thanksgiving

Easy 3 Ingredient Cranberry Gimlet

December 1, 2017 by Natalie 1 Comment

The best part about Thanksgiving I think is the leftovers. Pilgrim sandwiches, tiny feasts, pie for breakfast, and post-holiday cocktails. For the third Thanksgiving in a row, I’ve made my Cranberry Harvest Punch and it’s always a hit! I had leftover cranberry spiced syrup so I made this Easy 3 Ingredient Cranberry Gimlet.

I love using cranberries in cooking, baking, and cocktails during the holiday season. Cranberries have such a short season that I usually freeze a few bags to last me the rest of the winter. After December it’s really hard to find fresh ones. You can consider this a warning. You’re welcome!

Cranberry Gimlet, serves 1

2 oz. gin
1 oz. lime juice
3/4 oz. spiced cranberry syrup (recipe here)

After making your syrup let it cool completely. Add all your ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice and shake. Strain into your desired serving vessel. Usually, a gimlet is served up in a coupe glass but you can serve it on ice in a double rocks glass as well. I used these festive carnival punch glasses from my punch set. Garnish with fresh cranberries, rosemary, lime wheel, and a cinnamon stick. I’m a big fan of the elaborate garnish!

The cranberry syrup is super easy to make and tastes amazing! I love using it in replacement of simple syrup like I did here with this Easy 3 Ingredient Cranberry Gimlet. You can also use it in a daiquiri, tom collins, or any other classic cocktail that calls for simple syrup. This means the possibilities are endless! Also, if you have any leftover cranberry sauce please feel free to add a barspoon. I love adding jam or preserves to cocktails to add flavor and texture.

You can make this Easy 3 Ingredient Cranberry Gimlet to order or batch it if you’re having company. I love easy recipes that double as large format drinks for the holidays. Just multiply the recipe by the number of drinks you want to make and serve it in a punch bowl or pitcher with some ice. Easy peasy lime squeezy.

Thanksgiving Fall Tablescape Ideas

November 15, 2017 by Natalie

Every year it always surprises me how quickly it goes from Halloween to Christmas. Even in retail stores, they seem to totally skip over Thanksgiving all together. It makes the time move too fast and I wish it would slow down so we could enjoy each holiday just a little bit longer. Thanks to Kate Aspen I’m showing you some Thanksgiving Fall Tablescape Ideas that are easy, beautiful and sure to impress your holiday guests.

Beautiful doesn’t even do this tablescape justice. I have thoroughly impressed myself! This is the first holiday that I live in a space big enough to entertain in so I’m super excited. For the table, I wanted it to have lots of colors but still be seasonally appropriate. I picked up some bundles of small pumpkins at my local grocery store and painted them with acrylic paint I already had. I wanted to do somewhat of an ombé look for the pumpkins so I did hot pink, light pink, coral, orange, and yellow. Then I accented them with these Kate Aspen gold glitter pumpkin votive holders. They’re so cute and sparkly and look perfect next to the painted pumpkins.

Since a lot of my table accessories were gold I wanted a pop of color for the place settings. I used white and gold-rimmed dinner plates with vintage green and gold-rimmed appetizer plates and white and gold bread plates. The green plates accent the greenery in the centerpiece as well very nicely. I picked up the foliage from a local flower shop and the bundle was only $5. Super affordable and really worthwhile to make a memorable tablescape. Underneath I layered two different table runners to add more color and texture. You can use a tablecloth and runner or even placemats.

I used white napkins with gold polka dots and these really cute Kate Aspen pumpkin napkin rings. Are you sensing a theme here? I also used these super cute gold pumpkin place card holders. Here is where I wish I excelled in cute penmanship. My handwriting has been epically bad my whole life. In college, my drafting professor used to give me special assignments where all I had to do was practice my block lettering inside these elaborate shapes. All that did was train me to only know how to write in architecture handwriting. Years later it’s just morphed into me writing messy in all caps. We can’t be good at everything, can we?

No holiday dinner is complete without some wine. Using something as simple as decorative bottle stoppers like these pumpkin ones make them fit in with your table decor. I always like to have a variety of wine available because everyone has different taste. I’m usually a white wine drinker but having another bottle of red on hand is always good. I absolutely adore these cheers stemless wine glasses. They’re perfect for any occasion.

I’m so happy that I got to share my Thanksgiving Fall Tablescape Ideas with you. It was really easy to put together and styling your table makes a huge impact for entertaining. All of the things included in my Thanksgiving Fall Tablescape Ideas are super affordable as well which is a huge plus! Decorating and hosting can get pricey during the holidays so it’s great to find ways to still get festive on a budget. If you’re still planning your Thanksgiving table make sure you head over to the Kate Aspen website and check out all their party favors and tabletop decor.

I had so much fun styling this table and I can’t wait to host my first Thanksgiving. I’d love to hear whats on your Thanksgiving table. Let me know is the comments below! If you need more inspiration I’ve pinned all of these items plus more inspiration on my Tablescape Board and Thanksgiving Ideas Board on Pinterest. Cheers everyone!

Cranberry Harvest Punch

November 20, 2016 by Natalie Leave a Comment

Hello Everyone!

I bet you’re all getting ready for Thanksgiving this week. Ethan and I are both working the night before and we decided we’re staying home this holiday, which is exciting because we just gave the kitchen some updates and I love a good excuse to bake a pie (and make some cocktails). I wanted to post a cocktail for this week that was really festive and seasonal for everyone to make and enjoy with their loved ones. I’m so happy with this recipe because it’s so yummy and perfect for any Thanksgiving celebration. My Cranberry Harvest Punch can easily be made for a few or many, with some prep beforehand. Bourbon, lemon, apple cider, and mulled cranberry syrup. YEP! I said mulled cranberry syrup and it is so delicious I may just use it on everything! Pancakes? Ice Cream? Iced Tea? PIE? Who knows! What I do know is you’re all defintely going to enjoy sipping on a few of these.

First things first, you will need fresh cranberries, so if you’re making fresh cranberry sauce buy some extra for the syrup. I basically made a rich demerara sugar syrup (1:1) with fresh cranberries and brought it to high heat and then let it simmer with mulling spices. It’s super easy and didn’t take long at all and the rest of the ingredients are very easy. Make a batch in a pitcher or a punch bowl and all the work is done! You can also serve this drink warm. Just add all ingredients to a pot and heat until warm or you can keep it in a crockpot. Sip and enjoy.

This year was a hard year with the passing of my father, but it was also a very exciting year filled with promise and new opportunites. I consulted on The Archer, started the blog, got a studio space, had a lot of great press thrown my way and have gained many new clients. I am truly thankful for all the positive things and all the support anyone has given me. I’m looking forward to the holiday season and doing great things in the new year! Cheers to each and every one of you reading this and I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving.

Cranberry Harvest Punch (for 1)

2 oz. Bourbon (I used Wild Turkey)

3/4 oz. Lemon Juice

2 oz. Apple Cider

3/4 oz. Mulled Cranberry Syrup

Add all ingredients to tin, shake on ice, serve up in your desired glassware, and garnish with cranberries and a sprig of rosemary.

Cranberry Harvest Punch (for 8-12 ppl)

1 Bottle of Bourbon (I used Wild Turkey)

9 oz. Lemon Juice

3 cups of Apple Cider

9 oz. Mulled Cranberry Syrup

Add ingredients to pitcher or punch bowl and serve cold or hot.

Mulled Cranberry Syrup

2 cups Cranberries

2 cups Water

2 cups Demerara Sugar (I use Florida Crystals)

1/4 tsp. Cloves

2 Allspice Berries

2 Cardamom Pods

1 Star Anise

1 Cinnamon Stick

4 Black Peppercorn

Long orange peel

Combine all ingredients to pot, simmer so that all sugar dissolves, bring to high heat until cranberries become soft (about 10 minutes). Let cool and strain into bottle or jar.

Country Village

November 12, 2016 by Natalie Leave a Comment

Hey everyone! We’re a little less than 2 weeks away from Thanksgiving and I bet you’re planning all of your meals and cocktails if your hosting at your house for the holiday or friendsgiving. I’ll be sharing some delicious fall cocktail ideas in the mean time and I’m starting off with my Country Village cocktail. I developed this drink for the fall menu over at The Archer. It has Reposado Tequila, Fig infused Sweet Vermouth, Licor 43, and Chocolate Bitters. It’s stirred and boozy but also has a lot of desserty qualities which makes it perfect as an after dinner drink (especially if your serving some pie).

The fig infused sweet vermouth had some trial and error but I’ve figured out how to do it so that you can achieve the most flavorful (and easy) results. At first I got really excited when I found fresh figs, so I cut some up and threw them in a cup of vermouth and let it sit, periodically tasting it to see how much longer it would need. I wound up letting it sit for 24 hours and honestly wasn’t happy with the outcome. The problem with fresh figs is that they have a very short season, usually late summer to early fall, and then they disappear. This was a problem because I was developing it for a menu and I need ingredients to be available and consistant on a regular basis.

I decided to try making the vermouth infusion with dried figs instead. I knew I could always get them, we could order them in large quantities, and they would also make a delicious garnish! If this didn’t work I was going to have to go back to the cocktail development drawing board. I did a handful of dried figs in a cup of vermouth and within hours I was already getting a better product than the first time around. I didn’t even let it sit over night because the infusion had already developed such a nice flavor. I let it sit for about 5-6 hours covered, but keep tasting and if you’d prefer a stronger flavor you can let it sit longer. When your happy with the result strain the vermouth into a bottle, keep refrigerated.