K Sarah Designs

Thirsty Treats // Moscow Mules

Two weekends ago, I was in San Francisco and had an awesome moscow mule at Paragon bar & restaurant... in fact, it was so good, I was determined to make one just like it! Their version has a super strong (almost spicy) ginger taste, which was balanced with a slight sweetness & a dash of tart lime.

It was so crisp & delicious, and was simultaneously refreshing enough to be a nice summer drink, and spicy enough to be a great fall & winter drink. Basically, if you like ginger, it's a great drink to enjoy all year round.

Anyway, in my mission to re-create their version, I decided to brew my own ginger beer. This is super easy to do, and I think really adds that fresh (and strong) ginger flavor - of course, if you're short on time or just want to buy some, D&G Old Jamaica or Cock'n Bull are you're best bets.

Hope you enjoy!

Ginger Beer Recipe
adapted from this recipe

- 1 quart water

- 3-4 oz. ginger, unpeeled and finely grated

- 1/2 oz. fresh lime juice

- 2-3 Tbsp. sugar (I used a mixture of white & brown sugar)

Bring the water to a boil, and remove from heat. Add in the grated ginger & lime juice. Cover the pan and let sit for one hour. After an hour, pour the ginger & water mixture into a pitcher through a fine mesh sieve, pressing the ginger with a spoon to get all of the liquid out. Add the sugar to the ginger brew and stir thoroughly until it's completely dissolved. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Moscow Mule Recipe

- 1/2 oz. fresh lime juice

- 3 oz. homemade ginger beer

- 2 oz. diet ginger ale (Canada Dry, Schweppes, or Vernors would all work)

- 1.5-2 oz. vodka

- sprig of mint & lime wedge for garnish

Squeeze the fresh lime juice into a glass. Fill with ice & pour the vodka, ginger beer, and diet ginger ale into the glass. Give it a stir and garnish with lime wedge & a sprig of mint. Enjoy!

HAPPY HAPPY FRIDAY! Have a terrific weekend!

Golden Accessories // For the Home

I love decorating with metallic accents. Gold, silver, chrome, or brass - they all are a great way to add some sparkle to a space.

I'm especially loving gold accents right now - here are some of my current faves:

1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 

Tasty Eats // Spicy Buffalo Chicken Dip

Fall is by far my favorite time of year. I love everything about it - the crisp, cool air, bundling up in scarfs & lots of layers, drinking hot cider & hot chocolate, baking all kinds of fall treats... the list goes on and on.

Of course, as I've mentioned before, Fall also means that college football has arrived! And in my mind, this means a whole season of rooting on the Cal Bears, tailgating, good beer, and delicious food :)

One of my favorite foods to bring to tailgates are dips, so I thought I'd share some of my favorite dip recipes throughout the Fall.

I'm starting with one of my favorites: Spicy Buffalo Chicken Dip. It's so tasty, and is always a huge crowd pleaser (you can always tell when it's one of the first foods to disappear).

It has all of the best elements of chicken wings - the spicy & tangy sauce, chicken, celery & blue cheese crumbles - and it's served piping hot with celery sticks & tortilla chips. Quite simply, it's absolutely delicious & totally addictive.

Here's how you make it:

Spicy Buffalo Chicken Dip

- 1 1/2 cups light Cream Cheese, softened

- 1/2 cup buffalo wing sauce (such as Franks hot wing sauce)

- 2 cups chopped chicken (I use the white meat of a rotisserie chicken - it's easy, already cooked, and already tasty, but you can easily use leftover cooked chicken breast or whatever you have on hand)

- 1 green onion, finely diced

- 3/4 cups chopped celery

- 1/2-3/4 cups crumbled blue cheese (depending on how much blue cheese flavor you want)

- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese 

Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, mix the softened cream cheese with the hot sauce until combined. Add all other ingredients and mix together. Transfer the dip to a baking dish and bake for 30 minutes, or until bubbly. Serve with tortilla chips and celery sticks. Enjoy!

*As a side note, I find it kind of funny that this recipe totally fits in with my neon & neutral post from yesterday - that was completely unintentional on my part, I promise... I don't normally make a habit of eating neon food, but this one is so worth it!