Category: Uncategorized

This Brown Derby Cocktail combines whiskey and grapefruit, with a splash of pomegranate, for a tart twist on a classic.  It’s my favorite cocktail in the Autumn and Winter!

My favorite bar in Reno is one of the first bars I ever (legally 😬) went to.  It’s dark and moody with an entire wall of crystal bottles filled with amber liquids.  The bartenders wear vests, there’s a pool table in the corner, and it always smells like smokey whiskey.  I have many favorite nights from this bar laughing way too loud with my friends, drinking one too many drinks, and then doing it all again the next weekend.  I would say this happens less often now that I’m not in college, although it is still my favorite place to grab a drink after dinner on the weekend.

The first time I went there was my 21st birthday.  It was a Monday, already pretty late at night, and considering this is not a college bar, we had the whole place to ourselves.  I remember the bartender’s name was Charlie, and upon hearing that it was my 21st (and that I am obsessed with coffee), he pulled a dark bottle down from the shelf.  It was a coffee-flavored liqueur, similar to Kahlua, but much better.  We took a shot together, and then I continued to play pool with my friend.  (Side note: It was my first time playing pool, and even though my friend still hasn’t admitted it, I know he let me win).

Over the years, I have gone to this bar time and time again, and I still think they have some of the best whiskey cocktails.  Their old-fashioned is one of my all-time favorite drinks.  But, one night in college, probably while wearing a LBD and some T-strap heels, I was not in the mood for an old-fashioned.  I asked the bartender to make me a drink with whiskey.  Any drink he wanted to make.  I watched this tattooed, vest-sporting bartender with a mustache make a tiny orange-ish pink drink.  He slid it across the bar, “Brown derby”.

And then my life changed, because never had I known that grapefruit + whiskey is the best thing ever.  It has become my signature drink.

As much as I love going out, I don’t always feel like putting on pants (yay adult life).  So, I decided to learn how to make a delicious brown derby cocktail just like my favorite bar.  Because I wanted a pink drink, I added some tart pomegranate juice, and wowww.  Grapefruit and pomegranate belong together.  It has my favorite cozy autumn flavors I crave while still being refreshing.  I’m going to bottle some up and bring it to allllll the parties.

On a side note, what are you being for Halloween?  I thought about making Marc a hanging chad costume and breaking out my inner slutty pumpkin again, but idk.  (Any How I Met Your Mother fans, or did that just go over everyone’s head??)  It’s much more likely that I’ll revert to my usual Rosie the Riveter or go for a costume that I already have easily laying around my house.  Any ideas?  What should I beeeee?!

Brown Derby Cocktail

---

---

xo Sara Lynn

*Song of the day: Inside Out by Spoon

Perfect for holiday parties and potlucks, these pumpkin whoopie pies are made with pillow-y pumpkin cookies and a spicy Masala chai buttercream.  Oh, and they take less than an hour to make!

Continue reading “Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Masala Chai Buttercream” →

Guferati is a spicy, earthy green bean dish originating from India.  The recipe requires one pan and takes less than ten minutes to cook.  I like to eat it with lots of curry and naan!

Continue reading “Guferati (Indian Green Beans)” →

Let’s play a quick game of Family Feud where we take lots of creative liberties!  In this scenario, I am both Steve Harvey and the audience.  The topic in question: What does Sara put on top of food when she doesn’t want her meal to be a basic bitch?

If you answers were to put an egg on it, cover it in yogurt, or douse it in ketchup, you would be correct!!  And for bonus points: drench it in zhoug sauce.  Have you ever tried this stuff?  It’s so good I could eat it with a giant soup spoon.  Zhoug is a Yemenis hot sauce made out of peppers + herbs usually served with falafel.  I used to only eat it on shawarma, but now I use it on everything.  Every once in a while, I will make a big batch for the week to marinate chicken, add to a little mayo for sandwiches, or dip veggies in.

For Easter yesterday, we had a big family dinner with ham, scalloped potatoes, marinated asparagus, rolls, and a carrot salad that I can’t wait to post soon!  Oh, and the aforementioned traditional strawberry shortcakes 😬 I wore one of my absolute favorite spring dresses and drank Moscow Mules while my little cousin looked for Easter eggies.  After, I took Bell on a long walk during sunset and then watched Hitch while destroying my tongue on a bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs that were on sale.  It was a perfect day!  And now I have a bunch of ham for sammiches, and I’m putting zhoug on those sammiches, don’t try and stop me!!

A few years ago, when SSL was a baby blog, I was really into these recipes touting descriptions such as “low-fat”, “sugar-free”, “healthy”, blah, blah, blah everything that I now hate.  Seventeen Magazine and Pinterest had me convinced that these ingredients were healthy for me even though I could actually taste the chemicals in them.  Not that I don’t post healthy recipes anymore, but now instead of using a bunch of processed shit (like low-fat Cool Whip ugh), I make recipes that are naturally healthy and wholesome and don’t have ingredients like hydrogenated vegetable oil!  Anyways, at one point, I had posted this recipe for “healthy potato chips with low-fat garlic aioli”, and even though that description gives me shivers now, the recipe was actually pretty decent.  The greatest offender in the ingredient list was low-fat mayo which…I don’t know I guess could be worse??  And, the picture was taken with probably an iPhone 4 and was blurry.  I’ve come a long way since then, but the other day, I accidentally came across the recipe and decided to recreate it!  This time, I decided to make the potatoes wedges, because there’s more surface area for crispiness, and I added the zhoug sauce, because potatoes need it.  Also, I’ve included some ~hip~ new tips to make those potatoes super crispy without deep frying, so this is perfectly healthy for a weeknight meal yay!

---

Potato Wedges with Zhoug + Garlic Aioli
Serves 4

Potato Wedges

2 lb. Yukon gold potatoes
1/4 c. flavorless oil
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. smoked paprika
Salt and pepper, to taste

Cut potatoes into 8 wedges.  Place potato wedges in a bowl of cold, salted water.  Let soak for a couple hours over overnight. This will make the wedges super crispy!

Preheat oven to 400*F.  After soaking potatoes, drain and add to a pot of boiling water.  Boil for about 6 minutes, or until you can just pierce potatoes with a fork – they should not be mushy.  Drain well.

Toss potatoes with oil, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt and pepper.  Place on a baking sheet, and bake for 20 minutes.  Flip potatoes and cook for another 20-25 minutes until crisp.  Serve with aioli and zhoug!

Zhoug Sauce

2 c. cilantro
1 c. parsley
2-5 jalapenos, depending on spice preference*
3 cloves garlic
Zest + juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp. cumin
Pinch sugar
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 c. olive oil

In a food processor, combine cilantro, parsley, jalapenos, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, cumin, sugar, salt, and pepper.  Pulse until everything is chopped up.  While the processor is running, drizzle in the olive oil until combined.  Serve.

*Sometimes I use 2, which doesn’t yield a super spicy sauce.  I’d say my favorite is 4.  If you’re super sensitive to spice, just use 1.  You can take the seeds out if you prefer, but I leave them in!

Garlic Aioli

1/4 c. mayo or plain Greek yogurt
1 Tbs. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/3 c. parmesan, shredded
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 Tbs. olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

In a small bowl, combine mayo or Greek yogurt, lemon juice, cayenne, parmesan, garlic, salt, and pepper.  Whisk in olive oil.  Serve.

---

xo Sara Lynn

*Song of the day: Cutlass Cruiser by TOPS

 

 

Reno just finished second winter.  It’s like when hobbits eat second breakfast, but in this scenario, Reno is a hobbit and winter is breakfast.  Normally, I’m totally pro-snow, but the combination of negative temperatures, daylight savings, and sudden warm weather mixed with a doctor’s recommendation to tone down the caffeine has turned me into an unmotivated Doughboy who only wears baggy sweatpants.  But, Sunday was the first official warm day of the year, so to celebrate, I made a cake, packed up my favorite vintage tablecloth, and headed to the arboretum for a brunch/picnic. I wore a sundress and even got a bit pink from the sun! After, I went to my favorite coffeeshop and enjoyed a cappuccino in front of the Truckee.  It was ~perfect~.

Picnics have always been the epitome of spring, in my opinion.  When I was little, my mom would have picnics for us practically on a weekly basis.  (One of the perks of growing up in Vegas – picnic weather is year-round). In some ways, I think it was a way to avoid making a mess in the kitchen at lunch, but I also think it was just her fun way of entertaining me and my little brother.  We had these super strange, tiny grass hills in my childhood home — I would probably actually call them lumps — and they were my favorite picnic spot. I have a very specific memory of a lunch that consisted mostly of Goldfish crackers and those rainbow-colored Nilla wafers that tasted like food coloring.  Those were the good days before we acknowledged how bad Red 40 is for your insides.

Now, my brunch tastes are slightly more refined and consist only of homemade food that is filled with all kinds of organic, Red 40-free ingredients.  It almost makes me feel ok about eating cake for breakfast while the athletes of Reno jog around my picnic blanket. This brunch in particular consisted of my croque madame galettes, lots of fresh coffee, oj, skillet cake, and red fruit salad!  

For the skillet cake, I made one of my favorite desserts ever.  It’s filled with almonds and blueberries and kind of looks like a giant muffin, which essentially makes it a breakfast food.  However, it’s also perfect for a spring BBQ or basically any time you need to use up some berries ASAP. The hardest part of the recipe is flipping it from the skillet to a plate, and even that isn’t really a requirement.

One of my favorite parts of spring is getting to bust out all of my sundresses and fun accessories.  By the end of the cold season, I get a little lazy with the whole “getting dressed” aspect of adult life, and I tend to rely exclusively on oversized sweaters.  When you spend your days getting splattered with coffee, climbing rocks in Lake Tahoe, and spilling cookie dough all over yourself, high-quality, durable pieces are a must!  I’ve been looking into updating my wardrobe with some more staple pieces lately, so it was perfect timing when Jord asked me to be a part of their spring campaign! Jord makes a series of unique mens’ and ladies’ wooden watches, and they’re so beautiful!  I’ve actually been wanting to buy a watch for forever, but I was never able to find one that matched my style or looked good on my petite frame. I’m not a super blingy girl, so the organic, simplicity of the wood was perfect for me.

Another bonus was the option to get a personalized, engraved watch.   I chose to get some lyrics from “Wildflowers” by Tom Petty engraved on the back of mine.  The song has a lot of meaning to me, and having it on the back of my watch is so special.

If you love these wooden watches as much as I do, enter my Jord giveaway for the chance to win $100 off a watch!  Even if you don’t win, you still get 10% off just by registering. To enter the contest, click here. The giveaway will be announced on April 1!

P.S. Pretty watches also double as fancy cake timers!

---

Blueberry-Almond Skillet Cake
Serves 8

Ingredients

10 Tbs. butter, softened and divided
1 c. sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
2/3 c. buttermilk
1 c. sliced almonds
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 c. blueberries

Preheat oven to 350* F.  Combine flour, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.  Butter and flour a 10-inch skillet.

Mix 6 Tbs. with the sugar until creamy.  Add eggs one at a time until incorporated, and then mix in extracts.

Mix in half the flour and half the buttermilk, and then repeat with remaining ingredients.  Fold in 2/3 c. almonds.

Melt remaining 4 Tbs. butter.  Stir in brown sugar, and mix with blueberries.  Spread in pan, and sprinkle remaining almonds over the blueberries.  Cover with the cake batter.  Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs.

Cool, flip onto a plate, and serve with cream or ice cream.

---

Xo Sara Lynn

Thanks so much to Jord for sponsoring this post!  As always, all thought and opinions are my own. I am wearing the the Cassia series watch in zebra and ivory.  Make sure to check out their other products too! Shop Women’s watches.  Shop Men’s watches.

Wooden Wrist Watch