Category: Holiday + Party

Recipes for holidays, gatherings + parties

Peep Cake Pop Recipe

Leave a comment
Peep Cake Pop - Poor Girl's Guide Chicago

Peep Cake Pop – Poor Girl’s Guide Chicago

As part of our DIY Holiday + Party Kit series, we’re giving you some of our favorite (and cheap) ideas for Easter. Try these adorable “Hatching Chick” Peep Cake Pops this Easter.

Ingredients *Makes 24 cake pops

  • 1 Box Cake Mix (Your choice)
  • 1 Can Frosting (Your choice )
  • 2 boxes of white chocolate chips
  • 24 Cake pop sticks
  • 24 Peeps
  • Styrofoam block
  • Clear treat bags (if desired)

Instructions

  • Bake cake as instructed
  • Let cake cool
  • Crumble cake as small as possible in large bowl
  • Mix in frosting by hand slowly
  • Shape cake in to small ball/egg shapes, use an mini ice cream scoop if you have one
  • Roll the balls on to a plate covered in wax paper
  • Melt half the chocolate as instructed (double boil or microwave)
  • Dip half the ball in chocolate and place back on the plate with wax paper
  • Put them in the freezer for about 20 minutes
  • While pops are in the freezer, cut the faces off the peeps and set aside
  • Melt the remaining chocolate and place small amounts at a time in cup
  • Remove cake balls from freezer, place a stick in each
  • Dip cake balls carefully in to the cup of chocolate so they are fully covered
  • Let the excess chocolate drip off
  • Take the peep and place it on the front of the cake pop, push it lightly so it sticks
  • Place cake pops in the styrofoam block and put them in the freezer
  • Serve them as is or individually wrapped in clear baggies or treat bags

Continue reading →

Green Punch Recipes (Alcoholic)

Leave a comment
St. Patrick's Day Punch (poorgirlsguidechicago.com)

St. Patrick’s Day Punch (poorgirlsguidechicago.com)

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Hosting a party? We’ve got your green punch recipes covered! As part of our DIY Holiday + Party Kit series, we’re giving you our favorite St. Paddy’s Day punch recipes. 

Choose your liquor – champagne, vodka or whiskey – and check out the recipes below!

Green Champagne Punch:

Ingredients

  • 2 (1/4 ounce) packages lemon-lime Kool-Aid (powdered mix)
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 (46 ounce) can or jug of pineapple juice
  • 1 quart of cold water
  • 1 (2 liter) bottles ginger ale
  • 2 Bottles of champagne

Directions

  1. Chill liquid ingredients
  2. In a large punch bowl, mix the drink mix, sugar, pineapple juice and water (this makes A LOT of punch, depending on your punch bowl you can also split the batch and refill as needed)
  3. Add ginger ale and champagne

Continue reading →

Corned Beef & Cabbage Recipe

Leave a comment
Corned Beef And Cabbage Recipe (poorgirlsguidechicago.com)

Corned Beef And Cabbage Recipe (poorgirlsguidechicago.com)

As part of our DIY Holiday + Party Kit series, we’re giving you our favorite recipe for corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and carrots.

Corned Beef & Cabbage Recipe (poorgirlsguidechicago.com)

Corned Beef & Cabbage Recipe (poorgirlsguidechicago.com)

Ingredients

(These portions make 5 servings)

  • 3 pounds corned beef brisket with spice packet
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 1 teaspoon of black peppercorn
  • 5 tablespoons of spicy mustard
  • 10 small red potatoes
  • 5 carrots, peeled and cut into 3-inch pieces
  • 1 large head cabbage, cut into small wedges I also use a mixture of green and red cabbage for variety) Continue reading →

Recipe: Green RumChata Shots

Leave a comment
Green St. Patrick's Day Rum Chata (poorgirlsguidechicago.com)

Green St. Patrick’s Day RumChata (poorgirlsguidechicago.com)

Well folks, I don’t think this recipe can get an easier! As part of our DIY Holiday + Party Kit series, we’re giving you some of our favorite (easy and cheap) ideas for St. Patrick’s Day. This is a super quick way to add a little St. Paddy to your party.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 bottle of green food coloring
  • 1 750 ml bottle of RumChata

Directions:

  1. Pour half a bottle of green good coloring in to the RumChata bottle
  2. Close the lid tight and give it a shake (use more or less for the color green you desire)
  3. Chill, serve and enjoy!

————————————————-

This article is part of The D.I.Y. Holiday + Party Kit Series:

RECIPES:

4th of July Punch - Cranberry punch with blueberries

Red, White And Blue Punch Recipe

Leave a comment
4th of July Punch - Cranberry punch with blueberries

Red, White & Blue Punch

Add a a little something extra to your BBQ this  4th of July! Try this easy Red, White & Blue punch recipe- perfect for a summer get together.

With cranberry juice and blueberries, this punch is as festive as it is delicious!

Ingredients:

    • 4 cups cranberry juice
    • 1 1/2 liters of vodka
    • 4 cups pineapple juice
    • 2 liters ginger ale
    • blueberries to garnish


Directions:

Prep Time: 15 mins

Total Time: 15 mins

  1. Combine all ingredients except the ginger ale.
  2. Chill until serving time.
  3. Pour into punch bowl and add ginger ale

VIDEO: Red White And Blue Layered Drink Recipe

Leave a comment

 

 

Watch our how-to video for a quick demo on how to get the layered effect in this red, white and blue layered drink. Instructions and quantities are listed below. Cheers!

 

Red white and blue layered drink (Poor Girl's Guide Chicago)

Red white and blue layered drink (Poor Girl’s Guide Chicago)

SMALL BATCH / INDIVIDUAL DRINK RECIPE:

 

Ingredients:

 

Red= 

  • Hawaiian Punch OR
  • Cranberry Juice
  • *Mix alcohol here (optional, I use Vodka)

 

Blue =

  • Light blue Gatorade, watered down with any of these options….
  • Diet Sprite, Diet 7-Up, Soda Water, Plain Water

 

White = Ice

Quantities:

 

  • Red drink & Vodka mix = 1/3
  • Blue drink (75%) & water or clear diet drink to dilute it (25%)= 1/3
  • Ice = 1/3

 

For this drink, I use thirds to make it easy. The amounts will vary depending on how many you’re making and the size of the glasses.

 

Red white and blue layered drink (Poor Girl's Guide Chicago)

Red white and blue layered drink (Poor Girl’s Guide Chicago)

 

Instructions:

 

The key to this drink is the sugar levels. The more sugary drink will stay on the bottom and drink with less sugar will float to the top. Mix your alcohol in the red layer so the extra sugar will help keep it at the bottom. With the ice included, you’ll get the red, white and blue layered effect!

 

  1. In 1 cocktail shaker mix your desired red drink with alcohol if you’re using it. For 4 drinks, I use 6 shots of vodka and fill the rest of the cocktail shaker with cranberry juice or Hawaiian Punch
  2.  Pour red mixture in to empty glasses
  3.  Add ice so your cups are now 1/3 red, 1/3 ice. Use plenty of ice to act as a separator between the red and blue. Eventually the ice will float to the top.
  4.  In the 2nd cocktail shaker, mix 75% blue drink with 25% clear liquid, choices noted above
  5.  Pour blue drink SLOWLY directly over the ice to avoid mixing

 

*Garnish with American flag toothpicks, red or blue berries & enjoy!

 

 

 

LARGE BATCH / DRINK DISPENSER RECIPE:

 Ingredients:

  • Same as above

 

Quantities:

 

  • Red =  2 Liter or large bottle of cranberry or punch
  • Blue = 4 large light blue Gatorades, watered down 1/4 a liter of any of these options: Diet Sprite, Diet 7-Up, Soda Water, Plain Water
  • White = ice

 

Instructions:

 

  1. Same as above for small batch recipe
  2. Replace cocktail shakers with pitchers and pre-mix separately before pouring in to the dispenser
  3. Follow the same order – 1) red, 2) Ice 3) blue mix

 

Valentine’s Day Drink Recipes

Leave a comment

Whether you’re staying in or going out this Valentine’s Day, we’ve gathered up some great Valentine’s Day drink recipes. Part of our DIY Holiday + Party Kit series.

Try these at home or at the local hot spots below!

Darling Clementine

Ketel One Oranje vodka
Strawberry puree
Lemon juice
Champagne

Instructions:

All items are combined in a shaker then strained into a flute, then topped with champagne.

Credit: James Brown, Market Bar Chicago, www.marketbarchicago.com

Strawberry Kiss
– 1 1/2 oz. Absolut Vanilia
– 1/2 oz. strawberry liqueur
– Splash of CranPineapple juice

Instructions:

Combine ingredients and top with champagne.

Credit: Absolut, www.absolut.com

The Stag

Makers Mark
Chartreuse
St Germain
Lime

(served rocks)

Credit: Christina Santarelli, ROOF, www.thewithotel.com

The Looker

Ketel Citroen
St Germain
Crème de Violette
Orange
Lemon

(served in a flute)

Credit: Christina Santarelli, ROOF, www.thewithotel.com


(credit: absolut.com)

Cherry Crush
2 Parts ABSOLUT KURANT
2 Dashes Lime Juice
1 Part Cherry Puree
2 Whole Cherry

Instructions:
Fill a shaker with ice cubes. Add all ingredients. Shake and strain into a chilled rocks glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with cherry.

Credit: Absolut, www.absolut.com

Passionate Affair

(credit: greygoose.com)

A Passionate Affair

1 1/2 parts GREY GOOSE® L’Orange Flavored Vodka
1 1/2 parts cranberry juice
1/2 part passion fruit
6 raspberries
1 tsp sugar syrup
1/2 part fresh lime juice

Instructions:

In a cocktail shaker, mix the seeds and pulp from half a passion fruit. Add the
other ingredients with plenty of ice and shake hard. Strain through a fine sieve into
a martini glass and garnish with raspberries.

Tips:
Experiment with limes from different parts of the world and notice how the flavor
of the drink changes in subtle ways.

Credit: Grey Goose, www.greygoose.com

Femme Fatale

1 3/4 part Grey Goose Original

1/3 Gancia Americano

1/3 part lychee juice

1/2 part raspberry puree

1/3 part Chambord

1/2 part lemon juice

2 drops of Rose water

Instructions:

Add all ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with cubed ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a rocks glass filled with cubed ice. Serve with a black rose.

Credit: Grey Goose, www.greygoose.com


-Cheers!