Cocktail Week Kick Off & KitchenAid Giveaway

*SCROLL DOWN TO THE GIVEAWAY AND SEE IF YOU WERE THE WINNER!*

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Summer is officially here and that by it’s very definition is something to celebrate!

Whether you are reeling from the sweltering heat in the east or the unseasonably cool June-uary, as us PNW’s are, you need a drink in your hand to cool you down as you peel yourself off of the plastic lawn chair and saunter into the sprinkler for some additional relief, or transport yourself to a faux-tropical oasis while sitting on your patio with pink plastic flamingos stuck into the grass and plastic leis draped around your next to tide you over as you plan your next vacation.

The point is – with the start of summer – it only seemed appropriate for the usual suspects and I to kick off Cocktail Week!

If you’re new to the theme week proceedings, several lovely and utterly hilarious ladies have featured our favorite pie, salad and cookie creations to feed your food lust and tantalize your eyes. This time around we are including a few additional friends to the mix!

If you want to know the who’s who of this week’s proceedings stop on by and meet the rest of the gang – Kirsten of Comfortably Domestic, Jeanne of Inside Nana Bread’s Head, Kat of Tenaciously Yours, Allison of Decadent Philistines, and Mads of Petite Pancake have headed up the theme weeks before – but we wanted to include a whole new gaggle of sass with Katie of Hill Country Cook, Madeline of Munchin in the Mitten, Lauren of Grier Mountain and of course Carrie of Bakeaholic Mama! What is up?!

We will have drinks ranging from blissfully bubbly concoctions to fruity sprtizers and everything in between. You need a drink? We girls have you covered.

Everyday this week, you will get a plethora of delicious drinks to choose from. So top on by all of the blogs to see what the girls have to cool you down as we roll into summer.

For today, I am sharing a new creation – a Raging Aztec Frappe. It’s spicy, it’s angry, it’s full of fire!

The kind people of KitchenAid were generous enough to allow me to put their newest 5-speed color blender to the test in my own kitchen and see what it could do. Let me tell you – this thing owned it. I’ve used blenders of varying sizes, capacities and range – but this thing just took it over the top. It was actually just named the best overall blender by Real Simple! And that’s sayin’ something!

For today’s kick off frappe, it needed to send a message. And this it did, very well. Chocolate and Cinnamon go together like Joanie and ChaChi, yoga pants and a lazy Sunday night. It’s just the way of the universe rolls.

Into the blender went a whole lotta ice,

a hefty pour of Kahlua, Irish Cream and some GoldSchlager. Is anyone else having memory flashbacks to SuperBad and Emma Stone asking poor Michael Cera’s character to buy her some of this stuff with the little gold flakes? How could you not feel for that poor pimply kid trying to impress the woman of he loves? Lusts? Either way – nerdy teen angst was at its finest.

Ingredients for Raging Aztec Frappe

• Chocolate Milk
• Ice
• Irish Cream
• Kahlua
• Cinnamon Liqueur
• Hot Fudge Sauce
• Whipped Cream
• Cocoa Powder

With hefty pours of all three into the mix, along went an equally generous dollop of wait for it… Hot Fudge sauce. Yeah, that’s how I roll. With a splash of chocolate milk for good measure – away we frapped.

The best part of this blender, was the Ice Crush option. It automatically timed each turn of the blades to a couple of seconds sucession before stopping, letting the drink and ice settle and again ramping it up to crush the ice into frosty submission. And as soon as it achieved your desired level of frappe, a simple press of the Off button was all it required.

I abhor ice getting stuck in the blades and too large of chunks being left in your blended drink whilst the rest is a sad and dilapidated mess of watered down sadness. This evenly blended all of the ingredients and left a perfect foam on top that was an utter delight to guzzle like my life and summer yearning self depended on. Sip on. And as no frothy, chocolatey frozen confection is without – a dollop of whipped cream was added on top to complete the assemble. It just tickles the taste buds and sticks comically to your upper lip. Classy.

So add some spice to your life  with this beauty and see what else is being shaken and stirred for your summer sipping pleasure.

Allison of Decadent Philistines is stirring us up a Peach Pie Prosecco “Palmer”

and

Carrie of Bakeaholic Mama is shaking us up a Raspberry Tom Collins!

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THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!! THE WINNER IS:

AMY MARANTINO

Now – for the GIVEAWAY!

The fine people of KitchenAid generously allowed me to take their 5-speed blender out for this little test drive – in their Newest Color – Crystal Blue!

Can I get a “Holla!” Holla! This is one sturdy beast. And, it is quiet! I don’t know about you – but when I have to spend half of my time with my hands over my ears with other blenders – it’s a lose/lose situation. This was remarkably quiet as blenders go and with maximum efficiency in blending you will spend more time sipping your drink than trying to shake and shimmy unruly pieces of ice into the path of the blades of other blenders.

Sheesh, the audacity of those pesky ice chips. This one will pulverize them into a frosty beverage in no time flat.

To get your hands on this beautiful and efficient home appliance – just in time for the start of summer – be sure to enter!

Here’s how: (Mandatory)

1)Tell me – What’s Your Favorite Cocktail? (1 entry)

For Additional Entries:

2) Follow KitchenAid on Facebook and Twitter. Leave a separate comment for each. (2 entries)

3) Follow any of the lovely Cocktail Week Bloggers on Facebook and Twitter. Leave a comment for each one you follow and where. (1 entry for each follow)

Megan – Country Cleaver – Facebook & Twitter

Kirsten – Comfortably Domestic – Facebook & Twitter

Jeanne – Hey NanaBread – Twitter

Allison – Decadent Philistine – Facebook & Twitter

Kat – Tenaciously Yours – Twitter

Mads – Le Petite Pancake – Twitter

Katie – Hill Country Cook – Facebook & Twitter

Madeline – Muchin in the Mitten –  Twitter

Carrie – Bakeaholic Mama – Facebook & Twitter

Lauren – Climbing Grier Mountain – Facebook & Twitter

4) Tweet or share the following: “{Giveaway!} I need a Cocktail! @KitchenAidUSA & @CountryCleaver are giving away a BLENDER! http://bit.ly/Kx2NX5 Hooray for #CocktailWeek!”. Be sure to leave a comment with the tweet link in a comment below.

That’s four ways to win and an endless number of entries to receive! Good luck all and be sure to stay cool! Ha, get it? Cool.

Inspired Homemade Recipes To Try

Passionfruit Sorbetlini with Kinky Liquer

Ginger Peach Daiquiri

Watermelon Guava Agua Fresca

Print

*Fine Print* The giveaway is open to US residents only. Sorry international friends! The blender was provided to me by KitchenAid USA free of charge for my review and test drive. All opinions are my own. And it’s very clear – this blender is a rockstar. The giveaway will end on Saturday June 30th. The winner will be notified through e-mail and announced on this post. The winner will have 72 hours to reply to the announcement or another winner will be randomly selected. Kapeesh? Over and out.