Mango Margaritas

We love drinking margaritas, especially in the warmer seasons. After many tries, this is our idea of the perfect margarita.

First of all, get some margarita salt at the grocery store. It’s basically like course rock salt, but it’s a nice shape for dipping a glass rim into. You can always refill it with kosher salt when you’re running low.

Wet the outer rim with lime juice, then press it into the salt.

Remove the glass from the salt, and give it a few shakes over the sink to avoid getting loose salt all over your house. Fill the glasses with ice, and set aside.

Put a few ice cubes into a mixed drink shaker, and add:

2 shots of tequilla

1 shot of Grand Marnier (Triple Sec works too)

2 shots of mango nectar (look in the Latin Foods section of your grocery store)

3 shots of margarita mix (I like

a squeeze of lime juice to give it a nice bite

Shake the mixer well and pour into the glasses. It makes a very pretty margarita!

Serve as is or with a splash of color.

Fruit Smoothies

We’ve had a heat wave here lately, just when our air conditioning was undergoing maintenance. So anything cold has seemed like a great idea! These fruit smoothies are an easy way to make a delicious treat using fresh fruits and juices.

You will need 1 banana, 4 strawberries, 1/4 cup mango nectar, 2 tbl spoons coconut milk, 1 mango, 2 tbl spoons honey, yogurt (I used peach), sorbet, and ice. Add a shot each of vodka, tequila, and rum for a great party drink.

Combine the ingredients in a blender, adding the ice last, so you can fill the blender the rest of the way with ice.

Turn the blender on high and mix for about 4 minutes. You want a nice smooth texture without lumps of fruit and ice.

Pour into a nice tall glass, serve, and enjoy!

Making the Perfect Egg for Breakfast Biscuits

My husband and I love to sleep in on Saturday, then wake up and make a huge Big Boy Breakfast. Sometimes this consists of making biscuits and stuffing them full of bacon or sausage, cheese, and egg. Getting the egg to fit nicely into a small biscuit, however, has proven itself quite difficult. This weekend, I tried something new and produced the perfect egg for breakfast biscuits.

All you need for this recipe is a round biscuit cutter, two slices of thick bread, eggs (about 1 egg per biscuit), butter, and any other fillings you’d like in your biscuit.

First, combine your eggs, and scramble them in a bowl with a pinch of salt and pepper. Set aside. Use the biscuit cutter to slice the center out of each piece of bread. Remove the centers and set them aside for later. Now grease your pan and lay the bread crusts in the sizzling butter. Slowly pour the scrambled eggs into the hole in the center of each bread slice. To keep the egg from leaking out, you may want to pour a bit, wait for it to firm up, then add more. I kept the heat between medium and low on my gas stove.

Once the tops look relatively firm, as shown above, flip the entire piece of toast and fry the other side for about a minute. Remove the toasted slices from the pan and use a small knife to cut around the edges of the egg. Carefully press on the egg to remove. You can reuse the bread molds about 4 times each, making 8 egg circles. Place the egg on your biscuit, and add your other ingredients.

We used english muffins, muenster cheese, egg, and fried chicken slices on ours. They were yum yum yum!