HAPPY FALL! IT'S PUMPKIN TIME!

Fuggles the rabbit would like to remind you that TODAY is the Autumnal Equinox and the official first day of Fall. NOW it's PUMPKIN SPICE SEASON.

DAILY KICKOFF SMOOTHIE!

My average daily kickoff smoothie: Fresh Coffee cooled by Coffee Cubes, a splash of Cashew Milk, a handful of Frozen Banana Chunks, Organic Chocolate Flavored Hemp Protein Powder, and today... Frozen Raspberries... all blended to perfection.

WATERMELON RUM SLUSH

So... I put 1/4 fresh Watermelon, a few ice cubes, and Malibu in a blender...

TEA JOURNAL | RUM & CHAIDER

TEA JOURNAL | RUM & CHAIDER:  Once upon a time a few year's back, I was visiting friends at a cute little pub in a cute little New York town.  On the bar of that cute little pub in the cute little town was a great big slow cooker filled with spiced apple cider... which they served to us warm and wonderful with a special twist... RUM.  (My favorite!)  Now that is fine and wonderful and delicious and perfectly excellent on a cold night all on its own, but let's take it up a notch, shall we?  For this we need another short tale... Once upon a Fall afternoon, I stumbled upon sweet and fancy little tea shop in Boston and was offered my first taste of Chai tea (something I had otherwise been avoiding due to the intensity of the flavor and my inclination toward green tea) steeped in... you guessed it... hot apple cider.  So let's take these two brilliant ideas and throw them together in a cute little pink teapot and enjoy kicking back in our cozies on a cold and snowy day, now shall we?

TEA JOURNAL | DAVIDsTEA | MINT CHOCOLATE ROOIBOS

DAVIDsTEA | MINT CHOCOLATE ROOIBOS

South African rooibos, peppermint, chocolate, cocoa, natural and artificial chocolate mint flavouring.

TEA JOURNAL | DAVIDsTEA | YELLOW DRAGON

DAVIDsTEA | YELLOW DRAGON

Oolong tea, lemongrass, peppermint

TEA JOURNAL | DAVIDsTEA | LOVE TEA #7

DAVIDsTEA | LOVE TEA #7

Chinese Black Tea with Dark Chocolate, Strawberries, Red Rose Petals, & Flavorings

HIPPIE JUICE JELLO SHOTS!

ORIGINAL RECIPE -  HIPPIE JUICE JELLO SHOTS

So, it's New Year's Eve and 2010 is turning into 2011.  I have been recruited to make all sort of scrumptious appetizers accompanied by an enormous party-sized batch of my now infamous Hippie Juice for a friend's NYE get-together and a strong request was made for jello shots.

I was already preparing my signature Raspberry Jello with Watermelon Vodka Shots using a ratio passed down to me for perfection: 2c (JELLO) : 4c (HOT H20) : 2c (COLD H20) : 2c (LIQUOR) when I came up with the idea to utilize the surplus of Hippie Juice leftovers to develop a new shot recipe... I settled on Berry Blue Jello and began the merriment of mixology.

THIS WAS THE RESULT:

• 2 Large (8 Serving) Packages of Berry Blue Jello
• 4 Cups Boiling Water
• 1 3/4 Cups Cold Water
• 1 1/4 Cups Smirnoff Watermelon Vodka
• 1/2 Cup Malibu Coconut Rum
• 1/2 Cup Triple Sec

"PRETEND IT IS LAST MINUTE ON NYE 2010" PREP:
Get yourself a 4 cup measuring cup.  It will make your life easier.  While you're at it, make sure that you have tons of those little rinsing cups they use at the dentist handy.  Next, make several shelves worth the room in your fridge... and freezer.

• Pour 1/2 Cup Malibu Coconut Rum into your measuring cup.
• Add 1/2 Cup Triple Sec into your measuring cup.
• Plus 1 1/4 Cups Smirnoff Watermelon Vodka.
• Top this off with 1 3/4 Cups of fresh, clean water.
• Refrigerate until you can honestly say that the mixture's adequately "chilled."  (You'll know)
• While you're waiting for the mixture to chill, set up your little dixie cups in a big tray so they don't spill all over the place when you move them.

GO CHILL WHILE THE MIXTURE CHILLS.

• They'll be chilling for a few hours.
• Bring 2 Cups of water to a boil.
• Turn off the flame and move the pot to a cool burner.
• Add 2 (8 Serving) Packages of Berry Blue Jello to your pot of boiling water.
• Stir for about 2 minutes as the powder dissolves.
• Once dissolved, stir in all 4 cups of your cold mixture.
• Enough mixing!  Divvy up your liquid jello into the dixie cups, filling them 3/4 way.  I suggest using a ladle and holding a funnel over each cup so you don't make a blue mess of your counter... or floor.
• Carefully move the tray of liquid jello-filled cups into your refrigerator.
• Let those bad boys cool and solidify for at least 4 hours.
• Then move them into the freezer for a short time because the alcohol probably hindered their ability to solidify properly... by a short time, I mean an hour tops.
• Put them back in the refrigerator once you know they're solid.
• Share with friends!

HIPPIE JUICE - THE ORIGINAL RECIPE

HIPPIE JUICE - THE ORIGINAL RECIPE (2010)

Once upon a time in the Summer of 2010, a joyous gathering of assorted performers and costumed companions inspired the name of a concoction now known as "Hippie Juice" when a recycled container filled with pink lemonade perfection was shared and enthusiastically enjoyed at a surprise dance party on an island during a sunshower.  There were hula hoops, streamers, and instruments of musical merriment at our annual gathering celebrating life, costumes, and colorful creativity.  We paraded and danced until the sun set and it was a beautiful time to be alive in New York City.

The recipe itself was developed entirely by chance.  I'd hosted a birthday party for a friend the night before and discovered a collection of primarily empty bottles of assorted liquors left on the counter, a donation to the house.

There was quite a bit of watermelon vodka and pink lemonade mix from the vodka lemonades, a tiny bit of Malibu left from the bay breezes, and an equally tiny bit of triple sec.  I decided to measure these out and funnel them into a recycled orange juice bottle by smell, adding some of the pink lemonade mix and filling the remaining space with water until it reached the top.  I added a few slices of strawberry for good measure that had been left over from the birthday cake I made the day before.  The result was surprisingly good and incredibly sweet.

The recipe I came up with was simple:

Ingredients:
- Water
- Country Time Pink Lemonade Mix
- Fresh Strawberries
- Smirnoff Watermelon Vodka
- Triple Sec
- Malibu Coconut Rum

Supplies:
- Simply Brand (Apple, Orange, Etc.) Juice Container (59 oz carafe) or equivalent
- Measuring Cup
- Funnel
- Knife
- Cutting Board



Easy Prep:
Carefully wash out your Simply brand Juice Container.  Then use the funnel to neatly pour 4 scoops of Country Time Pink Lemonade into the container.  Next, measure out 1 cup of Smirnoff brand Watermelon Vodka, 1/3 cup Triple Sec, and 1/3 cup Malibu Coconut Rum into a measuring cup and use the funnel to add your mixture.  Using cold water, fill the rest of the container up to the base of the neck.  Rinse 4 strawberries and cut straight across with a knife to remove the stem.  Then place the strawberries upside down on the cutting board and slice evenly into 4 pieces using two motions forming a cross.  Drop the strawberries in, add water to the top, cap and shake gently to mix.  Refrigerate and voila! Hippie Juice!

Serves 4-8 depending on cup size.


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Friends loved this drink so much that they asked me to convert it into a jello shot recipe... and the rest is history.

RECIPE COPYRIGHT © PEACE LOVE GUACAMOLE 2010-2025.