deployment is when I take advantage of my stinginess :) I doubled the coffee powder and drank it right up. So delicious!

Drinks Week: Red Smoothie

I love a good smoothie and it's one of the only ways I'll eat fresh fruit (or in this case frozen). My 6 year old is the same way - he likes the taste, not the texture of most fruits. Mangoes and strawberries are actually two fruits I will eat fresh and love, but it's hard to pass up a recipe like this. I am horrible at cutting mangoes, so I opted to use frozen mango. This is probably my most favorite smoothie I've ever had.

I've gotten super lazy with photos, so excuse the lovely ledge my smoothie is sitting on :)

Drinks Week: DIY Starbucks Frappuccino

I have been anticipating this themed week for a long while and then I was scrambling to make drinks for it. I hate dragging out my blender and clearing out room in the top shelf of my fridge is like mission impossible. BUT I did get it done and I have some great beverages to share with y'all this week :)

I'm on such a huge iced coffee kick. It's a bit hot to be drinking hot coffee all the time and I don't want to eat Burger King for lunch every single day (they have the BEST iced coffee!). This is perfect for me and I really need to make another batch really soon. You can use whatever flavor creamer you want too. If it's too sweet, I suggest cutting down on the brown sugar.

Secret Recipe Club: Zingy Green Smoothie

This month I was on the hunt for a good summer-y recipe from my assigned blog: Food Baby Life written by Aussie mom of two, Susan. I almost went with the The Hulk Green Smoothie...and can't help but have been tempted by these Easy Nutella Brownie Bites or these Cappuccino Brownie Bites. But ultimately I decided upon the Zingy Green Juice recipe and modified it to a smoothie recipe because unfortunately I don't have a juicer. But I really wish I did! I cut down one apple and used Greek yogurt as my base with a little bit of pineapple juice.

I loved how just absolutely delicious this smoothie was. The kids gobbled it up too, which is a huge deal to me because Matthew is much like me where he won't really eat a lot of fruits because of their texture - smoothies/juice are usually the perfect compromise. I can't wait to make it again because I want to put in my popsicle mold! The lemon and ginger really brought out that little zip to make it more than just a fruity sweet smoothie :)