Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label recipe. Show all posts

Friday, September 30, 2016

Frugal Fall Fun With My Favorite Hobby - Wine!




You know what’s really scary? There’s only 87 days left until Christmas. I don’t know about y’all but this is the exact time of year where I get SUPER excited for all of the fun social events coming up - wine festivals, apple picking, winery visits, Thanksgiving…did I mention wineries? But at the same exact time, I can literally feel my wallet running for cover.

During this time of year this is what I’m hoping my bank account looks like:



Here’s the reality of the situation:



There is good news here though! You can still maintain your social life and all that is wonderful about Fall without spending a fortune.

My first piece of advice – start tracking your expenses. We do this in my household and it really helps you see exactly where your money goes. There are awesome, free tools out there you can use like this one from Personal Capital. I know it’s hard to adult sometimes – but just do it.

One of my absolute favorite things to do is throw wine parties with my neighborhood friends. And you know what? You can totally do this on a budget! The first tip is to share the expense between everyone who shows up. Have each person (or couple) bring one bottle of wine and some sort of food to share. You’ll end up with an awesome spread and a ton of wine – without all the cost.

Since we are really focused on being frugal here though, put a rule in place that each bottle of wine must cost less than $10. I’m imagining many of you saying “TEN DOLLARS!? You must be crazy!” Trust me, when it comes to wine, I never lie. I spend many hours wandering up and down the aisles of wine at various stores and trust me – there are plenty of bottles of wine out there for under ten bucks.

First of all, I feel like this goes without saying but I’m going to put it out there. PLEASE do not bring any sort of Arbor Mist or Franzia to this party. Unless you are a legit, broke ass college student, this wine is unacceptable. You can do better. Here’s how:

Garnacha de Fuego



Rex Goliath Zinfandel



The Naked Grape Pinot Grigio




La Promenade Provence Rosé



Now that you’ve got the wine, here are a few ideas of delicious fall inspired recipes that won’t break the bank. You should easily be able to snag a bottle of vino plus food to share for less than $20 total!


Apple nachos



Pumpkin pie cheesecake dip



Pumpkin Pecan Baked Brie









Saturday, August 22, 2015

Recipe Alert - Strawberry Lime Moscato Punch


Sadly, summer is quickly coming to a close which means it’s almost Christmas, right? That’s what it looks like in the stores anyway. I always have mixed feelings about this time of year. I love summer because I love warm weather but fall is my favorite decorating/recipe time of year.


Since there are still a few glorious weeks of warm weather left, I wanted to share one last summer drink recipe with you. I recently made this recipe up for a neighborhood gathering I highly recommend you throw this together, go sit on your porch and soak up the last amazing rays of summer. I got this recipe from Real Housemoms so go check them out. The link to Pinterest is below so you can save it for later.


1.5 liter Moscato Wine
1 can frozen limeade concentrate (thawed)
1 cup strawberries diced
1 cup strawberries sliced
1 lime sliced
2 liter 7Up


This drink is so delicious and so ridculously easy to make but don't tell your friends because they will be super impressed with you!

Gather up all your ingredients


Now take your diced strawberries and 1/4 cup of the limeade concentrate and puree it together. The recipe says to thaw your concentrate but I didn't and it seemed to work out just fine!



Run your puree through a strainer directly into your pitcher to help remove most of the seeds. Then pour the Moscato and remaining Limeade concentrate into the pitcher.



The original recipe says to garnish with limes and strawberries and chill the mixture then add 7Up to each glass as you serve it. I opted for a different method since I was serving it immediately and it was delicious. I poured the entire 2 liter of 7Up into the pitcher then added sliced strawberries and limes. Then I added ice to give it an extra chill.



Now, serve in glasses and enjoy! 



Do you have any favorite drink recipes? I'm always on the lookout for new wine drinks so share away!


Thursday, July 2, 2015

Patriotic Picnic - Host your own for the 4th of July




It's hard not to get wrapped up in Patriotism and the Red, White and Blue during the 4th of July holiday. It's not just a day off work, it's a day to celebrate this awesome country that we live in.

Hopefully wherever you are, the weather isn't TOO hot to get outside and enjoy some sunshine. A backyard BBQ is the perfect excuse to get family and friends together and it's one of my favorite summer activities.

Now I'll admit something here to y'all - I'm a Pinterest ADDICT. I'm not exactly sure how my life was complete before Pinterest existed. It's an amazing place to gather ideas and find new ones. Other fellow Pinterest aficionados have come in to my house and immediately pointed out my many Pinterest inspired projects.

I love to get pretty much all of my entertaining ideas from Pinterest too. So here, I'll share some of my favorite ideas with you so that you can be the hostess with the mostess at your Patriotic Picnic this year!

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Summer Sangria - Make this Now!


The weather has definitely heated up around here so, I think it's safe to say that summer is officially here!

Anyone who knows the littlest bit about me knows I love wine. I mainly stick to reds which gets a lot tougher during the summer. When the weather is hot, you just want something cold and refreshing. A warm glass of Merlot doesn't usually do the trick.

One of my absolute FAVORITE things to drink during the hot summer months is Sangria. You just can't go wrong with a mixture of wine, sweet fruits and ice cubes.

I am a bit of a Pinterest addict and I have a ton of different Sangria recipes in my collection. This recipe I'm sharing with you now though is my most favorite Sangria of them all. It has the perfect amount of sweetness, yummy summer fruits and best of all - BUBBLES!