Meet Momma Mojito

Hey Mommas! Now that we are nearing the date of our grand opening on Saturday, I thought it would be the perfect time to introduce myself.  My name is Leslie Baker.  I am the founder of Momma Mojito.  I am a wife to my amazing husband of 8 years and also mother to a precious 7 year old girl and sweet 5 year old boy.  I have my hands full with those 3.  That's for sure.  Oh and let's not forget our crazy dog, who is a 10 year old white Labrador.  Then, there's our 3 year old grey feisty little cat.  It gets kind of wild at our house.  Usually the kids are running around hopefully squealing and having a blast playing together, but usually hollering and bickering at each other until I can't take it anymore and I send their little bottoms outside to play.  I guess that's what brothers and sisters do huh? Fun stuff.  Next, there's my husband.  He's the most ornery one of the bunch.  Seriously, he is such a mess.  He's always wrestling with one of the kids or giving me a hard time about something.  That's what I love about him though...he always keeps me laughing.  Big time.  Enough of the mushy stuff, back to my little rugrats.  Those 2 kids drive me crazy but boy am I crazy about them.  I never truly understood the phrase "momma bear" until a teacher rubbed me wrong with the way she handled my daughter in her early years of school and oh did I realize it then.  Don't mess with a momma bear.  Right mommas?  My kids are special, sweet little kids. Don't get me wrong though.  I'm well aware they make mistakes, and you can bet I'll be the first one to correct them and straighten it all out.  I'm also the first one to give them a hug and encourage them to try harder next time.  I work hard at mothering, however let's be honest...being a mother is tough and you never get any breaks.  Some days I think I'm finally getting it right, then the next day we wake up late for school and both kids walk into school with wrinkled clothes and hair that looks like they just rolled out of bed.  You can't win 'em all, right mommas?

A year ago, when my baby was off to full-day preschool, I sat in my empty and very unnervingly quiet house wondering what the heck was I going to do with all my free time.  My initial thought was that it would be great and I could listen to whatever music I wanted to, finally watch an adult TV show, go get my nails done, do the grocery shopping by myself.  You know-- all those adult things you take for granted.  Well, that was all good and great for about a month, but then I started to get really bored.  Like really bored.  So I started thinking about all the things I love -- my sweet family, fun times, fashion, and of course maybe a good drink or two.  I then embarked on a journey to combine all of those things into one online community for women to shop and bond with other women, like myself, who are trying hard to get it right and want to look great doing it.  Sure sometimes we go out with stains on our shirt, baby spit-up in our hair that hasn't been washed in who knows how many days but hey-- we're working on it.  I'm with ya mommas! So I've coined myself Momma Mojito.  If you're wondering why Mojito...well...no real reason other than I love mojitos.  Seriously, they are my favorite.  Oh and I make a mean one.  Period.  So there ya have it.  I can't wait to hear from all you mommas and all of you non-mommas.  Can't wait to hear all of your stories, your successes, and your failures as I share all of mine.  Connect with me on any social media (I'm on ALL of them!), shoot me an email, or leave me a comment in the comments section.   Whichever you prefer, I'm here for you ladies and I'm beyond excited about it.

xx Leslie (aka Momma Mojito)

It's Friday Cocktail Time! Piña Colada Edition!

Hey Mommas! So the first day of fall was yesterday.  Seems like everybody is thrilled.  Am I the only one around here a little sad to see summer go? :( I know, I know.  Sounds crazy right?  I do enjoy that first crisp breeze of fall, the beautiful vibrant foliage, the excitement of the holidays just right around the corner.  I agree that those things are exciting.  But what happens AFTER those holidays have come and gone? The dead of winter is what.  I dread that time of year when you're over the cold and all you want is to go outside to check your mail without having to put on 8 layers and getting frostbite! Am I right?  Everything outside is brown and dead and bare.  It's such a depressing time of year.  On the other hand, I love summer.  Everything about it.  I live in the south too so that's saying something.  100 degree days are the regular.  But I love being able to go step outside on my patio with my drink in hand wearing nothing but a tank top and cutoffs and be perfectly comfortable and relaxed.  The easy, laid-back nature of summer just agrees with me.  Every year at this time I get a little sad about the end of summer and every year I get over it... eventually.  So this is my ode to summer for you mommas.  The perfect summery drink to send off summer is the classic piña colada.  This is one of my most popular drinks.  I make it for friends and family and it is requested constantly.  It's that good.

A little back story about my adventures with this delicious drink:  Several years ago, my husband and I were on a kid-free vacation in Key West where we honeymooned 5 years before that.  We love Key West.  Such a cool, fun vibe there.  Well on one rather drunken afternoon, we stumbled across The Rum Bar at the Speakeasy Inn.  What a great find that was.  On bartender duty was a pretty locally famous bartender -- "Bahama Bob."  He's actually an extremely knowledgeable and fabulous bartender and mixologist!  He serves on the RumXP board and has a couple cocktail books as well.  I'm pretty sure I talked his ear off for several hours asking him a million questions on all the different drinks he was making.  What can I say? I was fascinated.  So it's not a surprise that his Piña Colada is absolutely wonderful, simple, and different.  Below is my slightly adapted version.  Hope you girls love it just like I do.  Until next year Summer...

xx Momma Mojito

(P.S. Check back with me next Friday where hopefully I'm over my end-of-summer blues and I host another Friday Cocktail Time!)

 

MOMMA MOJITO'S PERFECT PINA COLADA

Ingredients:

2 oz. Bacardi Oak Heart Spiced Rum (this is key!)

1.5 oz. Cream of Coconut

1 oz. Pineapple Juice

Dash of Ground Nutmeg

Ice

Assorted Garnishes: Cherry, Orange Wheel, Pineapple Wedge, Umbrella, whatever you like!

Directions:

Place all ingredients except the garnishes of course into a blender with approximately 2 cups of ice depending on how slushy or not you like yours.  I like mine thick and thoroughly frozen. Blend it all up until smooth then pour into a glass of your choosing.  Garnish to your heart's desire.  Drink up and enjoy that last bit of summer mommas!!

 

 

(You can also find Bahama Bob's original here:  http://bahamabobsrumstyles.blogspot.com/2012/07/summer-cocktail-pina-colada.html)

It's Friday Cocktail Time! Moscow Mule Edition!

Hey Mommas!! What a good week it's been around here at the Momma Mojito HQ! We've been prepping for our big product release on October 1st! It's going to be here before you know it! We're so excited to show you all of these incredible items!  We have some really adorable clothes, the perfect accessories to match, and of course some items that are just right for cocktail hour! Seriously, this drinkware is just too cute for words.  As if you needed an excuse to get your cocktail hour going, am I right? ;)  

Also on the momma front, I am finally getting on top of all my chores! We had such a crazy busy summer with weddings, travelling, tball and softball...basically you name it.  It was too busy of a summer.  I felt like I had no time to catch up on things around the house before school started back up again.  So for this first month that the kids have been back to school, I have been hard at work catching up.  And FINALLY I feel like I'm coming around.  My house is clean, laundry done and put up. Crazy right? I better enjoy it while it lasts because with 2 rowdy children and 1 overgrown one (aka my husband), it won't take long before it's all destroyed again.  Maybe I'll just make myself a cocktail and lay out in the sun until it's time to go pick up the kids from school. Hmm that sounds fabulous.  The perfect drink for this perfect Friday afternoon -- why a moscow mule of course.  Have you ever had one of these delicious cocktails? For some reason, lots of people I know haven't tried them.  So then I immediately insist they must try one, and everybody always loves it.  Doesn't matter if you don't like vodka or ginger beer.  It's such a simple recipe but so magically tasty when it all comes together.  A fabulous cocktail that comes together in a flash is a momma necessity for sure.  So here it is girls--pour yourself one this weekend and enjoy all the hard work you've accomplished! Check back with us next week for another Friday Cocktail Time! :)

xx Momma Mojito

 

Momma Mojito's Moscow Mule (how's that for some alliteration?)

Ingredients/Supplies:

  • 2 oz. Tito's vodka
  • 6 oz. Alcoholic Ginger Beer
  • Juice of half a lime
  • Ice
  • Sprig of Rosemary & Lime Wheel for garnish
  • Copper Mug

Directions:

In your copper mug, juice your half of a lime. Go ahead and throw the lime down in the bottom of the mug when you're done juicing it because well why not.  Now fill up the mug 3/4 of the way up with ice -- crushed, cubed, whatever you prefer.  I like to use crushed.  Now pour in your Tito's vodka.  Lots of people have their own personal preference for brand of vodka.  I love Tito's.  I am a Texas girl after all.  If you haven't tried Tito's, you should.  You're missing out.   Now, pour in your ginger beer.  You can use non-alcoholic ginger beer if you prefer but I mean come on.  You ARE making yourself a drink.  Make it worth your time and use the alcoholic ginger beer.  Okay with that said, give it a slight stir.  Garnish it with a rosemary sprig and a lime wheel, and you are done.  Drink up Momma!! You deserve it!!

 

It's Friday Cocktail Time! Mojito Edition!

Hey Mommas!! It's Friday and it's time to celebrate the start of the weekend with a cocktail! I don't know about you girls, but it's been a long week.  We all had a stomach bug last weekend and then this 4 day week got us all out of whack.  My son, whom I affectionately call my little monkey because he is the biggest momma's boy you've ever seen, had his first cross country meet this week! I was so nervous! I mean my 5 year old running through the woods without me by his side for a whole mile?!! Crazy right?! But he surprised me and he did awesome! He placed 6th out of 40 boys! He's growing up so fast, I'm sad and proud all at once.  My 7 year old daughter is cute as can be and also too smart for her own good.  We're going through a sassy stage with her. Fun stuff.  They don't tell you when you have a little girl that the sassiness starts so early! I thought I had at least until she was 12 before dealing with attitude issues!  She's a super sweet girl and a very good helper around the house, but boy does she think she knows everything right now!! I'm hoping one of you mommas who's been there and done that will convince me that this sassiness gets better!! Surely right?

Phew, with that said... where's my cocktail?! Oh yes, I was just getting to that.  Mommas, I'm sure you could guess by my alter-ego name of Momma Mojito that I love a good drink. Guilty.  And if you also guessed that I love a good mojito....you're right--I'm guilty of that as well.  Mojitos are fabulous.  Light, refreshing, crisp, and delightfully strong on the rum.  All great components to a perfect drink.  I love rum.  You'll soon find that out about me.  Rum and I are good, good friends. So without further ado, you must have my original and perfectly delicious and refreshing mojito recipe.  Cheers Mommas!!  Make sure you check back every Friday for more delicious cocktail recipes!

xx Momma Mojito

P.S. If you place an order for one of our adorable products that are going live on the website at the end of September through October, you will receive an adorable mojito recipe card FREE and it is pretty enough to keep out in your bar area!! ;)  Drink up Mommas!!

 

Momma Mojito's Original Mojito Recipe

Ingredients/Supplies: 

  • 2 oz. Bacardi White Rum
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 1 oz. Simple Syrup (find it in the drink mixer section at the grocery store or make your own!)
  • 7-8 fresh mint leaves
  • Club Soda to taste
  • Crushed ice
  • Muddler
  • Lime wheel/extra mint to garnish

Directions:

In a highball glass, throw your mint leaves down at the bottom of the glass and pour the simple syrup on top of them.  Muddle those leaves lightly.   Not too much or you'll make your drink bitter.  Oh and for those of you who are unsure what muddling is -- it's basically just a fancy term for squishing.  Also, you don't have to own an actual muddler.  Feel free to use the underside of a spoon or any other tool with a somewhat flat side to it.  Now, fill the glass 3/4 of the way up with crushed ice.  Muddle some more and get it all good and packed in. Perfect.  Now add your rum. Bacardi white rum is the iconic rum for the mojito and it is just right in this drink so don't mess with a good thing.  Then add the lime juice.  Next, fill to the top with the club soda.  Give it all a slight stir and lastly, add those garnishes.  Hey--it tastes better if it looks pretty right? Okay final step: send those kids outside to play and prop yourself up in a lawn chair to watch! Now drink up Momma! You deserve it!

Hey Mommas!

Welcome to Momma Mojito!! My name is Leslie and I'm an almost 30 year old momma to two wild but oh so sweet children.  I'm fumbling through motherhood without a handbook and I'm sharing my successes and my many failures along the way. I'm so glad you're here! I'm so excited to share all the fun things we have going on here at Momma Mojito! Momma Mojito is an atmosphere for women to shop for irresistibly cute products, get tips on what NOT to do, find plenty of yummy drink recipes, and more than anything else-- commiserate on all things us mommas and non-mommas go through. If you're not a momma, don't worry! There's a place here for you too! This site is for ALL women who love a good time, looking cute while doing it, and love a good cocktail to go with it!  Come join us!! The party is just getting started!!

xx Leslie (aka MOMMA MOJITO)