Cucumber-Cilantro Margarita

These cocktails were wonderful! They were the perfect way to use the delicious home grown cucumbers given to me by a friend.

This recipe was adapted from The Village Times Herald, contributed by Barbara Beltrami. Tasty and refreshing.

Yield: makes 2 cocktails

• 1 wedge or slice of lime
• coarse salt
• 3 oz tequila
• 1 tsp orange liqueur, such as Cointreau
• 3 oz freshly squeezed lime juice or key lime juice
• 1/2 cup peeled and seeded chopped cucumber
• 2 T granulated sugar
• 6 cilantro leaves, chopped
• 2 dashes Tabasco or Chipotle Tabasco
• 6 ice cubes
• 2 cucumber slices, for garnish

1. Wipe the rims of two margarita glasses with the lime wedge or slice. Dip in a shallow dish of coarse salt; set aside.
2. In a blender combine the tequila, orange liqueur, lime juice, chopped cucumber, sugar, cilantro, hot sauce and ice cubes; blend for one minute. (I used a Vitamix.)
3. Immediately pour into prepared glasses over ice.
4. Garnish with cucumber slices, as desired.

Apple Cider Margarita

I have seen several versions of this seasonal cocktail but I’m not sure if I need to try another one. This one is festive and fabulous. I first tried it on Halloween and now plan to incorporate it into my Thanksgiving weekend menu. Perfect! 🙂

The recipe was adapted from thehealthfulideas.com, contributed by Veronika. I used gold tequila and added maple syrup.

For the Cinnamon-Sugar Rim:

• 1 tablespoon turbinado sugar 
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• A lime wedge

For the Margarita:

• 1.5 oz tequila
• 0.5 oz Cointreau 
• 0.5 oz freshly squeezed lime juice, or more, to taste
• 2 oz apple cider
• 0.5 oz (1 T) pure maple syrup
• small dash cinnamon, optional
• 1-2 dashes orange bitters
• ice cubes
• apple and/or lime slices, for garnish, optional

To Make the Rim:

1. Combine the turbinado sugar and cinnamon on a small plate.
2. Run a lime wedge around the rim of your glass and dip it in the sugar. Set aside.

To Make the Margarita:

1. Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker, add a handful of ice, and shake for 10-15 seconds until it’s very cold to touch. 
2. Pour into a margarita glass (or another glass of choice) over ice.
3. Garnish with an apple and/or lime slice, if desired, and enjoy!

Simple Strawberry Cocktails

After picking eight heaping quarts of beautiful strawberries, I had to try a couple of new strawberry cocktails. I must say that it is difficult to make a strawberry cocktail that I would prefer to my favorite Strawberry-Basil Martini and (close second) The Union Square Strawberry Cocktail. Thankfully, we had plenty of strawberries and beautiful evenings to be able to enjoy all of them! 🙂

Both of these cocktails are incredibly simple and quick to prepare. The first is a Strawberry Gin & Tonic- perfect because one of my favorite summer cocktails is a classic gin and tonic. The recipe is from hometoheather.com. The second is a Spicy Strawberry Margarita. My husband made it as a celebratory cocktail on my birthday. ❤ He garnished the rim of the glass with a mixture of coarse salt and chile powder. The recipe was adapted from vinepair.com, contributed by Natalie Migliarini. Tasty and refreshing.

Strawberry Gin & Tonic

Yield: 1 cocktail

• 1 shot gin
• 1 wedge lime
• tonic water, to fill
• 1 mashed strawberry
• lime wedge or slice, or strawberry, for garnish
• ice

1. Use a highball glass and fill about ¼ full with ice.
2. Pour the gin over the ice.
3. Add your mashed berry, squeeze the lime wedge and fill with tonic water.
4. Garnish with lime or strawberry and serve.

Spicy Strawberry Margarita:

Yield: 1 cocktail

• 1.5 ounces tequila
• 1 ounce of lime juice
• 1/2 serrano or jalapeño chile, seeded (if desired), chopped or sliced into rings
• 3 strawberries, chopped
• 1/2 ounce agave nectar
• salt and/or Tajín or chile powder, for the rim
• 1 cup ice

1. Rim a rocks glass with salt and/or Tajín or chile powder.
2. Chop peppers and strawberries and add all ingredients into shaker, shaking to chill and combine.
3. Pour chilled mixture, including the ice, into rocks glass.
4. Garnish with a fresh strawberry, if desired.

Watermelon Margaritas

I am a major fan of this pretty pink cocktail. It was very light, refreshing, and minimally sweet. Puréed watermelon is the only source of sweetness. Perfect.

This recipe was adapted from 3-Ingredient Cocktails by Robert Simonson, via The New York Times.  I did not strain the puréed watermelon and omitted the jalapeño slices. We tried it with both the cayenne and salt on the rim, and salt alone. Both were delicious. 😉

The original recipe recommends to taste and add more watermelon juice if your margarita is too boozy, and extra lime juice or even a pinch of salt if it’s too sweet.

Yield: 2 drinks

For the (optional) Salted Rim:

• 1 tablespoon coarse salt or fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon Tajín or 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne (optional)

For the Cocktail:

• ice, as needed
• 6 ounces fresh watermelon juice (from about 1 1/2 cups chopped seedless watermelon)(I used cubes from a mini watermelon)
• 2 ounces tequila, preferably blanco
• 2 ounces Cointreau
• 2 ounces fresh lime juice (from 1 to 2 large limes), rinds reserved (I used 1 1/2 limes)
• 2 to 3 thinly sliced jalapeño rounds, optional
• small slices of watermelon, for garnish, optional

1. Prepare the salted rim, if using: In a small shallow bowl or plate, combine the sea salt and Tajín or cayenne. Set aside.
2. Blend the watermelon in a Vitamix or blender; strain if desired. (I left it puréed.)
3. In a shaker filled with ice, combine the watermelon juice, tequila, Cointreau, lime juice and jalapeño (if using). Shake to combine. (Note: The watermelon flavor shines brighter without the Cointreau, but the liqueur takes the drink into more traditional margarita territory. If you’d like to compare, first try the mixture without, the liqueur, then add 1 ounce of it per serving.)
4. Using one of the squeezed lime halves, run it along the rim of two margarita or rocks glasses, then dip the rims into the salt mixture.
5. Fill the glasses with ice, then strain the margaritas into the glasses. Garnish with additional jalapeño slices and/or watermelon slices. Enjoy immediately.

Strawberry Ice Cream

Speaking of strawberry cocktails… the added bonus of this amazing fresh strawberry ice cream is that the sweetened vodka-based macerating liquid makes a wonderful base for a celebratory summer cocktail. Nice! 🙂

The texture and color of this ice cream was absolutely incredible. It was the perfect use for my precious, freshly-picked strawberries. The ice cream recipe is from Martha Stewart Living; I included a recipe for the bonus cocktail below.

For the Ice Cream:

Yield: 1 1/2 quarts

• 1 pound strawberries, hulled and halved (about 3 cups), plus 8 ounces more, coarsely chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup low-fat milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2/3 cup sugar, plus 1/2 cup more for macerating
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup vodka or silver tequila

1. In a blender or Vitamix, puree halved strawberries with lemon juice and salt. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve. (You should have 1 1/2 cups of puree; reserve any excess for another use.)
2. Combine milk, cream, 2/3 cup sugar, and corn syrup in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer 2 minutes.
3. Strain mixture into a bowl set in an ice bath and let stand, stirring occasionally, until cold, about 5 minutes.
4. Stir in strawberry puree. Refrigerate, covered, at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
5. Stir together remaining 1/2 cup sugar and vodka. Add chopped strawberries and macerate at room temperature at least 2 hours, or in the refrigerator, covered, up to 12 hours.
6. Process puree mixture in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. When it has the texture of soft serve, drain macerated berries (reserving syrup for another use) and fold into ice cream.
7. Transfer to a loaf pan and freeze, wrapped in plastic, at least 4 hours and up to 1 week.
8. Let stand at room temperature 10 minutes before serving.

For the Bonus Cocktail:

Yield: 1 cocktail

• fresh juice from 1/4 large lime
• 3 oz strawberry-vodka-sugar macerating syrup
• tonic (for a sweeter cocktail) or seltzer (less sweet), as desired

1. Combine lime juice and macerated strawberry syrup in a glass.
2. Fill with ice and top with tonic or seltzer, as desired.

Pork Chile Verde

As I love sharing recipes, I am also thrilled when someone shares a recipe with me! 🙂 My son’s swimming coach texted me the link to this wonderful dish after she made it for her family. What fun! She knew we would enjoy it too.

This recipe was adapted from Today.com, contributed by Padma Lakshmi. I doubled the garlic, reduced the pork, used large onions, and seeded the jalapeños. We ate it over brown Basmati rice with cornbread on the side. Full-flavored and absolutely fabulous!

Yield: Serves 6

• 1 pound tomatillos, husks removed and quartered
• 2 avocados, peeled and pitted
• 4 jalapeños, seeded
• 1 cup fresh cilantro
• 4 tablespoons lime juice
• coarse salt
• 3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 8 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, divided
• 2 large yellow onions, diced
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 1/4 to 1/2 pounds ground pork
• 1 shot tequila, preferably Alejo
• 15 oz can cannellini beans, drained
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 lime, juiced, optional
• rice, for serving, optional

1. In a blender (I used a Vitamix), combine the tomatillos, avocados, jalapeños, four cloves of garlic, cilantro, lime juice, 2 teaspoons of olive oil, salt, 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds and 2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar. Puree until smooth. (Side note: This makes a great salsa verde sauce on its own; you may want to buy double the ingredients and use the extra as a dipping sauce for other savory treats!)
2. In a heavy soup pot, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Slice remaining four cloves of the garlic in half, and cook for 1 minute.
3. Add the onions, oregano, cumin, remaining sesame seeds and red pepper flakes, and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until onions are translucent.
4. Add the ground pork and cook until no longer pink, about 6 minutes.
5. Add in the shot of tequila.
6. Add the tomatillo sauce, beans and water or stock to the pork mixture.
7. Bring to a gentle boil. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring often.
8. Stir in the lime juice just before serving, if desired.

One Year Ago:

• Chorizo-Potato Tacos

Two Years Ago:

• Corn Queso Fundido
• Dark Meat Chicken Chili

Three Years Ago:

• Chicken Chili with Chipotle and Poblano Chiles
• Slow-Cooker Chicken Mole

Four Years Ago:

• Chipotle Chicken & Rice
• Enchiladas Suizas

Watermelon and Tequila Cooler

This drink SCREAMS summer to me! So far, I have only enjoyed one of these fruity and fabulous cocktails on my back porch (which was lovely, by the way!)… but I know I’ll have one on the beach this summer as well. 🙂 Maybe at an outdoor concert too? I can’t wait!

This sweet and refreshing cocktail (Sandia y Tequila Fresca) was adapted from El Chino Latino Cocina. Great!

Bringing it to Fiesta Friday #73, co-hosted by the amazing bloggers Juju @ Cooking With Aunt Juju and Michelle @ Giraffes Can Bake. Cheers!! 🙂

Yield: Makes 1 drink

• 1 cup watermelon
• 1 oz tequila
• 2 T fresh lime juice
• 2 T agave nectar
• ice cubes, for serving

1. Cut the rind off the watermelon and remove the seeds. Cut enough chunks to measure 1 cup and put in a blender. (I used a Vitamix.)
2. Add the remaining ingredients and puree until smooth.
3. Pour over ice in a margarita or other cocktail glass. Serve cold and enjoy!

One Year Ago:

• Mango Margarita

Two Years Ago:

• The Perfect Margarita