It's Pina Colada Time!

Ok, seriously y'all, I have found Heaven on Earth. No, I haven't left Columbus, but I sure am if I drink enough of these here pina coladas, I can probably forget I'm in Columbus. But I'm only going to have 1, so sorry. I know it would entertain quite a few of you if I went on a drunken rant, but I have never done that, nor do I plan to start. I'm boring.

Anyways, the other day I came up with the idea that since Matt and I don't have too many financial strains on us and no small children, we should once a week pick a new drink to make, to give us something fun and creative to do. Yes, I mean the alcoholic type. Yumm-o. I mostly came up with this idea because we have yet to use our ice shaker. FOR SHAME.

I decided our first drink should be a Pina Colada. I have been craving these lately. Mostly because it's so dang hot. But I also thought it was appropriate, since our anniversary is coming upon us and we loved the pina coladas we drank in Vegas. We only had them twice by the pool, since we didn't have any money to spend, but I sure did enjoy those drinks. We have tried to recreate them, but have failed miserably.

NOT TONIGHT.

Paula Deen has triumphed in the making of the pina coladas! I only very slightly altered her recipe, so all copyright and kudos go to her. Thanks, Paula! These are super delicious. And as far as alcoholic beverages go, fairly cheap. You only need one type of alcohol (score one for the budget!), but I know a lot of people wouldn't use up the extra ingredients (unless you cook a lot with coconut milk, fortunately I do), so those might go to waste. Or you can just make a whole bunch of pina coladas. Yeah, do that. Don't store the leftovers. Just make more pina coladas.

Ingredients:

Ice
1/2 cup rum (here's my change: Matt and I used coconut rum: delish!)
1/2 cup coconut cream (look for this in the Mexican aisle of your grocery store. You will have to whisk this to make it all the same consistency)
1/4 coconut milk (yes, those are two different things, this one is found in the Asian section. I like the Thai Kitchen brand, since you don't have to stir it)
1/4 cup pineapple chunks (I used crushed pineapple, but same thing, really)

Add everything to the blender and puree! YUMMY! Garnish with pineapple slices and/or a maraschino cherry.