Key Lime Pie Martini and the Weekly Menu #SummerCocktails

This sweet and tart cocktail is served in a glass rimmed with toasted coconut and crushed graham crackers providing all the flavors of your favorite pie in liquid form.

Cheers!!  We are sharing Summer Cocktails.......

Winter White Cosmopolitan #SundayFunday

Start your Holiday gathering with this delicious Winter White Cosmopolitan.  Similar to the original but using White Cranberry Juice and garnished with Candied Cranberries.

The Sunday Funday Bloggers are Spreading Christmas Cheer today......

Friday Night Cocktail and The Weekly Menu

This cocktail is the official drink of Catalina Island according to their website.  I learned of it when making a cake named after the cocktail.  I shared the recipe for Buffalo Milk Swiss Roll on Tuesday.  When reading about this cocktail, I noted that we had all the ingredients needed and asked Frank to make us one to try.

They were delicious so I decided to make the cake for our daughter's birthday and to start the celebration with these drinks.

Eggnog White Russian #SundayFunday

Enjoy this Holiday twist on a classic cocktail by using Eggnog in place of the cream in your White Russian.

The Sunday Funday Bloggers are sharing Eggnog recipes today....Cheers!!

A Holiday Cocktail and the Weekly Menu including Christmas

Be Cheered; It is Christmastime........

And we are serving up Candy Cane Kahlua and Cream Cocktails......

Cheers to Fall; an Apple Cider Martini

 The last couple of gatherings we have had, we have started the night off with a wonderful fall cocktail. 

It has been a big hit with all who have tried it.  The tartness of the apple cider, flavored with Grand Marnier and a little Maple Syrup is a wonderful combination.

Harvey Wallbanger for Shoulder Season

 This iconic cocktail was all the rage in the 1970's.  I remember my folks enjoying them but I was still too young to partake and by the time I was old enough they were no longer in fashion.

I was reminded of this cocktail while reading Shoulder Season when vacationing in Cabo earlier this month.  When we got home, Frank looked up the recipe and we toasted having the resources to go on a wonderful vacation and having a perfect home to which to return........

Blue Milk Cocktail #FoodieExtravaganza

Cheers and May the Fourth be with you!!!!  This cocktail was inspired by the Blue Milk served in the first original Star Wars Movie.  Are you impressed that I know this?  Don't be.....I got this information from our second son, Tony, who is not only a Star Wars afficionado but also a bartender by trade.

The Foodie Extravaganza Crew are celebrating May the Fourth with Star Wars inspired recipes.......

A French Martini to help me through The French Dispatch #MoviesandMunchies

The French Martini was not created in France.  It was created in the 1980's in a bar in New York City and called a French Cocktail because it contains Chambord, a raspberry liqueur from France.

I was inspired to have Frank make this Martini while watching our Movies and Munchies film this month......

Affogato Martini #SundayFunday

This wonderful cocktail is not only the perfect after dinner drink, it is also your coffee and dessert.  So good.  The perfect ending to your next adult dinner party or date night.

It's Sunday Funday.....come see what our Bloggers are sharing........

Vodka Collins #KitchenMatrixCookingProject

This cocktail is perfect for hot summer weather.  It is cold, bright, sparkling and refreshing.

This is the final July recipe of the Kitchen Matrix Cooking Project.....Cheers!!

Perfect Harmony Cocktail #CocktailParty

We hosted our Choir Christmas Party last Thursday.  We have our final practice before Christmas at one of the members homes.  Everyone brings a dish, we eat, drink, socialize and practice the songs we will be singing before Mass when we have the carol sing along and during Mass when we celebrate the birth of our Savior.

It is always a good time and we love hosting.  Frank always tends bar.  His Milky Way Martinis are always the most requested at this party.  I think folks wait all year long to enjoy these dessert like drinks.

This year our friend, John, had Frank make him a drink that he had enjoyed at a party over the weekend.  This party had hired a bartender and he had prepared a drink using vodka, orange juice, cranberry juice and grenadine.  The bartender said he didn't know what the name of the drink was but John really enjoyed it.

Friday, we spent the day cleaning up after the party, finishing our Christmas shopping and running errands.  That evening, after dinner, Frank made up the cocktail he had been serving John and told me the story behind it.

The cocktail was delicious and I was thrilled because as I was sipping away I remembered that my friend Ellen, of Family Around the Table, was hosting a Cocktail Party today!!

I love when life works out like that.  I hadn't originally planned on attending this party.  I had the special edition of Muffin Monday posting going live today and it is Day 3 of Countdown to 2018.

I thought that was plenty enough on my plate, or in my glass as the case might be.  However, I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth.  I enjoyed the cocktail with Frank and then put him to work making us another so that I could get photos.....well, actually, he took the photos too.  He is wonderful like that!

While we enjoyed our second cocktail we started trying to think of a name.  Frank thought of Harmony since it was discovered during the choir party....I added the Perfect and when you try  this cocktail you will see why.

Perfect Harmony Cocktail

1 jigger vodka
3 oz. orange juice
3 oz. cranberry juice
splash of grenadine
orange slice and maraschino cherry for garnish, if desired

Fill a shaker full of ice.  Add the vodka and both juices.  Shake to combine and strain into an ice cube filled glass.  Drizzle in the grenadine, it will sink to the bottom giving you the red layer.  Garnish and serve. Print Recipe

More Cocktails and Mocktails

   

• Cranberry Apple Cider Sparkler by The Redhead Baker
    
• Cranberry Key Lime Mimosa by Family Around the Table
   
• Mincemeat Manhattan by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
   
• Sparkling Cranberry Sangria by Bear and Bug Eats
   
• Strawberry Ginger Champagne Cocktail by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
   

Orange Vodka and Tonic ala By the Pounds; Don't Judge Me Mondays #FoodBloggerLove

Hi and Welcome to #FoodBloggerLove.  We are a group of food bloggers who, led by Allison of The PinterTest Kitchen, are assigned another blogger to track and learn more about.  I was assigned Rachel of By the Pounds for this event.  Interested in joining us for the next event?  Let Allison know at our Facebook page

I was not familiar with Rachel's blog and I am so happy to have been given this assignment.  Rachel is a relatively new blogger, since April of last year and she is a girl after my own heart.  You know what she blogs about?

Well, food, of course....she has a recipe page that is broken up into categories.  Breakfast.....Bruleed French Toast anyone?  Cocktails...yep a whole section just for cocktails!  Desserts, including this Chocolate Orange Layer Cake that is going to make an appearance in this household very soon. Main dishes like these fun Chili Fritos that would be great followed up with this Blackberry and Watermelon Salad.  Rachel had this under salads but wouldn't it be a great light dessert? Rachel finishes up her page as we often finish up our day...with Snacks.

Rachel also hosts a book club, I told you we were soul-mates.  Each month she shares not only a review of the book they read but the recipe for the cocktail she served and the menu of her dinner with at least one recipe.  My kinda girl!!

But, my favorite part of Rachel's blog?  Her Don't Judge Me Monday posts.  Each Monday, Rachel shares a new cocktail that she has developed.  Of course, this is my favorite category......don't judge me!

You knew, as soon as I said Rachel had a cocktail section, that I was going to choose to make a drink recipe.  This drink did not come from her Don't Judge Me Monday's section, but rather from her Book Club section.  Rachel served Orange Gin and Tonics, when she hosted their review of Girl on a Train.  I have also read and reviewed this book.  You can read my review in this post.

I made one slight adaptation to this recipe, using vodka instead of gin.  We are vodka drinkers and had no gin in the house.  I actually had 3 of these one evening while eating popcorn and watching our Food n Flix selection, Pan's Labyrinth.  Then, the other night, when we took our daughter out for dinner for her birthday, when I ordered up my usual vodka tonic, I asked for them to add a splash of oj.  I have found a new favorite cocktail.  Thanks Rachel!!

Orange Vodka Tonic

adapted from By the Pounds

1 oz. fresh squeezed orange juice

1 1/2 vodka

tonic to fill glass

orange wedge, for garnish

Fill a rocks glass with ice.  Add the juice, vodka and enough tonic to fill glass, Garnish with an orange wedge.

Please stop by and show some love to all of these wonderful blogs.

An InLinkz Link-up

Let's ring in the New Year with Stirrings and a Michigan Cherry Lemonade!

Yes, I know it is the last day of the year.  Yes, I know I live in Michigan.  Yes, I know it is cold outside.  Yes, I know Lemonade is a wonderful summertime drink. But....if you are lucky enough to be me this New Year's Eve, then you are spending the evening in a hot tub with your favorite person to ring in the New Year.

The good folks over at Stirrings invited me to join in their "Stir It Up Holiday Blogger Mixology Challenge".  In return for joining the challenge, in which we were charged to create a "Simply Better Cocktail", we received our choice of two Cocktail Mixers and two Cocktail Garnishes to be used in the creation of an original cocktail.

I chose Blood Orange and Lemontini mixers and Cosmopolitan and Margarita rimmers to use in my creation.  I ended up using the Lemontini mixer and Cosmo rimmer in this recipe that I am sharing with you today.

Here in Michigan we are famous for our Cherry Crops. We also have many wineries, breweries and distilleries, all of which make use of our cherry harvest.  I had a bottle of Cherry Vodka in my bar from one of our trips north this past summer.  I knew that it would pair perfectly with the Lemontini mixer and decided to make a Michigan Cherry Lemonade.

This drink is a light and refreshing cocktail that can be enjoyed on a hot summer day in the pool or on a cold winter's night in the hot tub.  It is also a perfect drink to serve up at your next party.

Stirrings products are widely available throughout Michigan and the country at local party stores, liquor stores, wine shops and grocers including Meijer, Value Market and Plum Market.  You can find a complete listing of all the stores that sell their products by going to the store locator site.  Follow Stirrings on Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook.  Disclosure:  I did receive free product from Stirrings for use in this contest.  I did not receive any monetary compensation for this post.  All opinions are mine alone and based solely on my experience with this product.

Michigan Cherry Lemonade

an original creation from A Day in the Life on the Farm

1 jigger Cherry Vodka

1 jigger Simple Syrup

1 jigger Stirrings Lemontini Mixer

Club Soda

Ice

Stirrings Cosmopolitan Rimmer

Lemon slice

Place the vodka, simple syrup and lemontini mixer into a cocktail shaker and shake until well blended. Rub the lemon slice along the rim of a tall glass and dip into the Cosmopolitan rimming mixture.  Fill the glass with ice. Pour the lemontini mixture over the ice and add club soda to fill the glass.  Garnish with a lemon slice and serve.  Print Recipe