Dahlia DeWinters – Author – Page 18 – Quirky Heroines, Happy Endings

Holiday Drinks

It’s Christmas Eve! Many of us are cooking with family, hanging out with friends or maybe enjoying a few days of peace. Whether you celebrate or not, it doesn’t matter – you can still enjoy these holiday-themed drinks!

Holiday Sangria

Author: Rachelle Lucas

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 10 mins

Total time: 20 mins

Serves: 8-10

A very easy recipe to make and share during holiday parties or to bottle and give as a gift.

Ingredients

2 bottles Merlot
1 bottle ginger ale
1 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp ground clove
4 to 6 oranges or tangelos
6 to 10 cinnamon sticks
½ bag of cranberries

Instructions

In a medium pot, combine Merlot, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Let simmer for ten minutes, stirring occasionally until sugar is dissolved.
Pour immediately into a sealed pitcher or other container. Chop apples and add them along with the cinnamon sticks to the mixture. Cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours. Add ice and ginger ale to serve.
For a more carbonated punch or mimosa, add the ginger ale to the wine after it’s cooled … then it will keep the fizz.

Apple on the Rocks

Recipe courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens

Ingredients

Ice

2 tablespoons applejack*

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Pinch ground cinnamon

1/2 cup chilled hard cider

Apple wedge (optional)

Directions

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. In cocktail shaker combine applejack, maple syrup, lemon juice, and cinnamon. Cover and shake about 10 seconds or until cold.
Fill a tall glass with ice; strain apple jack mixture into glass. Pour the hard cider on top. If desired, garnish with an apple wedge.

From the Test Kitchen

*Tip: Applejack is an apple liqueur distilled from apple cider. It provides a nice depth to this drink.

Christmas Jones

Ingredients

4 fresh strawberries
1 part vodka
2 tsp superfine sugar
5 oz pineapple juice
7-Up
mint sprigs for garnish

Preparation:

In a blender, whiz the vodka, strawberries, sugar and pineapple juice together.
Pour the mix equally into two highball glasses.
Top with 7-Up.
Garnish with a sprig of mint.

Let me leave you with this….

Recipe Wednesday – One Bowl Brownies

I had to make a decision between another recipe and this one, and decided on this one because, well, chocolate. This is an easy, one bowl mix that I was able to mix up in less than fifteen minutes. Depending on the type of chocolate you use, this recipe can be a rich semi-sweet fudgy brownie, or a sweeter, more milk chocolate taste.

Whatever chocolate you want to use, enjoy these quick brownies.

Ingredients

9 ounces of chocolate – (the darker the chocolate, the richer the taste) I used semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 ounces of salted butter (1 stick)
1 cup sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
2 large eggs and 1 yolk
1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Grease a 8 x 8 inch pan. (Or line it with parchment paper

3. Using a glass bowl (microwave safe), melt th butter and chocolate in 30 second shifts. I find that if I cut the butter into tablespoons and use chocolate chips, I only need to do 2-30 second rounds with a stir in-between. When the bowl comes out for the second time, stir, stir, stir….the residual heat will melt the chocolate.

4. Add sugar and stir, stir, stir. Add eggs, yolk and then your flour. Stir the mixture until it is just combine. Do not over mix your batter.

5. Pour this lovely, chocolate-laden batter into your greased pan and back for 25-30 minutes.

6. Remove from oven and let the brownies cool for at least 30 min, then cut as desired.

I promise, you will love these!!!

Dahlia

Blogtoberfest – Not Just “IT”: More Creepy King Stories

From what I’ve heard is that the new IT movie is pretty scary. I have to say “from what I’ve heard’ because I haven’t seen it yet. Nothing like seeing something scary on the big screen to scar you for life and I’m not as young as I used to be.

While being scared on the screen is fun, being scared from words on a page can be even more fun. Yep, I just touted reading above movie watching and you all know how I LOVE reading. Following this, Stephen King has written just a tad few more stories than IT that are guaranteed to take you over the creepy/scared line. Here are five of my favorites.

From Nightshift

Graveyard Shift – Whose nose doesn’t twist at thethought of working in a mildewy, dark, damp basement? Bonus points: it’s hot and there’s rustling in the walls. This is a story that will make you wash your hands after you’ve finished reading it. Don’t forget the hand sanitizer.

Grey Matter – Strange things can grow in beer – something about those hops – and when you guzzle one down without thoroughly examining the contents, bad things happen. I promise you’ll pour your beer in a glass after reading this one. Gross, scary body horror.

Sometimes They Come Back – Like a little melancholy with the heebie-jeebies? Well, this story is perfect for you. A man gets revenge for something that happened in his childhood, but remember, the devil is hell to pay.

Skeleton Crew

The Raft – Those of you who’ve seen Creepshow 2 are familar with this story. Yes, the charactersare archetypes and the whole thing reads like a B-movie script, but you won’t be so eager to jump into the lake next summer, now will you?

The Monkey – Short, but gets under your skin. A haunted toy monkey does….bad things, for lack of a better term….to those who find it and wind it up. I’ve always found those mechanical toys weird anyway, so to find out this monkey was haunted was no big surprise.

And just like that, we;’ve come to the end of our Blogtoberfest visit! Check out some of these King shorts that I mentioned.

Dahlia

Blogtoberfest- My Shorts! 3 Mini Horror Films That'll Make You Change 'Em

I am not a huge fan of horror on YouTube, I’m usually searching for new music. My daughter, however, is a YouTube aficionando, as are most thirteen-year-olds. Following this, she had introduced me to the world of mini-horror films. Mind you, I was only able to watch these in the middle of the day, sitting at the dining room table. However, some of them are so well done that they stayed with me long after. Now, remember I freak out easily at anything slightly horror and therefore you might not find them as scary as I do, but it’s a good place to start. Boo!

First up is the short flim on which the movie Lights Out is based. Yes, we want to save on our electric bill, but do you really want to turn out the lights.

The second film is called The Moonlight Man. It begins as a cliched walk through a deserted parking and ends up as something a little….well, you’ll see for yourself.

The third and final film is called Look See. The creepy factor of this little gem is really off the charts.

So there you go. Three short horror films which are definitely not for the faint of heart….the faint of heart being me!

Dahlia

Blogtoberfest – Did You Hear That? 13 Classic Spooky Songs

Today, I’m back to tap on your shoulder and tickle your ears. Music in movies has always been used to set the mood, whether it be for a love scene or the stinger for a horror movie jump scare.

If you’re having a Halloween get-together or even just want to hang out with the lights out and create a Poe-like atmosphere, here are 13 songs for you, and of course, one to grow on. A baker’s dozen, plus one.

Spookily yours,

Dahlia