Let’s Get This Winesday Started: Pinot Noir Shake

There is a burger bar in the neighborhood Mr. Candy and I enjoy going to, a place where we can feel like adults — A cocktail menu!  No Happy Meals! — but that still accommodates kids with space for strollers and a kick-ass toasted peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  With italics to emphasize the voracity with which I sneak bites of my daughter’s PB&Js from there.

Hey.  I gave the child LIFE.  I’d say that deserves a stolen morsel of sandwich.  Or two.  Or five.

The restaurant also offers a specialty Pinot Noir shake.  Now, I know what you’re thinking because I had the very same reaction:  Say wha –?!   Wine?  With ice cream?  That’s madness!  A little gross, even.  I MUST TRY IT!  Which is what I would say every time we went there, my mouth full of peanut butter and jelly, only to leave, shake-less, because I prefer to get my drink on after the kids go to bed.  Also:  a good time to dig into Skye’s goldfish crackers.  So, being the experienced food-and-drink thief that I am, I decided to steal their recipe for the Pinot Shake to try at home — then share it with you.

Yes!  I am a modern-day Robin Hood! Stealing from rich cocktail menus to give to buzz-poor moms.

THE PINOT NOIR SHAKE

This photo shoot interrupted by Laughing Stork CEO and wine shake lover, Marcy Cuddles

INGREDIENTS

About 1 cup vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt (we used the latter because we are health-conscious alcoholics)

1/4- to 1/2-cup Pinot Noir (we used the latter because… well, you know why)

Cherries

Chocolate syrup

Whipped cream

1 packet of sugar/Splenda/what-have-you (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

Make sure your seven-month-old is SOUND asleep before opening wine bottle; otherwise, the *POP* will be immediately followed by the sound of “WAAAAHHHH!” (True story.)  Soothe baby, if necessary, with appropriate lullabies such as “Let’s Get This Party Started.”  Mix ice cream and wine — with sugar for added sweetness, if that floats your boat — in blender on “milkshake” mode.  Pour wine-shake into glass, top off with whipped cream, chocolate syrup and, of course, a cherry.

THE VERDICT

Mr. Candy and I sat down to watch a DVR’d episode of Modern Family last Friday — don’t be jealous of our glamorous nightlife — and finished our shakes before the opening music even began. “Yeah, I’ll make more,” I offered, pausing on Sofia Vergara with her mouth open, much to Mr. Candy’s delight.

Wine and ice cream:  I never would have thought of putting them together, but they make for a surprisingly delicious combination.  Much like Sofia Vergara and Ed O’Neill.

Wine shakes and my two-year-old’s goldfish crackers, on the other hand… not so much.

More drink recipes…