The Salty Chihuahua!

Happy March Everybody! I love March because it means Spring is coming! I am so, so ready for my first Florida Panhandle Spring. Lounging in the sunshine, reading a good book, drinking a sweet cocktail... umm yes I'm ready. I was browsing Pinterest aimlessly the other day like I do and I came across the prettiest pink drink- attention captured immediately, and then the title- "The Salty Chihuahua". EXCUSE ME?! Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a tiny chihuahua named Bo who runs my house. He is evil and wonderful all the same time. 2.5 pounds of furry love. So I knew I would be making this drink, regardless of ingredients, it was going to happen. I followed the link to the recipe and lo and behold it was a fitness magazine (http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recipes/recipecomdetail.jsp?recipeId=25124278) and a low calorie drink! I'm always looking for those. 

Not only is this drink beautiful, sweet, yummy, and named after a chihuahua it is ALSO under 200 calories. I think I've officially found my summer drink. Don't be scared off by the tequila, this drink is delicious. It tastes like something they bring you with a little umbrella in it :) And because of the name I had to do this...

That's my chihuahua and The Salty Chihuahua. Bo was less than thrilled about posing... 

Ingredients: (for 1 drink)
3 oz. Tequila
1.5 oz. Orange Liqueur
7.5 oz. Grapefruit Juice

If desired salt the edge of your rim with kosher salt (that's where the Salty part comes in...) Fill your cup with ice, pour all ingredients over top and mix well. Garnish with lemon, lime, or grapefruit slices!

I thought my Margaritaville cup was very fitting...

I had a lot of fun taking pictures of these drinks... can you tell?!

 And because it's his namesake, here's some gratuitous pictures of my little man: 

Posing in the leaves in Little Rock

Lounging on the beach!

Keeping warm in my hubby's hoodie

We were feeling the love on Valentine's Day!

They make the most handsome pair, don't they?! And yes that's a polo doggie shirt, and he popped his collar. He's a diva.

Cheers! Enjoy your weekend :)

 

Fresh Margaritas!

Hola! Guess what? We are almost a full running household! We have internet (woo!), television, and we even have a table to eat on like normal people! Yay! Time to celebrate... time for a margarita! I love margaritas. I don't love that bottled mix that costs $6 a pop and is full of high fructose corn syrup and other sketchy chemicals. Making your own homemade mix is SO EASY & tastes wayyyyy better it's crazy to buy the bottled stuff. This mix is MUCH cheaper too. Then you can buy more tequila. For more margaritas. Winning!

You should also definitely serve them in pretty glasses. Pretty glasses make everything taste better. This mix is essentially what you would call a "simple syrup" mixed with fresh lemon & lime juices for a perfect sour mix. Simple syrup is 1 part  sugar to 1 part water- I've also read that you can do 2 parts honey to 1 part water but I haven't personally tried that yet! Let me know if you do... The best thing about making your own mix is that you can make it super sweet if you love a sweet margarita or more sour if that's your thing.

Ingredients:
For the Simple Syrup:
1 Cup white sugar
1 Cup Water
For Sour Mix:
Juice of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lime
+ 1 Shot of good Tequila per margarita

Step 1: Combine sugar & water in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan and stir well. Heat on high, stirring frequently until the mix comes to a rolling boil. Whisk until sugar is dissolved and remove from heat.

Step 2: Transfer sugar- water mixture to glass containers, cover & chill completely. A mason jar would be perfect for this step- I just couldn't find any of mine, I've apparently left them scattered all over the U.S. this past year and had to go buy a new case...

 

Step 3: In a separate container juice 1 lemon and 1 lime.

Step 4: To assemble margarita: Over ice, in a salt-rimmed glass if desired, combine 1 shot (1.5 oz.) tequila, 1 shot simple syrup (sugar water mixture), and half a shot of lemon- lime juice mixture. Stir well, garnish with a lime and enjoy!

Enjoy!

P.S. These are freaking fantastic with Skinny Chicken Fajitas for a full Mexican meal! 

{Thirsty Thursday!} Light Fruity Sangria!

Summer's not over yet folks! Today I wanted to work with those last beautiful days of summer and make a fruity little cocktail to enjoy on the porch (or in the living room, or the pool, or the beach, etc. etc...)! So I was thinking sangria. I've been seeing a lot of fantastic white wine versions on Pinterest lately and been dying to try one. The only kind of sangria I had made previously to this one was a red wine based version, and it was delicious- but for me it held a lot of autumn-y flavors so perhaps we'll Thirsty Thursday that one in a couple months...

Okay so I did a fab little mini photo shoot of my drinks down by the river :) I had to... it looks so pretty! Big thanks to my mom who helped me lug my goodies down there to take the pictures (wasn't a huge task actually this spot is maybe 50 steps out our back door... I know spoiled Floridians!)

Okay, enough about the pictures back to the drink. It is soooo yummy! I'm drinking one right now. It's delicious. You should make it. ASAP! I used White Zinfandel because that's what I had in the fridge, but feel free to use your fave sweet rose or white wine. Also, add your fave fruits- I used an orange, strawberries, and lemons because I love those flavors together. Some other fruit I think would be fan-freaking-tastic? Peaches, limes, cherries, tangerines, and pears! Your fruit choice will lend loads of flavor to your sangria so choose your fruit wisely!

Ingredients:
1 orange cut into rounds or wedges
1 lemon cut into rounds or wedges
1/2 cup of sliced strawberries
1 (750 mL) bottle of White Zinfandel 
1/2 cup white rum
Sprite or 7-up to top glasses (I used diet 7-up because that's what I had!)

Step 1: Cut up your fruit and toss in the bottom of a pitcher.

My pretty fruit!

Step 2: Top fruit with rum and wine, stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate for 4-5 hours.

Step 3: Fill your glass with ice. Fill half the glass (or more if you want a stronger drink!) with the sangria mixture, top with sprite & fruit, stir to combine.

ENJOY :-D and some more of the pretty river pictures for the road...

 

{Thirsty Thursday}: Play-de-doh!

Today I'm sharing a drink I discovered while living in Little Rock, the "play-de-doh". It's a southern rum punch drink traditionally served in a mason jar. Who doesn't love a drink in a mason jar? So adorbs. The first time I had this concoction was on our Air Force base at the club, there was a group of ladies drinking a pretty fruity drink in mason jars. Of course I had to ask what they were drinking- they said "play-de-doh!" Uh what? Never heard of it. So I asked the bartender if I could have the mason jar drink, and it was so tasty! I later found out that play-de-doh's are found at a few different restaurants in the Little Rock area, one in particular serves it with gummy bears in the bottom! This is the perfect summer time drink, fruity, refreshing, and most importantly- pretty! The traditional version I had in LR was made with white rum {Ala Bacardi Superior} I however used a coconut rum in this version and it was amaaaaaazing! You could use a white rum though or a dark rum if that's what you have on hand!

I used 16 oz. pint-sized mason jars because that's what I have, you can of course use whatever style jar or cup that you'd like this size jar is just what the my measurements are based on!

Ingredients: (makes 1 drink)

1.5 oz. rum {1 shot}
1/2 c. orange juice
3/4 c. pineapple juice
1/2 Tbsp. grenadine
2 maraschino cherries to garnish (optional)

Step 1: Pour rum, OJ, & pineapple juice in the jar. Stir to combine.

Step 2: Add grenadine- do not stir just let it float to the bottom! Garnish with cherries (or gummy bears!) if desired. 

ENJOY! :-D

Thirsty Thursday: Fruity Jell-o Shots :)

This recipe was super fun. I've been seeing all the crazy creative pinterest-ers posting pictures of jello shots made inside of pieces of fruit and immediately knew I would be attempting this. First of all, I love jell-o shots. Yummy jell-o plus vodka? That's right up my alley. Plus, you don't use those annoying little plastic cups where you have to swirl your finger around to loosen the jell-o and then your fingers all sticky and nasty. Yuck. Although, as a side reference, if you MUST use those darned plastic cups- spray them with some non-stick spray before you pour the jell-o mixture in and the shot will slide right out :). ANYWAYS, this is so fun. Mine didn't come out as gorgeous as some of the others I've seen via Pinterest, but whatevs I'm not a professional food stylist and they tasted freaking fantastic. 

Bring some of these to your next event and your friends will be so impressed, seriously, they will think that you're so very clever. Mix it up and use limes, lemons, whatever little round fruits that you can hollow out will work fantastic. My next round will be made with grapefruits :)

Ingredients: 
4-5 Oranges (or fruit of choice)
6 oz. Jell-o of flavor choice (I used orange)
2 C. Boiling water
1 1/2 C. Vodka (I used orange vodka, any flavor or plain will work)
1/3 C. Cold water

Step 1: Wash the fruit and halve. 

Step 2: Hollow out the fruit. I used a spoon- you could probably accomplish this a bit easier by scoring the inside of the pith with a sharp knife and then scoop out the insides, HOWEVER I do not trust myself with fruit juice soaked hands handling a sharp knife so I stuck to a blunt object. That's just me.

 Step 3: Pour jell-o into heat proof pitcher. Pour in 2 cups boiling water and whisk together until jell-o is dissolved. Add cold water and vodka and whisk together to combine.

Cabo Wabo pitcher always, for Thirsty Thursdays!

 Step 4: Pour jell-o mixture into fruit halves and refrigerate. Mine took about 2 hours to completely set.

 Step 5: Flip fruit upside and cut into wedges. Serve! Enjoy!

Thirsty Thursday: Electric Lemonade!

Happy Thirsty Thursday everyone! I apologize for being away from the blog for a week, it has been an insane couple of weeks. I was in Illinois all last weekend with family and when I got home it was to a new home because my mom had moved over the weekend. New home= no internet. :( Thankfully, our lovely Comcast man came yesterday and hooked us up and I'm back to the blog world. Wahoo! 

I hope everyone had a fabuuuuulous 4th of July- we had some really good fireworks in our area & today's recipe would have been peeeeerfect! Last week (or was it the week before? I'm so turned around these days..) I posted the frozen margarita recipe (http://unbearablygood.blogspot.com/2012/06/best-easiest-frozen-margaritas.html ) and it went over so well I decided every Thursday will be a drink recipe! Thirsty Thursday! I do consider myself quite the mixologist, so I'm pretty excited to share today's concoction. It is such a pretty summer drink- it's bright blue! And it tastes fantastic. The perfect drink to sip by the pool, beach, lake, or whatever body of water you may find yourself near. I've written the recipe to make a pitcher of drinks, but if you'd like to make just one serving, simply stir together 1 shot citrus vodka, 1 shot blue curacao, 1 1/2 shots sour mix, and a can of sprite.Easy :-)

Ingredients:
1 Cup Citrus Vodka 
1 Cup Blue Curacao
1 1/2 Cup Sour Mix
3 Cups 7-up (I used diet, but use whatever you have!)

Step 1: Pour vodka, curacao, sour mix, and 7-up into a pitcher and stir until combined.

Step 2: Pour in a glass over ice and garnish with a lemon slice and maraschino cherry (obviously not necessary, but recommended- it looks so pretty!) 

PS: That's the coffee table I painted for my momma, how adorbs does it look?!

Remember if you are enjoying this recipe or any of the others- hit the subscribe button to your right so you can get my recipes straight to your inbox! It will make your tummy growl and your kitchen happy! :-)