Summertime Fruit Spritzers: Vacation Every Day with Palm Breeze

You wouldn't guess it by this goofy Illinois weather, but summertime is here. One of the best parts of summer is hosting friends on our back covered deck. We have the perfect outdoor space and we make good use of it. It's especially great this year, because with Ben...we sure need a breather and a chance to relax in the evenings! We won't be going on vacation this year with our new little one. But we still need to unwind.

My favorite way to relax is on the back deck--with a cocktail in my hand.

I have a few go-to drinks for this summer. Palm Breeze is a brand new drink perfect for mixing--and pretending like you are on a tropical island without a care in the world. It's flavored malt beverage (FMB). Which basically means it’s an alcoholic drink made with a malt base, kind of like beer. They created it with women as their target customers!

I found it at my local liquor store; sold by the case, or just by the can. I chose to purchase the cans individually so I could try both flavors. Palm Breeze comes in Ruby Red Citrus and Pineapple Mandarin Orange. Each can was just over a buck a piece. Since I planned to make mixed cocktails with them...that's less than a buck a drink. Delicious...and easy on my wallet.

I created 2 different drinks. I wanted to keep them both easy...I have a baby...ain't nobody got time for making fancy drinks with 10 different mixers.

Ruby Red Fruit Spritzer serves 4

• Palm Breeze Ruby Red Citrus (two cans)
• 34 oz Tonic water 
• Handful of fresh strawberries, sliced (even better if they are from your own garden!)

Muddled Pineapple Spritzer serves 2

• Palm Breeze Pineapple Mandarin Orange (two cans)
• Pineapple chunks muddled
• Ice

They were both simple to make, inexpensive, and yummy. This beverage is for those who are: spontaneous, carefree, confident, social & stylish; loves to spend her free time hanging with her girlfriends; loves to travel, enjoys outdoor activities and tries to soak up the sun!
I will be enjoying a few more of these this summer....all the while dreaming up my next vacation. Happy Summer!

P.S. If you are in a big city check out the Palm Breeze Bar Events near you!

• San Diego
• DC
• Austin
• Dallas

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

PB2 is Heaven Sent & a Smoothie Recipe

I have to thank my sister Eliza for this find. I am a peanut butter girl. I love all things with peanut butter.
All the deserts with peanut butter, smoothies, milkshakes, candy, peanut butter sauces for noodles and chicken...everything peanut butter is good in my book. Even celery with peanut butter...and raisins too of course. You have to have the ants on the log.

However, being a PB lover...the ~diet~ peanut butter is unacceptable.
Gross. Disgusting. I can't believe people eat that crap.

So when my sister told me about the PB2...a jar of powder that is a substitute for peanut butter. I told her that sounded sick and we needed to talk about something else.
Then she gifted me a jar. I tried it...
I'm sorry Liza. I'm sorry for all the mean things I said about PB2. I thought it was another fake disgusting diet peanut butter substitute. I take it all back. It is none of these things.

Source

It is heaven sent. It's amazing and fabulous and I can't stop telling people about it. Now, I have not used it as peanut butter on a PBJ sandwich. I don't think I would even TRY that because I love the rich creamy real stuff. But for baking, smoothies, or even mixed in with a few spoonfuls of fat free cool whip....yum.

I use it mostly in smoothies. Because I am the proud owner of a kick-butt Vitamix and I cannot get enough smoothies.

The Vitamix is the queen of all blenders.

PB2 is more than just taste. It's better for you too. PB2 claims to have 85% less fat calories than regular peanut butter. I'm not exactly dieting right now since I'm currently 9 months pregnant with little babyN. However, it never hurts to love healthy foods.

I found this chart on their website:

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Oh and that is not all. There is a bonus. PB2's beautiful cousin PB2 With Premium Chocolate is also a beautiful jar of delicious peanut buttery chocolate without feeling guilty. I just purchased this baby this week. I will say...it's REALLY damn good in a banana smoothie. Without the guilt. Buy this. Get the two pack.

source

It's not even expensive either. It was about 5 bucks at my local grocery store..and it's even cheaper on Amazon if you buy BOTH at once. Do it. Buy them. Buy it in bulk. You will thank me.

Try this smoothie, it's made almost daily at my house.

I found more recipes at PB2's website. I'm definitely going to try making a desert with it! PB2 Recipes

Have you tried PB2? 
Any other peanut butter fanatics out there?  All this peanut butter talk...I think I need a Reese's PB V-DAY heart a.s.a.p.


P.S. I was NOT compensated in any way for this post. The people at PB2 have no idea I exist.. I just wanted to share my new favorite product with you!

Summertime Kabobs ((perfectly paired with CK Mondavi Wines!))

Summer food is my favorite part of summer. If I were a teacher, lounging in the pool would probably be the best part, also if I had a pool. But I did not pick the right line of work---I am not a teacher. I don't have a pool either. So, food it is. Food; the best part of summer.

Summer always makes me think of grilling out, fresh veggies from the garden, wine, ice cream, strawberries, wine...did I say wine already?

Today I'm sharing a delicious marinade we put on our summertime kabobs. But it's so yummy and scrumptious, you will probably want to brush it on all of your favorite grillin' foods.

Ingredients:

Chicken Breast &/or Pork Sausage

Bacon
Green Apples

Red, Yellow, & Orange sweet Peppers
Kabob sticks

Marinade:
Apple Cider Vinegar 1/4 cup

Brown Sugar 1/4 cup
Olive Oil 2 tablespoons

Soy Sauce 1 tablespoon
Honey 2 tablespoons

I pretty much threw together what we had in the fridge for the kabobs. Pork sausage, chicken breast--with bacon wrapped around the chicken. We are serious about our pork in this house. I stuck a few green apples on there too. They were great with the sweet peppers!

We brushed on the marinade right before we put them in the oven. It was rainy the day we cooked this meal, so we decided to cook them in the oven. It was not a mistake.

Ready for cookin'!

Perfect summertime meal. Wine & kabobs.

I think they'll be great on the grill too this summer! I made a quick (pinnable!) recipe card so you can add it to your summer party food pinboards!

Ck Mondavi wines was nice enough to send us 4 of their wines to pair with our favorite summer recipe!

Sometimes, it pays (in wine) to be a blogger!

This treat made the kabobs 1,000x better. Honestly, wine makes everything better!

Their brand new Blonde Five was my favorite and reminded me of summer the most! I could have finished the entire bottle on my own.  It’s light and airy with a hint of pear and honeysuckle.

CK Mondavi Blonde Five recommends accompanying spicy chicken dishes, shrimp, and mild cheeses. I was smart to pair my bottle of the Blonde five with a chicken dish…and I have to agree with them!

I can’t wait to try the other white wine CK Mondavi offered me. They say to try it with roasted chicken and pastas. I’m a pasta girl, so this one will be next on the menu!

Adam is more of a red wine dude. He tried the Cabernet Sauvignon first. This one is a classic red, perfect for a chicken kabob dinner. It boasts a strong cherry & blackberry flavor with a hint of oak.

My new go-to wine is CK Mondavi. Yours should be too, here's why:

• CK Mondavi is the only American made/grown wine in the “supermarket wine under $10” category.
• CK Mondavi Winery is a family owned and operated business. Made in America!
• CK Mondavi is the only wine in this price point to be 100% American made & grown
• The perfect wine to serve on Independence Day: They participate in the Intrepid Fallen Heros fund a percentage of their sales goes to supporting Veterans! #CKMondaviHeroes
• BONUS fun fact: Owner Marc Mondavi was born on the 4th of July and 2014 marks his 60th birthday!

CK Mondavi wine can be purchased in every state! Pick it up for this year's fourth of July party! Don't forget to make it with your favorite summer recipe! What will you make?

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Dare to Entertain: Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Dates

We love to entertain. Especially during the holidays. We usually host a winder cocktail party and we always try to make the drinks & food menu fit the dress code.

I can only give credit to my mother for introducing me to these "fancy" appetizers.
They sound fancy, they look fancy, they taste fancy. But they're actually pretty easy to make.

I'm going to share the recipe so you too can make your guests think you are a fancy-pants host.

Ingredients

pitted dates

Bacon

crumbled blue cheese

balsamic glaze

toothpicks

gather your ingredients

Directions
Stuff your dates with blue cheese. Make them really cheesy. Squeeze them shut.
Wrap your dates with the bacon. 
Secure with toothpick.
Drizzle the balsamic glaze over the wrapped dates.
Cook on 350 degrees until the bacon is nice and crisp. (Mine cooked about 15 minutes.)

Serve. Be fancy. 

Ready to be wrapped in bacon.

Stuffed dates. Best when paired with a equally fancy cocktail.

Sharing this on the Dare to DIY link party @ Maybe Matilda

Recipes: Pumpkin Fluff Frozen Treats!

Who else craves ice cream treats still in October? 
Well, I tell ya what. When it’s 80 degrees in southern Illinois in the middle of October... (what is happening weather??) frozen treats do not sound bad at all. Pumpkin frozen treats? Right up my alley.

You have probably all seen the “pumpkin fluff dip” recipes all over Pinterest. Have you tried it? It’s delicious. But, it gets better!
I used a version of that to create my own Fall pumpkin treats--FROZEN!

Frozen pumpkin fall treats, everything but the graham crackers!

Pumpkin Fluff Frozen Treats
1 large container frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 package instant vanilla pudding mix (5 ounce)
1 large can pumpkin
1 package of cream cheese softened
2 tsp cinnamon
Graham crackers (honey or cinnamon!)

So easy directions:

• Grab a big bowl and a spoon.
• Mix together the pumpkin, pudding mix, cinnamon &
• cream cheese first. I used a little hand mixer, but not necessary.
• Fold in the whipped topping.
• Take your graham crackers and plop a big scoop of
• pumpkin fluff in between and make a sandwich.
• Freeze overnight.
• Eat.

ready for the freezer!

Pumpkin Fluff Frozen treats!

There is your delicious pumpkin “ice cream” treat.

And, bonus, you can use all low fat and sugar free versions and it will be a lot healthier than ice cream too!

PPPPPSSSSSSSTTTTT...See my other Pumpkin Parade post (My first Fall vignette included!) Here!

Some cute ladies in blogland are having a pumpkin parade! Linking up!
 Shift Ctrl Art, Primitive & Proper, Decor and the Dog, A Little Bite of Everything, A Swell Place to Dwell, NewlyWoodwards, Boxy Colonial, Wills Casa, Cuckoo4Design, Bliss At Home, Go Haus Go, Interiors by Kenz

What is your favorite fall treat?

Do you ever crave ice cream in Fall and Winter?

Recipe: RED HOT Slow Cooker Applesauce

One of the simplest and yummiest fall recipes ever today! Homemade crockpot applesauce, with a twist!

Ingredients

Approx. 15 small green apples

1/3 cup of stevia/sugar
1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/2 cup red hot candies
Crock pot

• Start by cutting your apples from the core. You can use any kind of apples you like. I’ve seen people use red, but I used green apples. They are the best. TIP: The best ones to get are preferably picked from an apple tree you planted as a 6 year old, but I know most people don’t plan that far ahead like me… 
• You don’t even have to peel them. I didn't. I don’t have an apple peeler/corer. So I just roll with it. 
• Cut your apples & throw in crock pot.
• Mix your sugar/sweetener and cinnamon in one container, then sprinkle it over the mound of apples.
• Pour your ½ cup of water over the apples.
• Cook on low for about 8 hours, or on high for 4 hours. 
• Stir about halfway through and do some mushing with a potato masher. Cook some more.
• When it’s about finished the apples will be brownish and smell amazing, dump in your red hot candies. Stir until melted and blended. If you like a little extra pizzaz add a whole cup!

Serve. I like mine warm, but you can cool yours in the fridge and even freeze it if you like.  It turned out better than I thought. Easy, delicious. 

Step 1, clean and cut apples.

Step 2, add ingredients then slow cook!

After 7 hours of slow cookin'...Ready for the red hots!

Yum, there you have it. 

Adam complained that I should have made him and his friend a pie... Men.

Have you ever made homemade applesauce?
Did your mom used to put red hots in your applesauce as a kid?

Recipe: Spinach Dip and #GiantFlavor Chips

A week or so ago I hosted a craft night with a friend. We both made a snack to keep our crafting energy up. I had the opportunity to try something brand new with one of my favorite recipes.

I made my favorite spinach dip and served it with the new Green Giant Veggie chips. Green Giant was nice enough to send us Roasted Veggie Tortilla Chip in Garden Ranch and Multigrain Sweet Potato Chip in Barbecue to try out.

Giant Flavor is right!

So here is the skinny on these chips. They are made with real vegetables. They boast 40% less fat than regular potato chips, and only 120 calories per serving for the Sweet Potato Barbecue, with only 10 more calories per serving for the Garden Ranch. Each serving is about 16 chips. That's plenty, these babies fill you up. 

Taste test results:

I tried to The Garden Ranch flavor first because I assumed I would like the most. I thought this one would go best paired with the spinach dip. I was right, they were good. They had a tangy veggie taste, not too salty. No overwhelming ranch flavor. Perfect amount of crunch.  And another important chip test; they were strong enough for dipping. I was able to load up my chips with my delicious dip.

The barbecue was a different story. Although anything with sweet potato is a go in my book...barbecue flavored food is not usually for this girl. I was not interested in trying these at first. These were more up my husband, Adam's alley. He is a barbecue everything sort of man.
Although he begged me to let him open the bag when he saw them sitting on the counter...I insisted he had to wait for the taste testing! To my surprise--I liked the Sweet Potato Barbecue more than the Garden Ranch! They were a sweet, not too smoky, perfect amount of flavor. And much like the Garden Ranch flavor, dip-able! Very important quality for a chip in this house!

Green Giant Garden Ranch and Spinach dip

Overall, I would buy both flavors again. Especially since they are healthier than other chips, but just as tasty…if not better. The only request I would have would be a larger bag, it seems the bags are a little smaller than other bags of chips when I browsed the chip aisle. But on the other hand, my grocery store was selling them for $1.99 a bag, which to me is a fair price. 
I paired the chips with my favorite dip, but I would also munch on these without a dip or salsa. In fact, the few chips that were leftover from craft night, went with me to work the next day for my healthy afternoon snack. 

And now for the recipe for my favorite spinach dip. Seriously, it’s the best. Try it! And you will not be dissapointed if you pair it with these Green Giant chips!

Best Spinach Dip Ever*

Ingredients

• 1 package (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach, cooked, cooled & squeezed dry
• 1 container (16 oz) sour cream
• 1 c mayo
• 1 package dry vegetable soup mix
• 1 can (8 oz) water chestnuts, drained and chopped

Directions

Combine all ingredients and chill for at least two hours. Best if chilled overnight!
Serve with Green Giant chips or sweet bread

Try this recipe!

*Credit goes to Seth for spinach dip recipe. He is the spinach dip saint that introduced me to this spinach heaven. I did not make it up. 

Try this on your next craft night, girls night, movie night.You will only be crabby with yourself for not getting more bags of chips and making a double batch of dip! Yum.

See what we made on our craft night here.
Do you have a go-to dip you make for every event?


I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Recipe: Baked Peaches & (ice) Cream

Today I will share with you a fruit and ice cream treat Adam and I tried. I can't take all the credit, this recipe was inspired* by my friend Lora. I changed it up a little.

*I say inspired because her recipe did not include all the butter..or ice cream, or honey either....but health shmealthy right? This is still much healthier than my usual choice of ice cream treat covered in chocolate...

Baked Peaches & (ice) Cream

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Then, gather your ingredients. 

Fresh peaches, butter, honey, brown sugar, and vanilla ice cream. (not pictured)

Cut your peaches in half and throw the pit out. Eat the half of the peach that doesn't have the hole from the pit. I suppose you could use that in the recipe too, but I say you should eat it....because I was starving.

Couldn't resist a bite...

Put your halved peaches in a casserole dish.

Add a dollop of butter to each peach. Yes, a big old dollop. Remember, I told you this was not the healthy recipe. Plus, it just looks like a huge chunk, these are tiny peaches!

Sprinkle brown sugar, and drizzle a a smidge of honey over the buttered up peaches.

Now, they are ready to bake.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes, until your butter is melted and bubbling a little over the peaches. They will be hot, and soft.

Scoop in your vanilla ice cream, add another drizzle of honey and enjoy the melty ice cream & peaches goodness.

I'm talking, really good stuff.

Ingredients

Fresh peaches

Butter 

Brown Sugar 

Honey 

Vanilla Ice Cream 

Directions

Wash & cut your peaches in half. 

Remove pits.

Add a teaspoon-ish of butter, sprinkle of brown sugar, drizzle of honey.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, until butter is bubbling.

Remove from oven, add ice cream.

Eat!

Have you tried warming your peaches or any other fruits before?

Any other yummy ice cream treat recipes I should try?

A Dr. Seuss Baby Shower for TWINS!

My sister-in-law and her husband are expecting. Not just one baby...oh no... TWO babies.

This past Sunday I co-hosted a baby shower with my Mother-in-Law in their honor.
She requested Dr. Seuss, specifically "Thing 1 & Thing 2" as the baby shower theme. So we took it and ran.

(If I were a super fab blogger I would make everything rhyme...but...)

Thing 1 Thing 2 cupcakes!

The top tier actually has cotton candy on it to match the hair of Thing1&2.  We cut out the little "Thing 1" & "Thing 2" and just stuck them on the cake wrappers with tape.
The others have the jelly lifesavers and marshmallows stacked to create a Cat in the Hat hat! Both sets of cupcakes are made with cotton candy flavored frosting.

bezelnut punch!

The paper straws were from amazon. Secret: it's just sprite with jello jigglers dropped in!


Mini Cherry Cheesecakes.

Cat in the Hat Parfaits

My mother-in-law made these two sets of onesies for the kiddos.

We strung them up with a boa from the dollar tree. 

And of course.

 Green eggs and ham.

Red and blue was easy to find especially so close to Memorial day.

the spread.

We also had candy green eggs and ham. These were just made with pretzels, almond bark, and a green m&m. Easy.

These skewers were simple too...

Fresh strawberries, marshmallows, and blueberries sprinkled on top for color.

And of course, the cake!

 We ordered it from a local cake lady, and it turned out adorable.


And the cutest and sweetest pregnant lady you ever did see...

!!!

We had so much fun throwing this for her and the babies, now we can't wait to meet them in a few months!

Have you ever hosted a themed baby shower? 
Are you sad this entire post didn't rhyme?