Chocolate Covered Candy Cane

I'm here!  

I have not forgotten all of you, I promise!  

I have been soooo busy this year it has been absolutely insane.  

I am just so glad that my year challenge was last year and not this one, because I honestly don't think I could have done it this year.  

My last post was 5 days ago (gasp), sheesh I REALLY wanted to give you guys more cocktails before Christmas this year.  

I do have an awesome amount from last year to go along with the few I made this year though.....I think that kind of makes up for it.

Merry Christmas to those of you who do celebrate this holiday.  

I think this year was the best Christmas morning (for the kids--present-wise) yet.  

Everyone was super happy with everything they got (which I totally know is not what the holiday is about, and we do teach our children that the holiday is more about getting together with family and spending quality time together.....but lets remember, they ARE still kids, lol).  

This year my husband and I are actually spending money on ourselves and he will be building us these outdoor furniture seats for our backyard.  Then we just need to pick out cushions, get a fire pit (gas not wood) and enjoy the cooler evenings......and perhaps some drinking games in the backyard for New Years....who knows ;)

I bought a box of mini candy canes a week or so ago and decided today to create some kind of cocktail with them in mind.  

I created a (husband named this one) Chocolate Covered Candy Cane and boy is it yummy!  

If you have these ingredients, you will have to try this one and report back to me and tell me what you think about it.

Here is a photo of the end result:

Here is a photo of the ingredients:

Here is the recipe for my Chocolate Covered Candy Cane:

• 1 1/2 ounces whipped vodka
• 1 1/2 ounces Godiva Chocolate Liqueur
• 3/4 peppermint schnapps
• chocolate syrup
• 1-2 crushed mini candy canes

Rim your martini glass by twirling the top in chocolate syrup and then in crushed candy canes.  Stick you glass in the freezer to help the candy canes set in the syrup better.  In a shaker, add ice and the remaining ingredients.  Shake and strain into your rimmed martini glass and enjoy!!

Here's to all of my family, friends, readers and anyone else who may stop by my blog today!  Merry Christmas, this cocktail is to you all!!

Cheers!!

The Cocktail Lady

Beauty And The Beast

Hello Hello!!  

I sure wish I could have posted more cocktails for the upcoming holiday lately.  I am not "quite" sure what happened to the few weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  

Thanksgiving came later this year, which I think screwed up a lot of us "time wise".  

I still think that there is one more week between now and Christmas, but every time I look at the calendar it tells me otherwise........huh, go figure.

I had bought a bottle of Bailey's Vanilla Cinnamon flavor a while ago and have been walking past it on the bar ever since......swearing that I would be making a cocktail with it "very soon".  

Today is FINALLY that day.  

I found today's (notice I'm not saying tonight's?  Yea it's been an INSANELY CRAZY week) recipe at parkplaceleawood and decided to try it......not to mention that Beauty and the Beast is one of my favoritest Disney movies ever!

This is a pretty yummy shooter.  

The peppermint gives you a nice bite and then the Baileys takes that bite away and coats your mouth with a wonderful taste.  

This shooter is one I would recommend you making at holiday gatherings....or regular gatherings......or just by yourself?  

Whatever works really.

Here is a photo of the end result:

Here is a photo of the ingredients:

Here is the recipe for a Beauty And The Beast:

• 1 ounce Bailey's Vanilla Cinnamon
• 1/2 ounce peppermint schnapps

In a shaker, add ice and both ingredients above.  Shake and strain into a shot glass and enjoy!

Here's to only having 5 days left until Christmas!  Yikes!!

Cheers!!

The Cocktail Lady

Mini Chocolate Candy Cane

I am still sick and more then annoyed with all of the coughing I have been doing.  

Some of my friends and I have started this 30 Day Plank Challenge.  I am on day 10 today, but I must say that all of this coughing has brought me close to not completing my daily challenge for the past couple days.  

My abs are super soar from all of the coughing, so attempting to use them to plank for more then 10 seconds.....ouch!

Today I remembered that I have some Candy Cane Sugar to rim cocktails with, so I decided to create something with to rim it with.  

Earlier I sharing my White Christmas cocktail with someone on twitter and that got me to thinking......I haven't used any of my Godiva Chocolate Liqueur in quite some time.  

I needed to solve that problem pronto!  

I surely did not want that bottle to feel left out or unloved, did I?

I rimmed, mixed, shook and poured my latest creation into a shot glass.  

YUM!!  

Smooth, easy to drink, chocolat-ey with a hint of peppermint, easy to drink (did I already mention that?).  

I'm thinking of trying it again but with the white chocolate liqueur next time!

Here is a photo of the end result:

Here is a photo of the ingredients:

Here is my recipe for a Mini Chocolate Candy Cane:

• 1 ounce Godiva Chocolate Liqueur
• 1/2 ounce peppermint schnapps
• candy cane sugar (optional)

If you have the candy cane sugar, go ahead and rim a shot glass with it, totally optional.  In a shaker, add ice and all of the ingredients above.  Shake and strain into a shot glass.

Here's to yummy, festive holiday shooters!

Cheers!!

The Cocktail Lady

Partee of Four

Partee of Four

I was sent a free product to review in exchange for my honest opinion.  All views in this post are mine and I was not compensated for them in any way.

I am an arts and crafts kind of girl.  

You wouldn't know it now-a-days as my four children have me running non-stop all........day.........long......  I "used to" have a lot of time to scrapbook (which I absolutely loved to do), when I had my first son.....oh my, every single monumental thing that would happen to him would be photographed, taped into his scrapbook along with too many stickers, decorative paper, etc.  

I LOVED IT!  

Then my second son came and I started on his book......got a good amount of pages into it and that's where it sat.  

Makes me sad.......I haven't even started on the girls (and honestly am not sure if/that I will).  

That is why I am in love with what a friend of mine, Stacey Martinez, is doing!  

She is making home made cards, invitations, thank you notes, announcements, stationary, holiday cards and more!  

She has turned her passion into her own company, Partee of Four, and I couldn't be happier for her.  

She has her own page on Facebook as well as her own Etsy shop!  I asked her to send me a couple samples of Cocktail Party Invitations (I mean what else would I ask for really??) so that I could share with you all the creative work she does.  

This is what she sent me:

Aren't they cute??

Peace Love & Cocktails........couldn't have said it better myself!

Love the green martini glass!

Of course you could run out to the store and buy an 8-pack of cards.  

Sure you could send and evite.......but how about for your next party send out something that will really catch their eye and have you guests talking?!  

Check out Stacey's creations at her Etsy shop here.  

She also wants to give the first two people who order from her Etsy shop FREE SHIPPING on your entire order!  

All you have to do is mention that you saw this review when you order and she'll ship it out to you for free!

Shot of Grinch

Hello!!  

I would have loved to have had MANY more cocktails for you since my last post......but the wintertime sickness has infected our family......once again.  

I am finally to a point to where I can taste things for real now!  

If I was to taste and blog about cocktails before today I don't think my opinion would have been valid.

Over the weekend we had a small get together with friends.  

We made some hot coffee mixed with your choice of liquor/liqueur, filled up our thermoses and headed a few cities away to walk a few blocks and check out the awesome Christmas lights!  

Each and every house was overdone (in a great way) with Christmas lights and decorations.........except for one........they call it, The Grinch House!  This house has a TON of Grinch dolls all over the place and one cage in which all of these Grinches have trapped Santa inside.  We all had a great time and the kids all LOVED it!  

I think Christmas lights are one of the few things (you know besides family, friends, and Christmas trees) during the holiday season that make me the happiest.

Anyways, we all came back and played a game I had not played before, Cards Against Humanity (thanks Marisa for bringing it).  

OMG this game was a lot of fun!  

Basically it's Apples To Apples but for adults.  

Oh the card choices are endless and some are not for young ears (good thing we put them all to bed before we started playing).  I just found out that there is like 4 expansion packs for that game too.......oh we'll be playing for quite some time!

Remembering our fun night and that Grinch house, I decided to create a shot dedicated to that house, I call it Shot of Grinch.  

It's pretty good!  

Nothing in that shot makes you squinch up your face, it actually has a pretty smooth taste and leaves a nice aftertaste in your mouth as well. 

Here is a photo of the end result:

Here is a photo of the ingredients:

Here is my recipe for a Shot of Grinch:

• 1 ounce Midori
• 1/2 ounce citrus vodka
• 1/2 teaspoon simple syrup

In a shaker, add ice and all of the ingredients above.  Shake and strain into a shot glass.

Fingers crossed that we get rid of this sickness once and for all and can enjoy the rest of the holiday season!

Cheers!!

The Cocktail Lady

Egg Balls

We are officially into our third day of December and what exactly does that mean?  

Bring on the winter cocktails!!  

One of my best friends Natty is coming up on Friday (the one to introduced me to Angry Balls) and she loves Fireball Whisky (link to my Fireball cocktails).  

This inspired me to create tonight's cocktail.  

I have seen a similar cocktail made by Fireball.......but honestly I was a little scared to make it, so I created my own, not-so-potent version and slapped it with a fun name.  

Hence, Egg Balls was born!

I can not do eggnog by itself, nor can I do Fireball Whisky by itself either........but combining the two?  

Who'd have thunk it?  

I am enjoying this cocktail quite well, and I have a feeling that if I get the nerve to make Fireballs cocktail called Firenog (which I think Natty will make us try this weekend), I "might" enjoy it as well?  

Time will tell. 

Anyways this cocktail is not overwhelming in either the eggnog or the Fireball department, it's a nice subtle blend of both in my eyes.  

Hope you like it!

Here is a photo of the end result:

Here is a photo of the ingredients:

Here is my recipe for an Egg Balls:

• 1 1/2 ounces eggnog
• 1 1/2 ounces Fireball Whisky

In a shaker, add ice and all of the ingredients above.  Shake and dump eveything into a cocktail glass and enjoy!

Here's to the start of the winter holiday cocktails!  I am looking forward to them all!

Cheers!!

The Cocktail Lady

Thanksgiving Round Up

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!  

Our oldest did not have school today......yet had Basketball practice at 7:30 this morning.  

Our second oldest only had a half day of school.....woot woot!!  

We are officially on Thanksgiving break and I couldn't be happier!  

From here on out we have nothing but FUN stuff planned.  

From family to friend get togethers, to walking through neighborhoods filled with Christmas lights while sipping our hot beverages.  

We have planned to take all four kids to the movies to see the new movie Frozen sometime in the near future.  

This will be our girls Very First Time EVER going to a movie theater.......I just need to get our oldest daughter to STOP ASKING QUESTIONS EVERY FIVE MINUTES when we watch a movie at home first, then we can bring her to the movie theaters, ha.

With Thanksgiving being tomorrow (still in denial, but totally excited that it is here), I wanted to give you a short but sweet round up of Thanksgiving cocktails to try.  

Here they are:

1.  Butterball

2.  Pumpkin Pie Martini

3.  Kinky Thanksgiving

4.  Thanksgiving Cider

5.  Thanksgiving Cocktail

6.  Maple Syrup

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving filled with love and laughter........not to mention good food and cocktails!!

Cheers!!

The Cocktail Lady

Arctic Chill Muddler

**Some links in this post are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you follow the link and make a purchase.

Arctic Chill Muddler

I was contacted by Arctic Chill and asked if I would like to review their Arctic Chill Muddler **.  They sent me this for free so that I would give an honest review on this item.  All views are my own.  I was not compensated for them in any way.


I own a wooden muddler (haven't used it yet) and never thought of a muddler being anything but wood, let alone stainless steel with a nylon head.  


When I received the initial email and it said "It's way better than your traditional wooden muddler as these can often start to degrade and leave residue in your cocktails" I thought, EEEWWWW!  


It had never crossed my mind that a wooden muddler could/would do that over time.....but of course it could and that does NOT sound appealing at all.

I recently used this muddler to make my mojito and I must say that the smooth stainless steel grip on this muddler is nice.  


It has a nice sleek design and I like that the nylon head is not smooth like my wooden muddler, but is grooved which helps in breaking apart the leaves or fruit you are trying to muddle.  

Here is a close up of what the Arctic Chill ** muddler looks like:

If you are in the market for a muddler, I would say that this is a good muddler to purchase.  Did I mention that it comes with a lifetime guarantee?

Thank You Rizzi for sending me this amazing muddler!!

I think this would be a great gift ** idea for a cocktail enthusiast on your holiday list!

Cheers!

The Cocktail Lady

**Some links in this post are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you follow the link and make a purchase.

Mojito

The Monday of Thanksgiving week is finally here......or should I say, "Is it here ALREADY?!?!".  


This year we are heading to my uncles for Thanksgiving and we are bringing vegetables (trying out a new recipe tonight to see if it's a winner for Turkey Day).  The next day we are doing to my Mother-in-laws house to celebrate Thanksgiving with her and and my Sister-in-law and our nieces and nephew.  


We are bringing my mashed potatoes (awesome recipe, email me if you want it!!) and our artichoke dip.....oh and our deep fryer so that we can deep fry the turkey!  


Honestly I love splitting up Thanksgiving into two days, it gives us quality time with each side of the family and we don't have that "rushed" feeling of having to be somewhere else.

I received a muddler in the mail from Arctic Chill (stay tuned for a review coming up shortly) and decided what better way put it to use then to make a Mojito.......plus it was the only muddled cocktail I could think of off the top of my head.

I have had a mojito before.......wasn't a big fan.  


I have tried a raspberry mojito quite a few years back and remember liking it though......so maybe I need a flavor in my mojito for me to really enjoy it.  


I was on a mission to find a mojito recipe......wow there are quite a few different ones out there so I decided to have a go at it myself.  


I made one......didn't like it.......dumped it.  


I made another one and thought it was OK.  


Then I put it aside and started doing a couple things, sat back down here to blog about it, tried it again and I have to say now that it has been sitting here for a little bit (getting a "little" watered down by the ice), it's not bad!  I like it more now.

Here is a photo of the end result:

Here is a photo of the ingredients:

Here is my recipe for a mojito:

• 4 mint leaves
• 2 lime wedges
• 1/2 ounce simple syrup
• 1 1/2 ounces white rum
• 1 ounce club soda

In a cocktail glass, drop in your 4 mint leaves and 1 of your lime wedges.  Muddle them up well.  Next put in the simple syrup and muddle that all together again.  Pour in the rum and stir everything together then fill the glass with ice.  Top it off with the club soda and give it a quick stir.

Here is to a new muddler and a mojito!

Cheers!!

The Cocktail Lady