mango champagne

M-I-L-K-S-H-A-K-E

Ingredients

1/2 cup of baileys irish creme

1 shot of Cruzan white rum

1 shot of Jim Beam Bourbon Whiskey

8 ice cubes

1/2 cup of coconut milk

2 tablespoons of Vanilla Extract

Dash of Cinnamon

Dash of Nutmeg

Dash of Clove

1 frozen banana (make sure it is frozen)

Blend it and serve in chilled glasses. My wife made this.  Thought it tasted smilar to a pain killer.

Alternative Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe using Banana instead of Egg

This isn't a drink post and it won't happen very often in the future.  However, I wanted to get this recipe down before I forget it.  It turned out amazing.

Here is the chocolate chip cookie recipe from the back of a bag of Log House Baking Chips.

2 1/4 cups All Purpose Flour, unsifted
1 tsb Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1 cup Butter, softned
3/4 cup of sugar
34 cup Brown Sugar, packed
1 tsp. Vanilla Exract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12oz) Log House Real Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Here are the changes I made:

• Added a little bit more Baking Soda
• Used a 80/20 ratio of Canola Oil to Smart Balance margarine for a cup
• Split the sugar up between white sugar and raw sugar. 1/4 cup white and 2/4 raw sugar
• replaced 2 large eggs with 1 banana.  The only bananas in the house were in the freezer so I left them thaw.
• While I didn't do it this time but next time only 1.5 cups of chocolate chips.  Way too many chips in my recipe.

I baked them at 375 for 11-12 minutes so a little longer than the recipe called for but stoves vary and that is in line with other foods we have cooked in this oven.

This is the great part!  It tasted amazing!  Just a hint of banana - I thought it would taste stronger.  Just like regular chocolate chip cookies it had a softer interior while still maintaining its form.  It even rised the same.  Now if this is from the little extra baking soda that I added I  do not know.  I also don't know what if any of these changes, outside of the banana, truly made a difference.

I didn't intentionally want to make it with banana but I also didn't want to buy some expensive eggs using expensive gas to get to the store.  Next time, I probably will use all Canola Oil and maybe try it with all raw sugar with no brown sugar.

Swabby

Found this recipe last night so I decided to try it.  I'd give it an eh.  Not too bad.  I don't like sweet drinks, which this isn't but it sure seem to take me awhile to drink it.

1 1/2 oz. Cruzan Spiced Rum
2 oz. Sweat and Sour Mix
2 oz.Lemon Lime Soda

Mix it all together and put it on the rocks.  We didn't try but blended probably would be better in this instance.

VI Mimosa

Here is a drink my wife made for breakfast.

1 shot of Mango Rum (Cruzan)
1/3 cup of orange juice
1/2 cup of champagne
splash of sweat and sour

Stir it up and serve in a nice champagne glass!

Hopefully we remember to take some pictures tomorrow morning when we have it again.  She served it with a bowl of papaya and watermelon for the fruit.  The main dish was breakfast tacos with avocado, jalapeño cheese (from Wisconsin) and hot sauce.  The tortillas were not homemade but I am sure next week I will get to make some from scratch.  The tortillas were fried with butter and made just a hint crispy. I should also point out that I am sure we will have some home grown cilantro in the tacos tomorrow.

Tropical Chiller

Here is my wife's drink.  It was very smooth.  Will have to try this one again.

2 shots of Banana Rum
2 shots of Cruzan white rum
1/4 cup of Tropical Juice (contains apples, oranges, pineapples)
8 ice cubes
1/2 frozen banana
1/4 cup frozen papaya
1 squirt of agave nectar

Blend until contents are fully mixed and there are no visible chunks.  Serve in a chilled martini glass.  Makes 4 servings.

whiskey Sour Version B (WSB)

This is a modified Whiskey Sour.  Very similar to other drinks.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 shots of Whiskey (Jim Beam for me)
• half of a lime squeezed
• 5-6 leaves of fresh basil
• lemonade
• 4 ice cubes
• 2 spoons of sugar (I use raw sugar)

In a pint glass, muddle the basil leaves, lime juice, sugar and whiskey.  Add the ice cubes and then top it off with lemonade.  Stir and you are ready to go!

I've posted a whiskey and basil drink in the past and I LOVED it.  Today, I decided I wanted something similar to a whiskey sour after a day on the beach with rum.  I found a recipe for a whiskey sour.  I am a bit lazy so I modified a few sections.  The first part I changed was adding the basil.  No whiskey sours require basil until now.  I didn't have any marchino cherries either.  That's okay for me because I am not the biggest fan of those cherries.  Lastly, while lemons are very cheap this year and I did have some I decided to go with the lemonade since I stocked up.

If I would have gone with lemon instead of lemonade I would guess you would need 3/4 of a lemon.

It's hard for me to describe the taste.  It is very similar to my whiskey/basil/sprite mixture but with a little more bitterness (probably  from the lime juice).

I hope people try this one.  I know that basil is hard to come by but there is no reason why it isn't in more bars.  While it grows like a weed here I remember it growing very well in just a pot in our former home in Virginia.  Basil needs more respect in drinks!