Festive Cranberry Gin & Tonic

This post contains affiliate links.

 

My “go to” cocktail for this pandemic year is one that I thought I had concocted myself. It was based upon my love for gin and tonic, the excavation of cranberry juice in the back of my fridge, and the over purchase of limes (I thought I was buying one and ended up with a bag of them). I Googled to see if I had indeed created a new cocktail, but instead became sadly aware that I wasn’t the genius that I thought I was, as a version can be found on the blog A Nerd Cooks. Great minds, obviously. I have adapted mine to include Fever Tree tonic. If you’re going to make a cocktail, do it right and use the best ingredients available. For tonic lovers, there is no other. Try it; it will make a world of difference.

 

Festive Cranberry Gin & Tonic

Slightly adapted from A Nerd Cooks

 1.5-2 oz. gin*

2 oz. cranberry juice

½ lime, juiced

2 oz. Fever Tree tonic water

Lime wedge and fresh cranberries, for garnish

 Pour the gin, cranberry juice, and lime juice over ice in your most festive holiday glass. Top with the tonic water and garnish with a lime wedge and cranberries.

 *I use Hendricks gin. Feel free to have a heavy hand with it. I won’t judge you.

 

"Pick Your Holiday" Crunch

This recipe, originally called Cupid’s Crunch was all over the Internet; many of you probably saw it. Did any of you make it? Well, I decided that I was going to make it. The problem is, I didn't make it until the day after Valentine's Day...well, two days after...all right, I made it this morning, are you happy?! The important thing here is that it's good! In fact, under the right circumstances, this could be fairly addicting. That, of course, is not good, but I would encourage you to make it anyway. 

The recipe is called Cupid’s Crunch most likely because it uses Valentine M&Ms in white, pink, and red, but don't let that deter you from making it at any time of the year, hence my calling it “Pick Your Holiday” Crunch. You can call it Leprechaun Crunch and just use white and green M&Ms. You can call it Easter Bunny Crunch, and use the pastel M&Ms, or Fourth of July Crunch, well, you get the picture. Whatever you decide to use, and whatever you decide to call it, it's going to be good and people are going to lap it up. You might just want to double the recipe.

"Pick Your Holiday" Crunch

2 cups Corn Chex cereal

1 cup Honey Nut Cheerios

1 cup pretzel sticks

1 ½ cups M&M's

1 cup honey roasted peanuts

2 cups white chocolate candy melts

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat; set aside.

Combine first five ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

In a small microwave-safe bowl, combine oil and white chocolate discs and melt in the microwave in 20-second increments, stirring between each.

Pour the melted chocolate over the dry ingredients and carefully fold together.

Immediately spread mixture onto prepared baking sheet to dry. Break apart into chunks when cool.

PRINT RECIPE

This post is linked to:

 Homestead Wednesday
Full Plate Thursday

Grace at Home
Foodie Friday & Everything Else
Share Your Style

Napkin Fold Easter Baskets

This idea was originally posted a couple of years ago, so I thought it was time to be revisited in case some of you didn’t see this darling napkin fold.  The Lotus Napkin fold is fairly common, but I'm not sure I've seen it used in the way that I like to use it on Easter morning, namely as an Easter basket to house a chocolate bunny, chocolate eggs, and jelly beans for each one of my guests.  They fold up quickly and there is an excellent tutorial on how to achieve this look here (scroll down to #5 Lotus Napkin Fold).  Once you've turned all of your napkins into potential Easter baskets you only need to put them in place and fill with Easter grass and goodies.  It makes for a stunning table and your guests will be enormously pleased (and very impressed) with your efforts.  One little tip, however, is to provide an additional napkin so these can just be lifted off of the plate and set to the side to be admired, undisturbed, during the meal.  At the conclusion of your brunch, lunch, or dinner, provide each guest with a colorful cellophane bag and twisty so they can package up their treats to take home.  I guarantee this is one meal they will never forget.

Placemat - World Market/Cost Plus

Blue Plate - Fiestaware

Green Ruffled Plate - Lotus Metlox

Flatware - Fiestaware

Glass - La Rochere

Candy - Lindt, Dove, Hershey

This post is linked to:

Let’s Dish!

Tabletop Tuesday

Tutorials Tips and Tidbits

Wow Us Wednesdays

Tablescape Thursday

Be Inspired Friday

Show and Tell Friday

Friday Pretties

Home Sweet Home

Feather Your Nest Friday

Open House Party 

Seasonal Sundays

Rosemary for Christmas

Here’s a quick holiday decorating tip that will liven up your table, add a touch of festiveness to the buffet, and is perfectly usable when the holidays are over and you’re struggling to find a place to store everything.  Head to Lowe’s and get yourself a little rosemary plant that has been conically shaped to resemble a Christmas tree.  Pick up a package of bows from Michael’s that are now drastically reduced to such an extent that you’ll be paying under a dollar for a set of 12, grab some red berries from off of your wreath, out of your yard (or the neighbor’s yard under cover of darkness – unless, of course, you have a very vigilant Neighborhood Watch), and add a small string of LED lights.  You will have a lovely little living tree that smells wonderful, and its portability will brighten any dark corner in your house.  After the holidays, keep it in a very sunny spot and water it weekly.  With any luck you’ll have a wonderful herb plant to sink into your garden come spring where you will be rewarded again and again with fresh rosemary whenever you need it.  How cute is this?

This post is linked to:

Seasonal Sunday

Tutorial Tips & Tidbits

Marshmallow Mermaid Pie

In a blog post that I wrote last May I waxed nostalgic about the movie "Waitress" and my fascination, first, with Nathan Fillion, and second, with those wonderful pies!  It was then that I began my quest to find the recipes and make each and every one of them.


This afternoon for a monthly luncheon I serve to a group of ladies who knit, I served up the second of my creations from the film, Marshmallow Mermaid Pie.  Not being an overwhelmingly huge fan of marshmallow (though cover it, or pretty much anything else, in chocolate and I'll eat it), I had my doubts about this one.  Would it taste as synthetic as the bagged marshmallows from which it had been made?  Would it be all fluff and no substance?  So I put it to the test with my ladies.  It overwhelmingly received thumbs up.  A festive looking pie, it is light and fluffy, but the grated chocolate makes it something special.  It is easy to make, needs to be made ahead (Yay for that!), and is the perfect light dessert for a summer luncheon or barbecue dinner.  Try it for yourself and let me know what you think.

Marshmallow Mermaid Pie

9 graham crackers

1/2 cup sweetened, flaked coconut, toasted

5 Tbs. butter or margarine, melted

34 large marshmallows (8 oz.)

1/2 cup whole milk

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 oz. unsweetened chocolate, grated

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine coconut and graham crackers in food processor until coarse crumbs form. Combine crumbs and butter with fork. Press to bottom and side of 9-inch pie plate. Bake 10 minutes and cool on wire rack. Heat marshmallows and milk in 3-qt. saucepan over low heat until smooth, stirring constantly. Remove saucepan from heat. Cool completely (30 minutes.) In large bowl with mixer at medium speed, beat cream until stiff peaks form. Fold marshmallow mixture into whipped cream with grated chocolate. Spoon filling into cooled crust. Refrigerate pie at least 3 hours or overnight. Top with mini marshmallows, maraschino cherries and rainbow sprinkles. 

This post is linked to:

Foodie Friday

Foodie Friday @ Little Brick Ranch

Food on Friday

Friday Favorites

Friday Fat Camp

I'm Lovin' It Friday
Sweet Tooth Friday

Rednesday

Napkin Fold Easter Baskets

The Lotus Napkin fold is fairly common, but I'm not sure I've seen it used in the way that I like to use it on Easter morning, namely as an Easter basket to house a chocolate bunny, chocolate eggs, and jelly beans for each one of my guests.  They fold up quickly and there is an excellent tutorial on how to achieve this look here (scroll down to #5 Lotus Napkin Fold).  Once you've turned all of your napkins into potential Easter baskets you only need to put them in place on your table and fill with Easter grass and goodies.  It makes for a stunning table and your guests will be enormously pleased (and very impressed) with your efforts.  One little tip, however, is to provide an additional napkin so these can just be lifted off of the plate and set to the side to be admired, undisturbed, during the meal.  At the conclusion of your brunch, lunch, or dinner, provide each guest with a colorful cellophane bag and twisty so they can package up their treats to take home.  I guarantee this is one meal they will never forget.

Placemat - World Market/Cost Plus

Blue Plate - Fiestaware

Green Ruffled Plate - Lotus Metlox

Flatware - Fiestaware

Glass - La Rochere

Candy - Lindt, Dove, Hershey

This post is linked to:

Wow Us Wednesday,  Tablescape Thursday, Show and Tell Friday, Friday Pretties, Home Sweet Home, Feather Your Nest Friday,

Open House Party and Table Top Tuesday

Cookie #3 Finger Sandwich Butter Cookies

This is the chocolate-filled version.

I love a good sandwich cookie during the holidays and find these are the first to disappear from the tray.  So tonight while waiting for dinner to come out of the oven I made this batch of cookies.  Yes, they were that quick and easy to make.

Hot from the oven, puffed and beautiful.

Jam-filled.

Finger Sandwich Butter Cookies

1 1/2 cups butter

1 cup white sugar

1 1/2 eggs

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 drops yellow food coloring

3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla and food coloring. Add dry ingredients and mix well.  Place dough in a pastry bag fitted with a #4 star tip, and pipe out in 2 inch bars on greased baking pan. (Can also be piped into rosettes or other shapes.)  Bake for about 5 to 7 minutes. Put baked cookies together with jam, frosting. or melted chocolate.

You and your guests will love them.  I guarantee!


This is linked to Tasty Tuesdays.