Monthly Archives: May 2017

Beverage, Holidays, Less than 5

Jalapeno Margaritas

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Happy Memorial Day weekend!

A sincere thank you to all our members of the armed forces, for doing what they do in order for us to do our things too.

And Memorial Day weekend also means, it is officially summer!

School is out, and so is the sun. (Maybe…we have had some ridiculous amount of thunderstorms here in NC lately! Oh well, that’s why everything here is so green and lush.)

Time to plan vacations to the beach, to the park, to the mountains, and everywhere in between. Time for picnics and cookouts and potlucks and parties.

Time for cocktails!

We all know I love margaritas. This here recipe is taking it to the next level. It is the classic combo of tangy lime, salt, sugar, and liquor, now with the delicious slow burn of jalapeno peppers.

I was introduced to these by my sister in law (I can’t believe it’s been just barely a year, and it’s still weird to use phrases like that!) and have had sporadic cravings for them ever since. I’ll be having a garden party in a few weeks, this recipe might have to make an appearance.

jalapeno margarita ingredients

This recipe makes enough for a large pitcher, about 6 glasses. Feel free to scale up or down as needed, just keep the ratio of tequila to mixer about 1:2, and you can also experiment with more or less jalapeno, depending on how much of a bite you like!

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups tequila
  • 3 cups margarita mix
  • 1/2 cup lime juice
  • Either 4-5 fresh jalapenos sliced, or 1/2 cup pickled jalapenos

Step 1: Mix all ingredients in a large pitcher full of ice and refrigerate for an hour to overnight. Dip a glass in lime juice, and then salt. Add ice, add margarita, sip… and smile. Then cough, and maybe turn red, and maybe need some ice water to wash it down. Just kidding, you will be fine! And then go back for more.

 

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Breakfast, Casseroles, Comfort food, Main Dishes, Vegetarian

Pan fried chillaquiles

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You know how sometimes (always) you have a party, and at the end of the night, there’s like, 10 chips left in the bag? Or you clean out the pantry and realize there’s a who-knows-how-old quarter bag of tostitos still sitting on the top shelf, using up your favorite chip-clip?

Turns out, there’s a way to use up leftover or old tortilla chips to make them into something new and delicious!

Chillaquiles (chee-la-kee-lays) is a home-style Mexican recipe, with tons of flavor and stick to your ribs goodness. It is in no way a healthy recipe, which is a slight deviation from my normal attempts to healthify everything. But we all need a little indulgent comfort food now and then, and I’m always a big fan of not wasting food. Even the 8 chips left in the bottom of the bag.

pan fried tortilla chips and salsa

Makes one enormous pan full! Serves about 8.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups crushed tortilla chips
  • 1 cup salsa
  • 1 large can tomato sauce
  • 5-6 eggs, scrambled
  • 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

eggs, whisked

Step 1: In a large frying pan, pour the chips, salsa, and tomato sauce. Cook over medium low heat, until the chips have begun to soften.

pouring the egg into the chillaquiles

Step 2: Scramble the eggs in a bowl. If you want extra fluffiness, add a splash of milk. Pour into the frying pan, add the cheddar, and mix well.

Step 3: Cook over medium-high heat, mixing occasionally, until the egg is cooked through. If you like, sprinkle with a little extra cheddar.

Optional add-ins include: diced peppers and onions, sour cream, black or pinto beans, chorizo, sausage, other types of cheese like pepper jack, jalapenos…

 

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Beverage, Healthy, Less than 5

Cherry Berry Fizz

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I know I’ve talked before many times about how drinking enough water is such a crucial aspect of being healthy. I’m pretty sure I’ve also talked about how much I struggle with this! For all my good habits and self-control, drinking enough water is just. so. difficult.

It’s not that I mind the taste, or dislike it. I just forget.

I’ve begun leaving water cups with straws all over the house and at work and in my car… I find that a straw really helps! For some reason, I can drink more at once and keep drinking more water when there’s a straw involved versus just a cup. It’s funny, because hubby has the exact opposite preference, he hates straws and drinks much faster in gulps.

But I digress.

The other way I’ve found to trick myself into my 8-to-10 daily glasses is fizzy water! I used to think that seltzer was so gross, and why would anyone want fizzy water when they could just have a pop? (NOT that drinking pop regularly is ever a good idea, please don’t. But still.) I just didn’t get it.

Well, fast forward to last year, a coworker of mine had cans of fizzy water regularly. There were all kinds of different flavors, setlzer and not. (I’d recommend ones without added sugars, even the fake kinds, but beggars can’t be choosers and if it gets you into the water habit to start with, do what you must). I reluctantly tried one… and liked it. And so I bought another. And then a case.

And then I had a new habit! Which is great… ish. Fizzy water is still water and is so good for me. But it is not so great for my bank account, or my planet. All those cans and bottles, just going to waste. Even if I recycled, I still felt that twinge of guilt each time I tossed a can or bottle and heard it hit the inside of the bin.

Berry cherry fizz

Since then, I’ve also gotten hubby onto the fizzy water bandwagon. It’s a perfect beverage with dinner, while watching TV, or a great alternative to alcoholic beverages for just any random weeknight when you want something fun and different. So now we were going through twice the aluminum and plastic!

After some research and discussion with many friends, we decided it might be time for a fizzy water machine. There would be a larger up-front cost, with small ongoing fees (CO2 replacements mostly) but the perks included: cheaper overall, no more bottle/can waste, we know where the water is coming from and what flavorings are added.

We crunched the numbers, and decided on a SodaStream Fountain Jet. And then my wonderful inlaws surprised us with it for Christmas! So that saved us the initial investment as well. (THANK YOU!). The 60L tank claims to make something like 50L of fizzy water, so by the time we finish our first refill (i.e. 2 tanks) even at the cheapest I’ve ever seen a liter on sale at a store we will be ahead financially. And we intend to use this bad boy for many years to come too.

You don’t have to have a SodaStream for this recipe, you can use bottled fizzy water of course. Or even regular tap water. But if you buy it bottled, try buying a 2L at a time, for less waste. This is refreshing, light and fruity, and perfect for summertime or after a hot and sweaty run. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups fizzy water
  • 1/2 cup pure cherry juice
  • Handful frozen berries (I used blueberries)

Step 1: Pour the frozen berries into a cup, these will be your ice cubes. They won’t water down your drink, and you get a healthy snack at the end!

Step 2: Pour in the cherry juice (you can use any kind of juice here, try for no sugar added organic kinds if possible) and the bubble water.

Step 3: Hydrate!

This also looks very pretty, the bubbles lift the berries around the glass like a lava lamp. And with the red and blue colors, this would be an ideal beverage to serve for a Fourth of July party! You could even add a shot of a little somethin somethin, I won’t tell… 😉

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