Cranberry Moscow Mule & Our NYE

Have you ever made a Moscow Mule?  I've always loved the look of them, but never attempted one.  This Christmas Mule recipe from Carolina Charm sold me.  It looked like the prettiest, tastiest drink for winter. She was right, it was delicious!

I'd highly recommend starting with Christina's recipe and then adjusting it for your own taste.

 

Here's our version of the Cranberry Moscow Mule:

2 oz vodka

1 oz real cranberry juice

splash of lemonade

fresh squeezed lime juice (one wedge per drink)

drizzle of honey

Pour it over ice.  Top it off with ginger ale and garnish it with pomegranates (fresh cranberries would also be fun but all our stores were out by NYE), lime wedge and fresh rosemary 

Directions:

Shake the first five ingredients really well and the pour over ice in a Moscow Mule cup.  

Add all the garnishes and serve.

Hilarious WARNING for you:  

Kevin and I made this drink for NYE after the kids went to bed.  He was being bartender and taking care of mixing our drinks.  He went through all the ingredients and added them all into the drink mixer.  We didn't think this through very well and learned a very important lesson - DO NOT SHAKE GINGER ALE.  Ask us why??  Because your drink shaker will EXPLODE and you'll have to shower all of the above ingredients off of yourself.  Turns out lime, cranberry, vodka and ginger ale really burn your eyes.  We have never laughed so hard at ourselves.  What a silly drink mishap.  Obviously, shaking a carbonated drink sounds like a bad idea, but in case that wasn't super clear, I hope it is now.

 

Tip: If you're in the market for Moscow Mule cups, shop around.  I found a set at Meijer for $19.99.  I grabbed them because they were the only set they had.  Then, I ran into Aldi and found a set for just $9.99!  They're just as nice and half the price.  I returned the Meijer set and will keep an eye out for the Crofton brand mule mug set to make a comeback in 2021.   

The rest of our NYE consisted of confetti poppers for the kids (thanks, Kev!) and a confetti canon that I said would have to wait.  It's been too wet and rainy here for that.  New Year's Eve baby!

We were in our pjs early, played games, watched part of a movie and only the grown ups stayed up to officially ring in the new year.  Here's to hoping 2021 will be a healthy, happy year for all of us.

Do you love Moscow Mules?  I'm excited to experiment with some different recipes this year.

3 Fresh Peach Recipes for Summer

Happy Friday!!  My kids have been sick so we had a low key week.  Thankfully, everyone is on the mend and I have several new recipes to share with you today.

My friend showed up at my door Sunday morning with a box of Georgia peaches for me!  It was such a fun surprise.  I couldn't wait to dig in.  I haven't been able to find delicious peaches all Summer so this was a real treat.  We ate them so many ways this week.  I can't wait to share these fresh peach recipes with you today.

I'm dying to know... do you peel your peaches??  I used to peel them, but now I don't have the patience for it.  I just eat the skin right along with the peach.  What do you do??

Fresh Peach Crisp
My husband LOVES apple crisp.  I knew I had to give peach crisp a go.  He declared this dessert "The best thing I have ever tasted!" and prompted put his name on the leftovers to reserve them for the following day.  It was that good!  We all loved it and it'll be a summer staple at our house.

The best part... it's really easy to make.

Ingredients:
4 peaches washed and sliced
3 T brown sugar
1 T sugar
1 t cinnamon
sprinkle of salt
1 T butter

Topping:
1/4 c quick cook oatmeal
1/2 c flour
1/2 c sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
6 T butter

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Directions:
Prep peaches.  Line a greased 9x9 pan with peaches.  Top with sugars, cinnamon, salt and dot with butter.  Mix topping in a small bowl until well combined and pour over peaches.  Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes (until topping is browned and bubbly)

Peaches A La Mode
Slice a peach, add a scoop of delicious vanilla bean ice cream and sprinkle on some ground cinnamon.  So good and such an easy dessert to throw together last minute.  This requires no baking and almost no cooking skills to pull off :)

Peach Lemonade
Muddle some peaches, add ice cubes, your favorite lemonade and peach slices.  Stir and enjoy!  It was so refreshing and delicious.

What do you do with peaches in the Summer?

I'd love to master a good fresh peach pie recipe, add some peaches to a salad, maybe try some peach muffins or peach jam.  Stay tuned...

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!

Linking up with Emily for Girl Chat,  My Glittery Heart

HighFiveforFriday, FiveonFriday, and Momfessionals

Kentucky Derby Party

The Kentucky Derby is coming up on May 5th and 6th and I love all the festivities surrounding it.  Olive loves horses so I think we'll have a fun, low key Derby party at home this year.  I'm sure she'll want to do some pretend horse races of her own.  I wanted to share some of my favorite Derby recipes with you today so you could get some ideas for  Derby party of your own.

CARROT CAKE CUPCAKES
I promised you this carrot cake recipe last week and here it is!  I figured since horses love carrots, it was the perfect treat to include in my Kentucky Derby post.  My whole family loved these and have been requesting I make another batch ASAP.  

Carrot Cake:

1 cup sugar

1/2 c oil

2 eggs

1 t vanilla

1/2 t salt

1 c flour

1/2 t baking soda

2 t cinnamon

2 cups grated carrots

Combine ingredients starting with the sugar and oil.  Add in eggs and vanilla.  Mix in dry ingredients and fold in carrots.  Bake at 325 for 18-22 minutes or until the cupcakes are set.  Let cool.  You could easily bake this mixture in bread pans, mini bundt pans or as a layer cake.  Cupcakes are just my go to since they bake so quickly.

Recipes Yields: 12 cupcakes

Icing:

Typically carrot cake is served with cream cheese frosting.  My husband doesn't care for that so I opted to make my Homemade Buttercream instead.  It was delicious on the carrot cake!

BLUSH LILY COCKTAIL

Kevin loves to make a good cocktail so it's fun to be his taste tester.  This Blush Lily was a delicious drink that would be perfect for a Derby party.  You can find all the drink details here.

DERBY PIE

How can you go wrong with a pie that includes chocolate chips and pecans??  You can't!  You can find the recipe here and I just know you'd love it!  I'm definitely planning on making one for my family for our Derby party and serving it with vanilla bean ice cream.

CHOCOLATE CHIP PECAN PIE BARS

If making a pie sounds intimidating, then these pie bars are for you!  They're really easy and delicious!  You can find my recipe here

What are your plans or traditions for Derby weekend??

It's time to link up with my favorite Tuesday Talk ladies,
Southern Plate and Momfessionals!

Be sure to join us with your best post of the week.

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An InLinkz Link-up

Thrifty Thursday: DIY Iced Mochas

My favorite way to save money these days is to

DIY an Iced Mocha for myself.

It's a great, affordable afternoon treat.

I love fancy frappuccinos, 

but I do not love the price tag of $5+ a pop.

I picked up this Mocha Iced Coffee at Kroger last week and it's delicious.

It's less than $4 a carton and it is soooooo gooooood.

You can have drinks for a week for less than one fancy drink at Starbucks.

It's the perfect chocolately  pick me up

and especially delicious with a cute straw in a mason jar.

So save yourself some serious cash this summer

and pick up some iced mocha to keep in your fridge.

Do you have any iced coffee secrets to share with me??

Derby Days

Did you know The Kentucky Derby is on Saturday?

I have always enjoyed the events surrounding the Derby.  

I've never been, but I love the hats, the fancy drinks and the traditions.

Since we aren't making a trip to The Derby this year,

we will be enjoying some Derby Pie and a Blush Lily to drink

while we watch some Derby coverage on TV.

 My husband is the drink maker at our house and I like my drinks heavy on the fruity side :)  The Mint Julep is the traditional Derby drink, but we went in a different direction.  Churchill Downs serves 120.000 mint juleps and 40,000 Oaks Lily cocktails on race day.  We found this Blush Lily recipe in our latest Southern Living magazine and made a few changes for our preferences.  The Blush Lily is a different spin on the traditional Oaks Lily cocktail served at the race.  

Our Blush Lily was delicious so I thought I'd share the recipe with you.

Blush Lily Recipe

Fill a cocotail shaker with crushed ice,

add 6 T cranberry juice

3 T vodka

2 T fresh lime juice

1 T Triple Sec

1 T sugar

This recipe makes 1-2 drinks so feel free to multiply the recipe

I'm also going to make a Derby Pie for us to enjoy this weekend.

My Mom's Pie Recipe

If I were going to The Derby,

I'd wear a hat like this one:

via Dillards

Do you do anything fun for Derby weekend?

Happy Derby Weekend to you :)