I love ginger anything, especially this ginger lemonade drink and even ginger candy. Growing up, my Mom cooked a lot with ginger. I love love it! My best friend, Lindsay, loves ginger beer and got me addicted to it. If you have never had it before, just think root beer but instead of being dark, it's lightly colored and it's made with ginger root. To me, the spicier the root beer, the better!

In my recent Zurich trip recap, I shared that we went to the oldest vegetarian restaurant in the world (according to Guinness World Record). It was open in 1898 and even has a vegetarian butcher shop! It's called Hiltl.

It's beautiful inside.

We had a vegetarian steak tartare that tasted just like beef!

And for lunch, I had a vegetarian hamburger…it was amazing and so were the fries!

I also had a ginger citrus drink and I knew I wanted to come home and recreate it!

Squeeze the lemons.

And mix with sugar and water. Add more sugar if you'd like.

I peel the ginger with the edge of a spoon.

And then grate it.

Honestly if you would like more ginger, you can add more. That's what I would do! If you like a less gingery taste, add less. You can customize it to your taste!

The next time I make these, I'm going to add a little gin to it! I hope you love this ginger lemonade drink just as much as I do!

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Ginger Lemonade Recipe

Servings 3 to 4 drinks

Ingredients

• approximately 6 ounces freshly squeezed lemon juice 4 lemons
• 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
• 16 ounces water
• 2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
• ice

Instructions

• Mix lemon juice with sugar and add water and mix together. Add more sugar to taste, if necessary. Add grated ginger and mix together. Add ice to glasses and pour in ginger lemonade.
• Can be stored in the refrigerator for a few days in a tightly sealed container.

Notes

Inspired by the ginger citrus drink I had at Hiltl in Zurich, Switzerland.

Disclosure: This post and my trip to Zurich is sponsored by Visit Zurich. All opinions are my own and I always only share with you what I love.

The post Ginger Lemonade appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

Recently, we were invited by Princess Cruises on an Alaskan Cruise and I'm so excited to share with you, our adventures!

We had a blast, it was our first cruise. We met some wonderful people, saw some great sights and had a trip of a lifetime!

Quite literally, all of our surroundings in Alaska looked like a postcard…pictures took themselves. I remember, quite fondly, at our first port, in Ketchikan telling our tour guide that I was taking pictures of postcards. In awe, I'm so happy we got to go on this cruise to Inside Passage Alaska…making memories we will cherish for a lifetime.

We both absolutely loved this cheesecake…I ordered it every night we could in the dining room. I was so excited when I found it in the cookbook that they gave us, called Courses: A Culinary Journey. And I'm so happy we get to make it at home now!

I'm going to share with you five things I loved about our Alaskan Cruise…

1) The Desserts

They were amazing. Love love loved our desserts! This one was the Princess Love Boat Dream (chocolate mousse on a brownie!) and it was heart-shaped!

The wonderful cheesecake!

I also had desserts for breakfast every day…we loved the croissants. Curtis' favorite were the chocolate croissants while mine were the almond ones!

And this dreamy dessert was a chocolate raspberry mousse with vanilla creme brulee and crunchy shortbread.

And gelato 24/7!

Gelato makes me smile and reminds me of Italy!

2) Riding a Helicopter and Landing on a Glacier

Look at Curtis' face. Our first time on a helicopter and I just had to take a selfie!

Seriously, we rode a helicopter onto the Mendenhall glacier. What an amazing experience.

It was really cold. That's all I remember. I also remember being in awe of the young women who work on the glacier 12 hours a day, welcoming tour group after tour group and enthusiastically sharing all about the glacier.

And then we got to dine on amazing Alaskan salmon at the Salmon Bake!

3) Seeing a Glacier at Tracy Arm & a Blue Iceberg!

We were one of 170 who got to take part in the Tracy Arm Fjord cruising. Early early early in the morning, we piled on much smaller boats (than our cruise ship) and got to cruise up really close to the Sawyer Glacier.

I got to enjoy the cruise with these lovely ladies and their husbands!

And then we saw a blue iceberg. Our cruise boat captain commented on how she has lived Alaska all her life and this was the most beautiful iceberg she had seen in her life.

It looks like blue icy hot doesn't it? I know it looks almost unreal. It was beautiful seeing it in person.

We learned that the blue ice is the oldest, when it snows and gets cold, the ice compacts and when it's robbed of oxygen, it compacts even more and turns blue.

Seriously, glorious.

4) Ice Cream and Mini Golfing!

I know it was cold but it's never too cold for soft serve ice cream and sprinkles!

And mini gold…with Alaska in our sights…what a fun time and a beautiful sight!

5) Chef's Table Experience

Depending on the number of days, there might be only 1 or 2 chef's table experiences available. You have to book it as soon as you get on board otherwise it books up quickly.

The executive chef and the maitre'd treated us very well to many courses…

A beautiful roasted filet and in the background are mushroom-shapped potatoes. We loved this meal!

And the dessert was a hazelnut chocolate mousse with caramel on top with hazelnut macarons. Dreamyyyy!

And now I must turn your attention back to the cheesecake!

In the world of cheesecakes, it's a really easy recipe…it does take some time in between where you have to allow the cake to cool to room temperature (twice) so it's best to make this during the weekend.

I put the graham crackers in a zippered plastic bag and turn them into crumbs using a rolling pin.

I created a sling with the parchment paper in my 9-inch square baking dish.

All set!

Mix in the ground cinnamon and then the powdered sugar.

Add the melted butter and mix together.

Put into the bottom of the baking dish and use your fingers to pat down the crust.

I love that you don't have to bake this crust…it's much better this way!

Mix the filling.

And then pour over the crust.

And smooth the filling out with a spatula.

Mix the sour cream topping ingredients together.

Nice and smooth.

Smooth it out after pouring over the baked cheesecake filling.

Wash, hull and slice the strawberries.

Marinate the strawberries before blending in a blender.

Every time we make this cheesecake, we'll remember our Alaskan Cruise aboard the Princess Ruby!

And of course Alaska!

I know you'll love this cheesecake recipe! Excuse me while I go cut off another piece and have it for dinner!

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Classic Cheesecake with Strawberry Coulis Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Resting Time 4 hours hours

Total Time 4 hours hours 50 minutes minutes

Servings 1 9-inch square or round cheesecake

Ingredients

Graham Cracker Crust

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs about 13 graham crackers
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 powdered sugar
• 7 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted

Cheesecake Filling

• 4 8 ounce packages of cream cheese, room temperature
• 3 large eggs room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• pinch of salt

Sour Cream Topping

• 1 1/2 cups sour cream
• 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Strawberry Coulis

• 2 cups fresh sliced strawberries
• 3 Tablespoons orange liqueur
• 1 teaspoon freshly squeeze orange juice
• 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• fresh strawberries

Instructions

• Place graham cracker crumbs and ground cinnamon in a medium sized mixing bowl and mix together thoroughly with a rubber spatula. Add powdered sugar and mix thoroughly. Add melted butter and mix well.  Prepare a 9-inch round cake pan by cutting a round piece of parchment paper, grease the bottom of the pan and the sides with a nonstick baking spray. Place the parchment paper at the bottom of the pan. If using a 9-inch square pan, cut two long strips of parchment paper and place them in the bottom of the pan, creating a sling.
• Add the graham crack crumb crust to the bottom of the pan (over the parchment paper), use your fingers creating an even layer of crust across the bottom of the pan. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
• Heat the oven to 370 degrees F. Add cream cheese to a large mixing bowl. Using an electric hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add eggs and mix until smooth. Add sugar, lemon juice and salt and mix until well combined. Pour the cream cheese filling over the crust in to the pan. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes at 370 degrees F. The cheesecake will be slightly soft in the middle and should be hot all the way through. (If the cake splits, it is over baked).
• Remove the cake from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Allow to cool to room temperature, at least one hour.
• Add sour cream, sugar and lemon juice to a small glass mixing bowl. Mix together thoroughly with a spoon. Heat the oven to 425 degrees F. Spread the sour cream topping on top of the cheesecake and smooth with a spatula. Bake the cheesecake for another 6 to 8 minutes, just to set the sour cream topping. The cake should not brown at all.
• Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature, at least one hour and 15 to 30 minutes. Once it's room temperature, cover with plastic wrap and allow to chill for at least 2 hours (or overnight) in the refrigerator.
• Mix sliced strawberries, orange liqueur, orange juice and lemon juice in a glass bowl. Allow to marinate for 5 minutes and then add to a blender.
• Serve cheesecake sliced with the strawberry coulis and fresh strawberries.

Be sure to check out my five tips for cruising!

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Princess Cruises. I only share with you brands that I love and share with you my own opinions. There are affiliate links in this post.

The post Classic Cheesecake Recipe & 5 Things I loved about our Alaskan Cruise appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

Do you like lemonade? I love lemonade and I don't make it as much as I should. When I was a kid, I would crave lemonade like crazy. If I found one lemon in our kitchen, I would make lemonade for all of my sisters. Whether I had 5 lemons or 1 lemon, I found a way to make a good lemonade, of course with tons and tons of sugar. When I was a kid, I liked my lemonade super sweet and as I got older, I like it more tart. The funny thing is, my Mom would come home and get ready to make dinner and ask what happened to her lemons.

This week, I threw a Bunko party and for the 3rd year in a row, made it a 1,000 Cooks for the Cure® party. I'm in a Bunko group and we all take turns to host throughout the year. I have been asking to host in July so I can combine it! Everyone brings a dish to share and we play Bunko and when it's my turn, I ask everyone to bring a donation to go towards breast cancer.

My grandmother is a breast cancer survivor, she's been in remission and going strong for seven years since her diagnosis & treatment. I feel so strongly and passionate about the breast cancer cause because I cannot imagine what she went through and what other countless men and women go through. Starting today until July 28th, KitchenAid is asking people like me and you to host a party – it can be a Bunko party, book club meeting, a potluck, a get together or whatever and ask your family and friends to donate money to Susan G. Komen for the Cure® (United States residents) or The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (Canada residents). It's a little thing we can do since the money goes to helping breast cancer patients every day. For more information on 1,000 Cooks for the Cure, how to sign up and for party ideas, visit KitchenAid's website.

I knew I wanted to make a pink lemonade for my Bunko party and my juicer attachment made it super simple. I juiced 10 lemons in no time. I also used it to “juice” a few strawberries. The strawberries are more to “dye” the lemonade to a pinkish color. If you want more for flavoring, I would use more!

I found a cute pink ribbon icon and made labels for everyone attending to put on these cute little jar mugs. I love these. World Market carries them.

As requested by friends, I made my triple chocolate cupcakes with pink & chocolate swirl frosting! Thanks to Kelly for taking this picture!

My Bunko friends brought over pink-dyed deviled eggs, a pink cake and pink cookies. As always, the food was awesome and I was stuffed by the end of the night!

There's our group, or some of our group. A few ladies couldn't make it this month because of vacations, etc. So I asked some friends to sub in. We had a great night!

I wanted to also take a moment to talk about something. The other day, I realized that tomorrow it will be one entire year since I started blogging and freelancing full-time. Early last year, I received an awesome opportunity at a new company but it was not meant to be and I was laid off in the summer. I took the plunge and most of you have been with me along the way. It's surreal talking about this every. single. time. I'm humbled and thankful for every single person who visits The Little Kitchen and for the amazing comments and the wonderful people I get to work with each and every day. Thanks for all of your support!

Now go make some lemonade!

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Strawberry Pink Lemonade Recipe

Servings 12 cups approx.

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 8 cups water divided
• 10 lemons washed and cut in half
• 2-3 strawberries washed and halved
• 4-5 strawberries washed, hulled and sliced
• 4 cups ice

Instructions

• Add sugar and 4 cups of water to a boil in a medium-sized pot. Stir and reduce heat. Stir until the sugar has completely dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
• Using a juicer, juice 10 lemons. Makes about 1 1/4 cups of lemon juice. Using the juicer, "juice" the strawberries into the lemon juice. If needed, strain the lemon & strawberry juice into a large drink container. Add sugar water mixture (from above), 4 cups of cold water and ice. Mix with a large spatula or chopstick.
• Cut up 4 to 5 of the lemon rinds and add along with the sliced strawberries for garnishing. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve with ice and pink straws.

Tip:

• If you let the lemons and strawberries sit in the lemonade overnight (refrigerated), you'll get a more pink of a lemonade.

Disclosure: Although I regularly work with KitchenAid, this is not a sponsored post nor was I asked to do this post. I purchased the KitchenAid juicer attachment myself. All opinions are always my own and I of course only share brands and products that I love. There are affiliate links in this post.

The post Strawberry Pink Lemonade appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

There are affiliate links in this post.

One of our all-time favorites is making a roast chicken in a slow cooker, it happens to be the most popular recipe here on The Little Kitchen as well. I have been making a lemon pepper variation for the last couple of years and I'm finally sharing it. It took a few tries — one time I made it for my family and went lemon crazy, using 4 lemons…they complained and said it was too lemony. I have even used Meyer lemons in this recipe…it's so good if you can still get them right now!

I even put a quick video together to show you just how easy it is to put this recipe together.

Chop up your veggies and they go into the slow cooker first. They form a little bed for your chicken.

Add the spices to the chicken, stuff it with a quartered lemon. Sprinkle some lemon juice on the chicken and over the veggies. A halved lemon goes into the slow cooker and then the chicken itself.

And no, you don't have to add water or broth to the crockpot. Look at the broth this recipe made. The longer the chicken cooks, the more broth it makes. I used the broth to make a gravy for this recipe. (My favorite fat separator.)

The results? There's a nice hint of lemon but it's not overpowering. I love this recipe and it's kinda tied with the original whole chicken in a slow cooker recipe for us now. Be careful removing the chicken from the crockpot, it may fall apart on you, I use my turkey lifters or you can use a couple of big spatulas to do this. Broil the chicken to crisp the skin and you won't miss roast chicken ever again.

Serve this with mashed potatoes and the veggies from the crockpot and you're golden!

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Lemon Pepper Roast Chicken in a Slow Cooker Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 4 hours hours 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 4 hours hours 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1/2 Tablespoon lemon pepper seasoning
• 3 teaspoons salt
• 2 pinches cayenne pepper
• pinch onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• zest of one lemon then take the lemon & cut in half
• 4 carrots cut into thirds
• 4 celery cut into thirds or quarters
• 1 lemon quartered
• 4 to 5 pound whole chicken rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel, neck & gizzards removed (if any)

Gravy (optional)

• 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 Tablespoons all-purpose unbleached flour
• 1/4 white wine
• salt & pepper

Instructions

• Mix lemon pepper, salt, cayenne pepper, onion powder, ground pepper and lemon pepper together in a small bowl and set aside.
• Chop vegetables and add to a 6 to 7 quart slow cooker.

Prep the chicken

• Fold wings back below the chicken. Put lemon pepper spices inside and all over the skin of the chicken. Add the quartered lemon pieces to the inside cavity of the chicken. Taking the lemon you halved, squeeze one-half over the chicken and over the vegetables. Add the two halves on top of the vegetables in the slow cooker.
• Lay the chicken inside the slow cooker on top of the vegetables. (No need to add water or broth). Turn slow cooker on high for 3 to 4 hours or on low for 4 to 6 hours until chicken is thoroughly cooked through to an internal temperature of 160 degrees F.
• Remove chicken with turkey lifters and place into a baking dish and broil for 4 to 6 minutes or until the skin is crisp.
• Carve the chicken and serve with the vegetables from the slow cooker if desired.

Gravy

• Remove vegetables and pour chicken broth from the bottom of the slow cooker into a fat separator or use a spoon to remove any extra fat. Strain the liquid.
• In skillet, melt butter on medium heat. Add flour and mix with a wooden spoon to cook the flour. Whisk in 1 to 1.5 cups of the strained chicken broth. Bring to a boil and allow to boil for 30 to 60 seconds. Add in white wine and stir. Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes and season to taste.

Tools I use for this recipe:

• Crock-Pot 7 Quart Slow Cooker – We use our slow cooker at least a few times a month if not more. It's easy to use and I have had one that doesn't have bells and whistles forever and it works just fine.
• OXO Fat Separator – Super easy and super durable, get rid of the fat from the chicken juices so you can make a sauce or use it as a broth.
• Better Zester – I love this zester because it has a cup that holds what you zest and it doubles as a measuring tool too!
• Italian Bakers -I love these baking dishes for this recipe and for making scalloped potatoes!
• Turkey Lifters – I have a similar set I bought years ago that we use every Thanksgiving and every time I make this recipe. The best way to remove the entire chicken out of the slow cooker in one piece. (Amazon | Sur la Table)
• Glass baking dish. It's great for this recipe and potatoes too. You can never have too many baking dishes because of holiday baking!
• Carving Knives – Similar to the ones we have (Amazon | Sur La Table)
• Glass Prep Bowls – These were given as a gift to us from my in-laws and I use them EVERY DAY. So convenient for prepping meals and we use them as storage in the refrigerator too!

PS There are affiliate links in this post and I did mention McCormick in the video but I wanted you to know this isn't a sponsored post. I like to mention brands that I love using!

The post Lemon Pepper Roast Chicken in a Slow Cooker appeared first on The Little Kitchen.