Drink Recipes: Cocktails, Coffee, & More | finding time for cooking

Over the past few years I’ve become enamored with making my own delicious cocktails and other drinks. From a super simple gimlet to a slightly more complex punch (or even a sour or fizz with frothy egg whites), I’ve learned to love experimenting with different flavors and spirits and have started a pretty impressive list of cocktail recipes (particularly featuring gin and whiskey).

But let’s not forget mocktails and even more importantly other types of non-alcoholic drinks…especially delicious coffee drink recipes. From my best iced coffee ever to healthy smoothies to trying out different simple syrup flavor combinations, I’ll admit that quite a bit of my caloric intake is liquid!

Not sure where to start?? Here are a few of my fave cocktail recipes to begin with…

You can see the full list in my recipe index or a more visual index here, or you can browse through the archives below.

Rosemary Simple Syrup For Cocktails

January 12, 2019

Friends, we are now venturing into a new realm of foodie-ism. The world where we think of delicious flavors to add to cocktails and then MAKE IT HAPPEN.

Not a bad world, amirite???

Ever since moving to Louisville for my new job and working on spirit brands like Woodford Reserve, Tequila Herradura, and Old Forester, I’ve been introduced to a much wider world of awesome cocktails…new flavors, types of ingredients, ways of preparing, and so much more.

I’m fascinated by all the new combinations that are out there. And now that I’ve dipped my toe in by making old fashioneds at home (using pre-made syrup that’s amazing), I feel like I can try and branch out more on my own.

So when I saw this recipe for rosemary simple syrup, I was intrigued. I happened to have some rosemary sitting in my fridge, so on a whim I got up off the couch and put the saucepan on the stove.

And five minutes later (plus 20 minutes of steeping on its own), I had my own homemade rosemary simple syrup. I felt like a magician.

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It’s actually way better than it sounds… (Spinach Pineapple Smoothie)

July 20, 2012

I’ve been feeling the need to detox a little. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not doing any of that crazy stuff like drinking only lemon juice and cayenne pepper or anything. It’s just that between the long work hours, lack of sleep, some weekend trips, and general meh-ness, I’ve been feeling pretty blah lately.

I was browsing Pinterest for recipes and found a bunch of different smoothies, which just struck my fancy for some reason. This spinach pineapple smoothie in particular jumped out at me, which is weird because I’ve never had a green smoothie. And I know the spinach makes it looks so weird, but it’s actually really good. The pineapple and banana are plenty sweet and you don’t taste the spinach at all. So I’ve been drinking it every day for over a week, and am loving it.

And now for the good news:

When blended really well, the combination of low calorie foods mixed with fiber and antioxidant-rich ingredients means your body doesn’t need to work as much because the food is already broken down. This allows key nutrients to flood the body better than if the food were eaten whole and separately. Additionally, spinach is a nutritional powerhouse full of vitamins A and K, as well as iron, folate, calcium, and lutein. The pineapple is a vitamin C star, which helps the body absorb the iron in the spinach—which for someone like me who is always low on iron & vitamin C, it’s a 1-2 punch of awesome. Sign me up!

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Pioneer Woman’s Perfect Cold Brew Coffee

April 26, 2012

I’m fairly new to cold brew coffee. Actually, by most people’s standards I’m fairly new to coffee altogether. My parents drink gallons but it never appealed to me (beyond the smell, which is awesome mixed with amazing)—that is until a visit in Italy in ’08. We had church every morning at 10:00 a.m. and between jet lag and staying up late, we were desperate for a pick-me-up at breakfast. Enter Lewlo, our awesome waiter/concierge, who hooked us up with as much free delicious cappuccino as we could put in our bellies. And I’ve been in love ever since.

I normally drink the Nespresso at work (with a raw sugar packet, in case you care), but we also have Keurig machines so I’d tried making iced coffee a few times when the hot brew wasn’t doing it for me. Unfortunately, it was super watered down and just…OFF. Then I read about the Pioneer Woman’s cold brew coffee recipe and it made perfect sense. I’ve tried it a couple times now and overall it’s awesome, plus I’ve found a couple twists that work for me.

The best part? For the price of a venti Starbucks iced latte, you can make 2-3 weeks’ worth of cold brew coffee for yourself—$4 or so for the coffee, a tiny bit for milk & sugar, and you’re good to go with iced coffee for dayyyyyyyys.

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