The Fresh Prince Special

It's the summa time

Summa, summa, summa time

Time to sit back and unwind

Just cleaned my porch and am AMPED about some summertime cocktails! Here's a twist on an old classic (I assume... I mean, it's simple enough). The fresh basil in this cocktail pulls the sweetness together so well you'll be sitting and sipping in your rocking chair, hollering at the honeys and flowing through every Fresh Prince lyric you never even knew you had in you. 

2 oz. coconut rum

1 oz. amaretto

2 oz. pineapple juice

1 oz. mango nectar

3 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped

Combine all ingredients and shake with 3 ice cubes. Strain and pour. Garnish with a three-grape spear.

Best served on the porch, obviously.

Sweet and Crunchy Spiced Ice Cream Sundae

IT'S NATIONAL ICE CREAM DAY.

Two holiday posts in a row?????? What the?

I confess, I have been indulging in more than my fair share of Mexican restaurant guacamole and Indian buffets and Mellow Mushroom pizza and awful Panera salads lately. Why? Because my oven is broken. Tragic, I know.

This explains the lack of posting lately. However, I was able to throw together this decadent dish just in time for National Ice Cream Day, which I was reminded of thanks to my NPR wall calendar.

This dish was perfectly sweet and refreshing, perfect for a summer night if you're feeling hot to trot. It's prettty simple but also unusual enough to impress the dude you met up at the bar tonight who, turns out, is into bikes too but has never read any Kurt Vonnegut for some reason. For example.

While he's gulping down the PBR you offered him, gather this stuff (it will serve 2):

soy ice cream - vanilla
1 peach
1 Cup pistachios, shelled and chopped (he can probably help with this part)
1 Cup cinnamon apple Cheerios (or other cinnamon-y vegan cereal)
1 Tbl pure maple syrup
1 Tbl Earth Balance
6 creme filled cookies (I used Newman's Own Ginger-O's. Not only are Ginger-O's vegan, they are also intelligently portioned, incredibly delicious and not-outrageously expensive at around $3 a pack)

So after he has finished shelling and chopping the pistachios, have the boy you picked up slice the peach up. Meanwhile, heat the maple syrup and Earth Balance in a small pan over medium low heat. Meanwhile, crush the Cheerios in a bowl with the end of a skinny glass (or you could throw them in a Ziplock bag and pound them with your fist or head). When your Earth Balance and maple syrup are completely melted and runny, throw the pistachios in and stir constantly - these will get sticky as hell pretty quick.

As soon as all the pistachios are evenly coated, stir in the crushed cereal. Stir for about a half minute and remove from heat.

Now it's time to build your ice cream! Hell yeah! Place three cookies on the bottom of your bowl, scoop 3 dollops (or heck if it's Saturday, why not FIVE?!) of vanilla ice cream on top. Lay the peach slices around the ice cream, then top with the pistachio-cereal mix. Garnish with cinnamon and enjoy with a spiked cup of coffee!

Here's to the holiday! Cheers!

Green Breakfast Balls with Sweet Banana Sauce

I literally just burned the roof of my mouth because I ate one of these, decided it was worth it, and ate two more before they cooled. I think there's an AA for that, yes?

You may have heard me whine about never getting to make breakfast (yes, you, the one person who reads my blog), because I work at 5am. WELL GUYS today I had the morning off so I made a little somethin somethin. These balls are magic and I ate nearly all of them (using the old oh-it's-fine-I'm-going-on-a-run-later excuse). They take little preparation, and the long baking time is good for reading poems or walking to your local coffee shop for some spro.

This is how we do it: (#MontellJordan)

1 C chopped spinach
1/2 C chopped walnuts
1/2 C dried apricots, chopped
3/4 C (or just literally a handful) pitted dates
1 T dried coconut shreds
1 T natural creamy peanut butter
1/2 C flax meal (or ground flax seeds)

Preheat your oven to 350.

Toss the spinach and walnuts in your food processor and pulse a dozen times until crumbly. Then toss in the apricots, dates and coconut and pulse again until well mixed. Next add the peanut butter and pulse a few more times until it's all one cohesive good mess of green and brown.

Now it's time to roll! Throw some flax meal into a small bowl for coating. Scoop out a small handful of your spinach/nut/fruit mixture, roll into a ball, and toss in the flax meal until fully coated. Do this until your're out of spinach/nut/fruit mixture, then bake at 350 for 35 minutes (remember to let these cool!!!). This might make about 8 bigger balls or 12 small ones.

So many innuendos available here. You're welcome for avoiding them.

While my balls were baking (seriously), I threw together a sauce. Easy peasy:

1/2 banana
1/2 T honey
1 tsp pure maple syrup

Mash the banana with a fork, then whisk in the sweeteners until runny and relatively smooth. This is a delicious addition to the balls, but they are sweet in and of themselves so it's not totally necessary.