Yeah, here I am old as all get out and whowouldathunk that I have never had a bloody mary. To me, the idea of tomatoes and alcohol was a bit of a turn off. I mean, really? And I won't mention that one time my friend bought me a bottle of black pepper vodka so that I could try bloody marys and it sat and sat and sat in the cabinet until I finally threw it out 3 years later. It was just not something I could imagine drinking.

So one day, I was walking in my favorite store ever, Kroger (swoon), and they always have amazing samples at the cheese counter. This particular day, there was not the usual gourmet cracker paired with some delicate and stinky delicious cheese, it was a small cup with some tomato looking juice in it and a green bean. Yeah. A green bean. It was that green bean that caught my eye. I grab a cup and take a  bite of the green bean. Ohhhhhh, a pickled green bean! Then I took a swig. Oh some deliciously dill tomato-y concoction that was sorta spicy. It was delicious. One of the best things I have tasted.



It was McClure's Bloody Mary mix and  a Rick's Mean Green Bean (at 13 bucks a jar locally, they are online much cheaper).  Yes, lawd. Yes. I was so good.



I bought two jars of the mix, a jar of the green beans.

I chose not to add alcohol to my Bloody Mary because still, the thought kind of does not sit well with me but if it is your thing, you have got to try this mix.

I topped mine with a slab of beef jerky, pickled okra (Talk O'Texas), olive, celery, lime and the rim is covered in Tajin seasoning. Yes. I even made some super mini two sip ones for my kids and the Mormon Missionaries who had stopped by...because hey, I like to have my kids try different stuff and it was a super tasty non-alcoholic drink.



Just might serve these at the murder mystery dinner party I am having for friends and family in two weeks.

When you think of the South, you might think acres and acres of nothingness. You might think poverty...you might think the place where everyone goes when they want to retire into a an area full of hospitality and....of course great comfort food.

One thing that is synomous with the South, we sum up in two words:  Sweet Tea.  And when we say sweet tea, we don't mean the kind you gently place two sugar cubes in while it sits into a dainty china tea cup...no we mean, iced, sweet and sugary brown. The kind that you sip slow on a lazy afternoon or enjoy at a fancy restaurant.

When it comes to tea in the South, we are picky. Boy are we picky. It has to have the right balance of tea, water and of course sweetness. We like our tea freshly brewed and placed in the fridge until it is the right kind of cold...but guess what, when we don't make it ourselves, there are definite go to grocery stores we find ourselves at with a cart full of gallons of already chilled browned goodness.

Milo's Tea is the closest I have come across that equals the Southern goodness that is my mama's sun tea.



I remember growing up and having to bring in the glass covered jug of  'sun tea' so that my mom could sweeten it and get it chilled for supper. Sun brewed meaning, she did not boil or microwave, she placed the jug full of tea into a sunny spot to brew on it's own. Milo's tea reminds me of my mama. It reminds me of goodness. It reminds me of the South.

I got the awesome priviledge to try out some of Milo's brand spanking new products. Oh lawd, when I tell you heaven is their tea and lemonade blend....I mean it. I bought several of the gallon jugs home and why no...it did not make it to see the light of the next day. Gone. My kids, family and friends gulped it down in  one seemingly  simultaneous guzzle.

The next day, I decided to try something. I got a recipe from Milo's and thought, hey, this is perfect for these hot Mississippi summer days.

Sweet tea and Lemonade granitas.

I mean, who doesn't love a great slushy drink?

With the recipe being soooooooo easy, why not try it!? I made the sweet tea and lemonade blend and the lemonade.

You will need

Milo's Tea, Tea and Lemonade, or Lemonade



Fill a casserole dish with the drink of your choice. To be creative, add a bit of chopped fruit or mint leaves. Fill the dish fingernail deep.  Place into the freezer for 45 minutes or until it begins to freeze. Take a fork or spoon and stir the mixture. Freeze again for 45 minutes and stir again.



This method is helping create the snow cone/slush texture.



Who needs shaved ice? You can do this at home with out a machine!

And then...serve! Seriously, how easy and how deliciously cool and slushy is that?!

During the cold holiday months, I keep stock of hot cocoa mix. Year after year, my cabinets are filled with the premade boxes for hot chocolate.  My kids run through them like air. I mean, easy enough, right? Buy a box of packets, kids can microwave their drinks. Yeah, easy peasy. But what is even easier and more economical is making a huge batch of your own mix. Besides, everything tastes better when it is made by you!  

So there I was in the grocery store about to toss 4 boxes of hot cocoa mix in the basket when I remembered, heck, I have sugar, I have chocolate, I have cocoa. Literally, I had some kind of mommy-culinary-I-am-going-to-save-money epiphany. I put the boxed packets back on the shelf and put in a box of dry milk instead.

When I got home, it took all of a couple minutes to mix up enough hot cocoa mix to last us two weeks...and that is with 4 kids! I used a variation of a recipe from the Brown Eyed Baker. Seriously, it gets no easier and I like to think I saved a few bucks in the long run. I mean dude, a lil bit of unsweetened coco goes a long way!


You will need:

3 cups nonfat dry milk powder
2 cups powdered sugar
1½ cups cocoa powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1½ cups chocolate chips (I used mini chocolate bars...the kids loved that)

I mixed the dry ingredients in a bowl and placed in an airtight container (mason jars, here). I keep the mini chocolate bars in the pantry so that when I am ready to make the cocoa, I give a bar or two to the kids and let it melt and stir in their cocoa.  When you are ready to make it, just add some hot water, add in and stir your chocolate and yum!!

For the s'mores hot cocoa, I made the hot cocoa, topped the oven safe cups with a heap of marshmallows, then placed in the oven with it on broil until they browned. I topped with crushed graham crackers, a graham cracker and chocolate bar with a little of chocolate syrup drizzle. Yes, please.

I was wondering where all the new visitors and pins were coming from. Thank you to Jessica over at Swanky Recipes for including my chocolate milkshakes in her holiday drink round up. Now, I seriously have a taste for chocolate.

*As Jessica said, add red and green sprinkles for a festive flair!