Tag: alcohol

ICC – Lemon Rosemary Cake and Martini

Well Dined | Lemon Rosemary Cake and Martini

Time for another Improv Cooking Challenge!  I haven’t done one in a couple months due to the holidays and not being super interested in the ingredients.  But this month the challenge was Rosemary and Lemon, and that pairing sounded great to me!  I was torn between a cocktail and a cake recipe, so I decided – why not do both?

Well Dined | Lemon Rosemary Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

The cake is light and fluffy from whipped egg whites, dotted with rosemary, and iced with a lemon cream cheese frosting.  Delicious.

Well Dined | Lemon Curd and Rosemary Martini

The martini is sweet (but not too much) and tangy, with a base not of rosemary.  Dreamy.

Well Dined | Lemon Rosemary Cake and Martini

Together they are absolutely perfect.  I don’t like overly sweet anything, and these were so well balanced.  I brought them to my book club and they were a huge hit (not an exaggeration, they were the most popular items I’ve ever brought).  Some of you may roll your eyes at the mention of a book club, but don’t worry – we aren’t the pretentious kind where everyone hates the books.  We are sci-fi, horror, and fantasy only and we have a great time! (more…)

Halloween Recipe Round-up

If you are in need of festive dishes, look no further!  I have collected my most relevant recipes onto one page for you.

Halloween Candy

Well Dined | Halloween Round-up

Halloween Candy Bark
Candy Corn Jello Shots

Apple Desserts

Well Dined | Halloween Round-up

Apple Oat Muffins
Salted Caramel Apple Hand Pies
Cheddar Apple Hand Pies

Black and Orange
More like green and orange, but you get the idea.

Well Dined | Halloween Round-up

Butternut Squash and Kale Mac and Cheese
Sweet Potato and Chard Gratin
Butternut Squash and Kale Pizza with Smoked Mozzarella and Bacon
Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna with Homemade Spinach Whole Wheat Noodles (more…)

Lemon Meringue Cocktail

Well Dined | Lemon Meringue Cocktail

It’s cocktail time!  Remember the Orange Creamsicle Cocktail?  Well, it was so popular that my friends wanted to make a similar cocktail, but Lemon Meringue Pie themed.  And I was happy to oblige!

Lemon Meringue Cocktail
a Well Dined original
makes 1 cocktail

3 oz lemon-lime soda
1 oz Limoncello liquor
1/2 oz whipped cream flavored vodka
1/2 oz marshmallow flavored vodka
1 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
whipped cream
ice

Add Limoncello, vodka, and sweetened condensed milk to a rocks or lowball style glass, stir to combine.

Add ice and soda, stir again. Top with whipped cream.

One Year Ago – Vegan Three Bean Chili
Two Years Ago – Cioppino
Three Years Ago – Mexican Style Quinoa Salad
Four Years Ago – Burgers and Layered Jell-o Shots
Five Years Ago – Summer Tomato Dishes

Vanilla Pudding Shots

Well Dined | Vanilla Pudding Shots

In my last post, I mentioned that one of the recipes that I wanted to make from my blog assignment, Pale Yellow, was Vanilla Pudding Shots.  Well, guess what? I made them!  And they were awesome (and STRONG).  I didn’t have little shot cups to put them in, so I just split the pudding among four cups for my friends.  I wasn’t able to finish mine, so be warned that they are strong!  You can mix more whipped cream in to dilute it.

Well Dined | Vanilla Pudding Shots

Just mix instant pudding mix with milk and flavored vodka, then fold in Cool Whip.  That’s it – so easy!  There is something about Cool Whip that helps stabilize things like this in a way that whipped cream can’t.  But feel free to whip your own cream and use that instead.  Top with more whipped cream and sprinkles and party on! (more…)

Sparkling Raspberry Cocktail

Well Dined | Sparkling Raspberry Cocktail

I’ve been working on another post about Miami Beach, but it has been taking longer than expected.  So, in the meantime, I’d like to share another cocktail with you!  I made this Sparkling Raspberry Cocktail for an Arbonne brunch party.

Well Dined | Sparkling Raspberry Cocktail

I used raspberry sorbet, a splash of raspberry merlot from my favorite local winery, and a sparkling rose.  Simple, beautiful, delicious.

One Year Ago – Lentil Salad with Walnuts and Herbs
Two Years Ago – Spanikopita Strudels
Three Years Ago – Barley Risotto with Asparagus
Four Years Ago – Spinach, Artichoke, and Chicken Casserole
Five Years Ago – Spring Shells and Cheese; Zucchini Pie

Orange Creamsicle Cocktail

Well Dined | Orange Creamsicle Cocktail

My friend made this Orange Creamsicle Cocktail for me and it was so good that I absolutely had to share it with you guys!  It is super easy to make and tastes EXACTLY like an orange creamsicle.  Enjoy!

Orange Creamsicle Cocktail
adapted lightly from Ann’s Entitled Life
makes 1 cocktail

3oz orange soda
1oz whipped cream flavored vodka
1 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
whipped cream
ice

Add vodka and sweetened condensed milk to a rocks or lowball style glass, stir to combine.

Add ice and orange soda, stir again. Top with whipped cream.

One Year Ago – Lentil Salad with Walnuts and Herbs
Two Years Ago – Spring Vegetable and Tortellini Salad
Three Years Ago – Easter Dinner 2013
Four Years Ago – Beefy Macaroni and Cheese
Five Years Ago – Couscous Dinners

Snickerdoodle Martini

Well Dined | Snickerdoodle Martini

I have a group of girlfriends that get together on a regular basis and take turns providing snacks and drinks.  A few of them have a mighty sweet-tooth (we call them hummingbirds); so I knew that when it was my turn to bring a cocktail, I wanted to make something sweet.  I found a quick and easy cocktail recipe that is sure to please lovers of sweets (especially cookies) – the Snickerdoodle Martini.  It also features one of my all-time favorite liquors, RumChata.

Snickerdoodle Martini
adapted from Dawn Nicole
serves 4

cinnamon sugar (I use 8 parts sugar to 1 part cinnamon, some people use 4:1)
honey
12 oz half and half
4 oz RumChata
4 oz vanilla vodka
2 tsp powdered sugar
dash cinnamon

Pour cinnamon sugar onto a small plate, and honey onto another.  Dip the rims of 4 glasses into the honey, then the cinnamon sugar.
In a cocktail shaker, pour remaining ingredients over ice.  Shake until chilled and mixed well.
Divide evenly among cinnamon sugar rimmed glasses and enjoy!

One Year Ago – Apple Galette with Salted Bourbon Caramel
Two Years Ago – Massaged Kale Salad; Broccoli Pesto
Three Years Ago – Mini Pie Party
Four Years Ago – Roasted Salmon with Grapefruit
Five Years Ago – Moussaka

Food ‘n Flix – Hocus Pocus (Candy Corn Jello Shots)

Well Dined | Candy Corn Jello Shots

This month’s Food and Flix selection was Hocus Pocus, hosted by The Lawyer’s Cookbook – a perfect flick for Halloween!  This movie came out when I was 8 years old, and I loved it.  I hadn’t seen it in years, and it was interesting going back and watching it as an adult – I still found it to be a lot of fun.  I also noticed that the director was Kenny Ortega – aka the director of High School Musical, ha!  My favorite character is definitely Sarah Jessica Parker, she is so goofy and I love her singing in this film.  Amok! Amok! Amok!

Well Dined | Candy Corn Jello Shots

Anywho, I had been wanting to make candy corn themed jello shots for a while, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity!  (Although, I despise actual candy corn – yuck.)  I didn’t like a lot of the recipes out there using orange and lemon jello, the flavors just didn’t seem right to me.  So I opted to start with a white liquor (Rumchata) and get my colors with food dye.  I added in some butterscotch schnapps for extra deliciousness, too.  I used equal amounts of each color, but that resulted in a really big white layer, so I have adjusted the amounts in the recipe below to better represent the appearance candy corn. (more…)

Red, White, and Blue Sparkling Wine Gelatin Mold

Well Dined | Red, White, and Blue Sparkling Wine Gelatin Mold

I hope everyone had a fun holiday – we certainly did!  We grilled and played games (these ones to be precise) and watched Jaws (the original, duh).  My special contribution (because there always has to be one) was this gorgeous gelatin mold with champagne and fresh berries.  It is light, refreshing, not too strong, and totally gorgeous.  It looks really impressive, but it’s actually pretty easy to make!

Well Dined | Red, White, and Blue Sparkling Wine Gelatin Mold

The base is sparkling wine (I used Prosecco), peach schnapps, plain gelatin, and a little sugar.  I’m trying to be really accurate in my title here, so I had to change it from “Champagne Jello Mold”, which was my first instinct.  Jello isn’t even a real word!  It’s Jell-o, a brand name that got appropriated to mean all gelatin (like Popsicle or Coke, if you live in the south). (more…)

Saint Patrick’s Day

My junior year of college I studied abroad in Galway, Ireland.  Well – not so much studied as occasionally stopped by classes.  It was an amazing semester and really cemented my love of everything Irish – culture, music, food, beer.  So even though St Paddy’s isn’t as big a deal in Ireland as it is here, I wanted to celebrate it in honor of the time I spent there.  And how do I celebrate holidays?  Dinner party!  So I loaded up a playlist with Flogging Molly, Young Dubliners, and The Corrs, and prepared to have some good craic.

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For the main course – Corned Beef with Colcannon (mashed potatoes with cabbage).  The great thing about this is that you can throw all the veg into the pot with the beef and let it all cook together – easy!  So I started by putting carrots, celery, potatoes, and an onion into the bottom of the pot.

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Mmm – veggies.  They can be rough chopped in big pieces because they will be discarded (except for the potatoes).  Since I was having people over I ended up doing two briskets – one in the slow cooker and one in a cast iron Dutch oven.  Same process, different cooking times.

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I laid the corned beef on top of the veggies, pickling spices included.  You should be able to find corned beef vacuum packed with pickling spices in your grocery store, especially around St Paddy’s.  I cut the cabbage into wedges and put them on top/to the side of the beef.  That is half of a head in the picture, the other half went into the Dutch oven with the other brisket. (more…)