Welcome! We’re so happy you’re here.
If you are like most of our readers (and us), you’re busy, time-strapped, always running a mile a minute, and your’re looking for solutions to the nightly challenge of getting dinner on the table and what the heck to make when you have company.
You’re passionate about feeding your family well, making the right choices and creating meals that taste great while also keeping things fresh and enjoyable to cook. You actually like or maybe even love cooking and you’re looking for inspiration, so that you can build a collection of recipes that work for you and your family—both for every day and special occasions.
Cooks with Cocktails is a cooking and entertaining site for women seeking kitchen inspiration and trustworthy recipes, advice and how-to tips. Our goal is to inform and inspire you, helping to plan and prepare meals that stoke your passion for cooking—because sharing food leads to sharing life, strengthening families and building friendships. All around a table!
Imagine yourself:
- feeling inspired to get in the kitchen and cook more often
- feeling confident the food you serve will impress your family and friends and, more importantly, taste great
- feeling fulfilled by the time spent connecting with the important people in your life around the dinner table
- entertaining more often with less stress
- creating amazing cocktails for special occasions
- having a plan so you won’t spend the whole night in the kitchen while your friends enjoy the fruits of your labour
Our goal is to encourage you to cook often, to feel empowered by recipes that work, and to invite your friends and family over to share a meal. Taking a no-stress approach to cooking and entertaining, we embrace the fact that things won’t always go as planned: mistakes and messes will happen. But in the end, it’s all about a happy table filled with family, friends and good food.
What our readers are saying:
Looks like I found my holiday party drink! Raspberry cream mimosas! Thanks cookswithcocktails! – Keshawn
I made these scalloped potatoes for our thanksgiving dinner. They were a HIT!! SO easy to make and super tasty! Thanks Cooks with Cocktails!! – Amanda
Wow, I’m so glad I found this recipe now so that I can have it ready for some Christmas and New Year’s parties! I’m so excited to see how my family likes it! – Veronica
About Julie and Debbie
Hi, I’m Julie and I’m the taller one on the left there. Debbie is going to kill me for pointing that out lol. I am also a mother, a wife, I have a full time job, I blog, and my husband and I like to do renovation projects together. Life is busy but awesome! I also LOVE to cook and I am passionate about the quality of my ingredients and what I feed my family. I always choose local farm fresh and grass fed free range whenever its available. I am lucky to live in the BC Fraser Valley where those types of ingredients are abundant.
Its my job to get dinner on the table every night sometime between when I get home from work and when people start starving! I know what its like to get overwhelmed with this task, but I’ve learned a few tricks over the years to help. I also have a husband who invites people over for dinner without checking with me first. Do you have one of those? He’s getting better… sigh… But I have a few tricks up my sleeve when that happens as well. Truth be told, I love having friends and family over for dinner. Sharing a meal over a glass of wine or a cocktail is one of my favorite ways to spend an evening.
Hi, I’m Debbie, the much wiser one on the right. 🙂 I’m also a mother, a wife, I blog, and I do the books for my husbands business. Cooking has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember and even though its my job in our household, it mostly doesn’t feel like a chore. There are moments though! My kids are all gown and out of the house now (except for my fur babies) but I love to make them their favorites when they come home.
I love to have family and friends over and serve them a lovely meal. I too have a husband like Julie’s that invites people over and even forgets to tell me sometimes. I’ve had to get creative more than once to come up with food to serve! It’s all about having a plan and those key recipes to fall back on in a pinch.
Our approach to entertaining:
- unpretentious and not fussy
- you won’t find elaborate tablescapes here. As pretty as they are, they’re not practical for us. We shoot for understated elegance.
- we don’t let perfection get in the way of getting together with our friends and family to share food and laughter around the table.
We cook daily for our families too:
- on weekdays we need quick meals to make for dinner after work, but we still want them to be healthy, delicious and full of flavor
- we meal plan! And we plan for leftovers because leftovers of delicious meals still taste delicious!
- weekends are for taking our time to cook a meal. On Saturday or Sunday you can usually find us cooking for fun with a cocktail or glass of wine in hand. Often together!
Our approach to making cocktails:
- our cocktails are fresh, fun, full of flavor – always a double!
- we love to mix herbs and infused simple syrups and spirits in our cocktails
- getting creative with new flavors and combinations of flavors makes us happy, especially when we hit on a total winner!
A few of our most popular posts:
Family Recipes:
- thai chicken stirfry with basil and cashews
- marinated flank steak with chimichuri
- sausage, spinach, and wine fettucinie
- pan fried brussel sprouts with bacon & onions
- the ultimate potato side dish
Party Food:
- puff pasty tart with peach, prosciutto & brie
- whisky beef sliders wtih caramelized onions, bacon & homemade buns
- onion & fig jam crostinis with roasted garlic, brie & prosciutto
- 5 easy steps to creating the perfect cheese platter
Cocktails:
- espresso martini
- raspberry cream mimosa
- peach bellini
- grapefruit & vodka shaken with egg whites & muddled mint
- meyer lemon margarita with rosemary infused simple syrup
How to posts:
- how to make the perfect baked chicken breast
- how to make instant pot bone broth
- how to make the best beef carpacio
- how to make a stuffed pork tenderloin that rocks date night
We love hearing from YOU! Have questions or comments? You can email us at [email protected] or on the contact form below. You can also find us on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM and TWITTER.