Why is the Rum Always Gone??

So this week I’ve been feeling tropical and celebratory. Tropical because it’s practically summer and celebratory because it’s finals week (and now finals week is over!). I decided to let the tropical kite fly and go all out with a tropical feast: Hawaiian chicken on coconut rice, cantaloupe, Pina Coladas, and macadamia nut cookies. To add to the festivities, I happened to find the Swiss Family Robinson TV series on Hulu.

 

I started with the cookies. I really like that this recipe makes a smaller batch. I don't know about you, but I but in my family, the last dozen or so cookies sit on the counter/in the freezer until they become inedible and end up going to waste.

The whole batch...minus the 6-8 "test" cookies...we had to make sure they turned out, didn't we? :)

Next came the chicken.

Thank you to my wonderful Dad for taking care of the actual grilling. I probably would have either destroyed it all or killed us all with food poisoning without him :)

 At first I wasn't sure about the marinade ingredients. Soy sauce, coconut milk, onions, and brown sugar--a strange combination, but oh boy did it taste good. I let the chicken marinade overnight and am glad I did. It really penetrated the meat and flavored the chicken well. As a slight modification to the recipe, I reserved about 3 cups of the marinade when I took out the chicken and reduced it on the stove with a little bit of cornstarch to brush on the chicken a few minutes before each side was done. I'm glad I did, it really added to the flavor and "specialness" of the chicken.

I served the chicken with some coconut rice like the recipe recommended. Coconut rice is easier than you might think. If you can make rice, you can make coconut rice! All you need to do is replace half of the water with coconut milk, and tada!!

And now for the Title of this post.

This is the reason that we had virgin Pina Coladas--there was no rum. Aside from that, I never realized that they were so easy to make. After looking at probably a half dozen recipes, I felt I had a pretty good handle on it.

My recipe is:

1 14-oz can coconut milk

1 large can crushed coconut (I can't remember the oz)

6-8 oz pineapple juice frozen into cubes

1/4 cup sugar

rum

ice

Just put everything in the blender and blend until the consistency you want. Mom said it was just like an Pina Colada Orange Julius. I have no idea how much rum you want to use, but the recipe fills about 4-5 tall glasses, so use your own judgement.Since there were only three of us, we had extra. We froze it and re-blended it the next day. The consistency was more like a slushy than an Orange Julius, but the flavor was the same. I can't wait to try them with rum sometime and will let you know how they taste!

And then we ate! I think we were all surprised at how good it all really was. 

Our Hawaiian Feast...plus a salad because it's good for you!