Beverages

S’mores Sea Salt Martini

I’m a birthday girl. Meaning I love my birthday. Not only is it the one day of the year where I can truly do whatever I want without any outside influence from anyone else, but I also get to celebrate another year of my life. I’ve never been one to moan and groan about my age. It is what it is and I can’t do anything about it. Rather than be sad or depressed that I’m yet another year older, instead I look at it as I’m a year younger than I’ll be next year! Some people don’t like a big fuss about their birthdays and that’s fine. And honestly, I don’t like a lot of fuss about mine either – I just like to celebrate it. When my birthday falls on a weekday, I always take the day off. Period. My boss makes fun of me, saying he doesn’t know anyone who likes their birthday as much as I do but the reality is that I just know that working is the last thing on Earth that I want to do. Even if I have no other plans, you won’t see me at work. My birthday is this Sunday so since I’m already off, I’m taking a nice long weekend. I’m heading to the beach today and then heading to Baltimore with my girl friends tomorrow just to get out of Dodge for a while and let off some steam. And I’m planning on taking these S’mores Sea Salt Martinis with me.

S’mores flavored vodka is mixed with half-and-half and served in a chocolate-sea salt rimmed martini glass. I’m a big fan of Three Olives Vodka so when I saw the S’more flavored bottle, I didn’t know whether to be excited or frightened. But I went for it because if I were on a deserted island, I would want to have s’mores with me. So why not a s’mores cocktail too? This cocktail is good but I think I’m going to experiment with it a bit. I’d probably omit the salt, mix chocolate syrup in with the half-and-half, and maybe add in some Baileys or chocolate liqueur. There are all kinds of possibilites with this.

Anyway, having your birthday in the middle of the summer could be a real bummer as a kid. For people whose birthdays fell during the school year, I got to watch as they had their lockers decorated, cookies were brought in, and people chimed “Happy Birthday!” as they passed in the hall between classes. Not only that, but if they had a party planned for the weekend, it became all everyone talked about on Friday at school. When your birthday is in the summer, you don’t get any of that (although a co-worker made me brownies and decorated my office with streamers yesterday). On the bright side, I never had to go to school and I always got to go to the pool. So there. My mom always made my birthdays special so they are still special to me. She doesn’t get anymore birthdays so I will celebrate each and every one of mine for as long as I can. Now as an adult, around where I live, everyone disappears for the shore in the summer. So it’s kind of like being a kid all over again. But that’s ok, I’m used to it. Later on today, I’ll be at the shore too. Have a great weekend, everyone!

The ingredients:

Dip the rim of martini glass in chocolate syrup and coat with sea salt. Drizzle the chocolate syrup inside the martini glass.

Pour vodka and half and half into a martini shaker filled with ice.

Shake and strain into martini glasses.

Garnish with toasted marshmallows if you prefer.

Additions: None

Omissions: None

Substitutions:

Fat-free half and half

Overall Rating: Like It

Source: Three Olives website

Toasted Marshmallow Milkshake

When I was coming back from a trip to Chicago a few weeks ago, I picked up Food Network Magazine in the airport and was very excited to find a little booklet tucked inside of 50 different kinds of milkshakes. Umm…whaaaaaa? Yes, please and thank you! So I settled in my airplane seat and read every single word of every single milkshake trying to decide which one I wanted to try first. Milkshakes seem so decadent that they only time I might allow myself the guilty pleasure is once in year in March when McDonald’s offers the Shamrock Shake. With ice cream being on sale now in grocery stores, a milkshake seemed like a perfect dessert to make when it’s oh-so hot outside. This Toasted Marshmallow Milkshake did not disappoint!

Marshmallows are toasted until golden brown (or jet black if you prefer) in the broiler and blended with vanilla ice cream and milk. Using light ice cream or frozen yogurt and reduced-fat or non-fat milk will help keep calories at bay so you won’t have to feel so guilty while you slurp this creamy dessert. I can’t really explain to you just how good this milkshake is. I just can’t. There are no words. All I can say is…try it. I can’t think of a better way to cool off from the summer heat than an ice cold milkshake like this one.

Toasted Marshmallow Milkshake (makes 1 large or 2 small milkshakes)

(From Food Network Magazine)

8 marshmallows

1 pint vanilla ice cream

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

Broil marshmallows on foil, turning, until browned. Blend 1 pint vanilla ice cream, milk, vanilla, pinch of salt and 6 toasted marshmallows. Top with remaining marshmallows.

The ingredients:

Broil 8 marshmallows until desired brownness on one side and carefully flip over to brown the other side. (I broiled mine 1 1/2 minutes on the first side and 45-50 seconds on the opposite side.)

Blend vanilla ice cream, milk, vanilla extract and 6 toasted marshmallows in a blender until smooth.

Top with remaining 2 toasted marshmallows.

Additions: None

Omissions: None

Substitutions:

Light ice cream
Non-fat milk

Overall Rating: Love It

Source: Food Network Magazine

Pineapple-Mango Yogurt Smoothie

Have you ever had one of those weekends where you just had too much? Too much food? Too much drink? Too much fun? That was the weekend I had last weekend. When my friend in Florida came home to spend Father’s Day with her pop, we decided to take the opportunity to get the girls together and have some fun. From Friday afternoon until the wee hours of Sunday, we partied. And hard. I decided it was probably necessary to get something healthy in my body and pronto!

The Pineapple-Mango Yogurt Smoothie I made was both tasty and filling. Frozen pineapple and mango chunks are blended with non-fat vanilla yogurt, non-fat milk, and a little sugar. As I spent Sunday resting and relaxing, I sipped on this and felt refreshed. I liked it so much, I made another one for breakfast on Monday. What is it about smoothies that somehow just make you feel better?

Pineapple-Mango Yogurt Smoothie (makes 1 smoothie)

1 cup frozen pineapple
1 cup frozen mango
6-ounces non-fat vanilla yogurt
2 tablespoons sugar or Splenda
1/2 cup non-fat milk

Place all of the ingredients in a blender and blend on high until smooth. Add more milk if necessary to reach desired consistency. If you prefer to use fresh fruit, simply add 1 cup of crushed ice.