Beverage
A few weeks ago one of my friends hosted a “Night In”, in honor of the lost art of cocktail parties. I love this idea, especially now that a night out includes the need for a babysitter on top of everything else.
While I’m always down for a casual night in, I’m also in favor of something a little fancier, require you me to dress up {as opposed to my mom-attire gym pants uniform} every once in awhile. The beauty of celebrating at home is that you have a little more room {in time and budget} to get a little fancier with the festivities.
I decided to merge the two somewhere in the middle and create a drink centerpiece that can go either way. Make a true Southern affair with mason jars, jeans, and wildflowers, or kick it up a notch with cocktail glasses and heels. Either way, I’ve got a drink for you:
Meet the Beergarita.
What once was deemed a classless action, dumping a beer bottle upside down in your margarita glass, has now become fanfare for celebration. It’s a drink in and of itself and it’s delicious.
You can even make it a Mockarita if you so choose to skip the beer part, or if you’re in need of refreshment and it’s just not quite cocktail hour yet.
This version keeps health in mind too, without going wild and crazy on the calories or the sugar.
Kick it up another notch for summer and freeze some of the juice ahead of time. Then toss it in the blender with a little more juice or even some chunks of frozen fruit for a nice refreshing slushie. {Save the sparkling water for the end so you don’t make a ‘rita explosion.}
Top it with lemon, limes, oranges, or whatever fruit you have on hand. You can even get a little adventurous and toss some mint or basil in the mix. Omit the beer and double up on the sparkling water for a mocktail version.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some fruit to drink. 
by with a Side of Sneakers
- 1 bottle beer (12 oz) {a light lime beer would be great. I used my favorite gluten-free pale ale}
- 1 can fruit-flavored sparkling water {I used a cherry lemon. Lime would be delicious too}
- 1 lime
- 1 orange
- 12 oz Trop50 Raspberry Acai juice
- Optional: basil or mint for garnish
- Optional: ice cubes for slushie version
Combine beer, sparkling water, and juice.
Squeeze in juice from lime and orange.
Stir to combine.
Pour over ice {or frozen juice cubes}.
Serve cold.
Also try frozen and blended!
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Trop50 has the great taste and goodness you expect from Tropicana, but with 50% less sugar and calories and no artificial sweeteners.
Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Trop50 via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Trop50.
What’s your favorite healthy drink for a Girls’ Night In? For more ideas on how to make a rockin’ girls’ night in, check out the Foodie Girls Night In Pinterest board or the collection on Foodie.com {see below}.
Products
I’m a pretty casual and low maintenance kind of gal. When it comes to letting loose on the weekend, I’m easily satisfied by cracking opening a nice cold beer and kicking up my feet. Let’s be honest: I consider a beer in a bottle instead of a can “fancy”.
That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a nice glass or three of wine though. Especially if that glass of wine involves a good group of girlfriends and nonsense talk about absolutely nothing or anything.
When it comes to liquor, I usually opt out. The simple pleasure of opening a bottle or wine or popping the top on a beer suddenly becomes an effort of hunting down other ingredients and mixing a cocktail. To add to that, if you don’t know what you’re doing {read: me} it’s pretty easy to end up with something that tastes worse than cough medicine.
Ok, I’m not obsessed with drinking. So why all the talk? I taste tested Bacardi’s new Classic Cocktails Light this weekend!
The perfect answer for someone who doesn’t have a clue and could really care less about the effort it takes to make a drink that tastes any good. I knew it was meant to be when the two flavors they came out with happen to be my favorite: Mojito & Pina Colada. 
The cocktails come ready to drink: no mixing, no shaking, no stirring. Just pour over ice. Each 4 oz serving is only 95 calories. {That of course makes you think about how many calories are in a regular cocktail…”} They’re made with natural flavors, real juice, and pure cane sugar. So how do they taste? Pretty darn good. I’ll admit I was surprised; I didn’t put much faith in a pre-mixed, bottled cocktail, but I was wrong. Each was bursting with flavor and there was no mistaking that it was an alcoholic beverage. I’ve gone through all the trouble of making a mint-infused simple syrup to make an authentic mojito at home and trust me, this was way easy and yielded a significantly better outcome. Along with my sample of cocktails came a modern-themed “party pack”. I knew a party pack was on the way, but I was more than a little excited to see the signature orange circles of the CB2 logo on the side of the box sitting on my doorstep on arrival day. 
CB2 is the baby sister of Crate & Barrel. {The party pack contained a combination of items from both stores.} I might have let out an audible squeal of delight when I opened the box. Do these people know me or what? 
Chevron; teal; black & white; acrylic. Love, love, and love. The chevron candles and acrylic serving tray nearly made me jump for joy. Yeah, I know, things are really exciting over here. Other gems included a set of drink coasters emblazoned with the word “drink”. You know, in case you weren’t sure what they were for. Plus boldly striped cloth napkins and an assortment of differently shaped napkin rings. Metal toothpicks {?!?} and an ice bucket with tongs rounded out the package of goodies. 
Now all I had to do was throw a party. Err. Uh… This stuff is fancier than the paper plates and Solo cup style we usually have, so I had to think of a special occasion. We have a friend moving out of state soon, so we decided to have him and his girlfriend over for some farewell festivities. Having the ice bucket on the tray made easy to serve up some cocktails. Just ice & pour. The dip tray made the perfect serving dish for drink garnishes: fresh cut lime wedges, mint leaves, and shredded coconut. I should’ve tossed in a few pineapple wedges and fancy umbrellas. 
I used the fancy toothpicks to keep the garnishes on top of the glasses so we wouldn’t get a sip of mint leaf. After all: 
I mean, if the pros say so. 
Since I had mojitos and pina coladas on the brain I decided I’d keep the theme going as far as food. I figured a tropical fruit salad would be the perfect accompaniment to the “light” cocktails. It’s the dietitian in me coming out- balance, right? 
Wrong. Forget the fruit. Let’s have cupcakes. 
{Ok, I still made fruit salad. But who cares about that when there are cupcakes to be had?!} Pina Colada Mojito Cupcakes to be exact. What a mouthful. A delicious, tropical, minty mouthful. 
But this post is already 8 billion pages long. The recipe will have to wait until tomorrow. Yup, I’m a tease. 
And that indulgent-sounding cupcake recipe? It’s vegan and gluten-free. And yes, delicious. Excuse me while I go eat one more. And drink a mojito. 
BACARDÍ Classic Cocktails Light is a new line of low calorie, ready to serve cocktails. At less than 95 calories for a 4-ounce serving, BACARDÍ Classic Cocktails Light is available in Pina Colada and Mojito flavors and is made with natural flavors, real juice and pure cane sugar. Whether enjoying a favorite cocktail after a long day or throwing a party, BACARDÍ Classic Cocktails deliver classic cocktail taste that’s a hit with friends, won’t add inches to your waistline and won’t take all day to prepare. Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Bacardi via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Bacardi.
Join in the discussion about #BacardiCocktails on August 1st:
