Drinks

WATERMELON JALAPEÑO MARGARITAS

September 5, 2021 by Sarah Baade Leave a Comment

Taking It Easy

Typically, I try to get a few new recipes on here each month. That goal was not fully accomplished last month and, honestly? I have no regrets. Summer has brought lots and lots of pool time, neighborhood gatherings, and board games. Yes, I still work full time as well. Creating blog posts requires testing and retesting recipes, photographing dishes, editing those photos, and typing out content associated with the recipe. After all of that is accomplished, the work begins on promoting said recipes on social media. Last month I was still cooking and creating in between fun and work. But, I am just now finding time to get photos and the rest of the details sorted out. The first recipe on the list is these Watermelon Jalapeño Margaritas.

Pink watermelon margarita with slices of jalapeño, lime, and watermelon.

Margaritas

I moved to Texas ten years ago and the first drink I had was a margarita. So, it only seems fitting for these Watermelon Jalapeño Margaritas to be my first alcoholic drink on this site. I love the light sweetness of watermelon combined with the spice from the jalapeño. I’ve opted for this margarita to be served on the rocks rather than frozen. This makes it easier to customize the heat for each individual drink. Want extra fire in your glass? Use several slices of jalapeño and/or include the seeds. Can’t take much heat? Limit yourself to a single jalapeño slice and exclude the seeds. Regardless of your preferred heat level, I know you’ll enjoy these watermelon jalapeño margaritas.

Watermelon Jalapeño Margaritas

Sarah Baade

A balance of sweet and spicy – this watermelon jalapeño margarita is a great way to keep cool.

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Course Drinks

Servings 4 margaritas

Equipment

Blender

Ingredients

lime wedges and tajin or salt for rim of glasses
1-2 jalapeños, sliced
4 cups watermelon
1½ cups tequila
¼ cup orange liquor
juice of 2 limes
optional garnish: small watermelon slices, lime wedges, jalapeño slices

Instructions

Rim of each glass with a lime wedge and tajin or salt.
Muddle two or more jalapeño slices (depending on how much heat you want in your margarita) in the bottom of each glass then top with ice.
In a blender, combine watermelon, tequila, orange liquor, and lime juice. Pour into glasses, garnish as desired and serve.

Notes

I muddle the jalapeños with the end of a wooden spoon.
You can cut a watermelon in half and scoop your four cups out with the measuring cup itself.

Keyword Jalapeño, Margarita, Watermelon, Watermelon Jalapeño Margarita

Needing non-alcoholic options? Try out these mocktails.

Strawberry Float

July 1, 2018 by Sarah Baade Leave a Comment

Happy Independence Day!!! I have celebrated this holiday from all over the country – Kansas, Texas, Colorado, Alabama… I’ve watched fireworks lakeside, mountainside and from my own driveway. However, my favorite memories of this holiday are from my grandparents’ backyard. As a kid, we would drive down from Kansas to Texas to visit my grandparents. They would have what seemed like an endless supply of sparklers and popper for us to light up after it got dark. All of us kids would line up out in the yard, a few feet in front of Grandpa’s giant vegetable garden, and write our names in the night sky with the sparklers. Aside from summer camp, this has got to be one of my all-time favorite summer memories.

This year, I’m keeping the holiday low-key. My little one is too little to play with sparklers and I won’t be staying up late since I’ll need to be at work the next day. But I still want a festive treat. Making the ice cream ahead of time means all I have to do is scoop and pour some soda for this one. I opted for fresh strawberries since they are readily available this time of year. And in the continued effort to keep things simple, this is a no-churn ice cream. You’re welcome!

Tips:

Make sure the strawberry syrup has completely cooled before you add it to the cream mixture.
The homemade syrup is really delicious – it would also be fantastic poured over any vanilla ice cream for a sundae.

Strawberry Float

¼ cup sugar

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

16oz fresh strawberries, de-stemmed and finely chopped

16oz heavy cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

14oz sweetened condensed milk

Strawberry soda (I used a passion fruit & strawberry Italian soda)

Directions:

Place sugar, balsamic vinegar and half of the strawberries in a small sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to low and simmer until liquid has reduced by half. Set aside to let cool.

In a large, cold bowl, beat heavy cream until soft peaks form. Stir in vanilla, sweetened condensed milk, cooled syrup and remaining fresh strawberries. Pour ice cream into a 9×5 loaf pan. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for a minimum of 6 hours, preferably overnight.

Place 2 scoops of the strawberry ice cream into a glass. Fill glass with strawberry soda until ice cream is covered and starts to foam. Serve with a straw or spoon.

Flight of Mocktails

May 12, 2018 by Sarah Baade 2 Comments

I’ve reached an interesting stage of life where friends are not consuming alcohol like we used to. The reasons seem to vary greatly – pregnancy, health issues, recovering alcoholic. Regardless of the reason though, let’s just admit that we would all be a bit healthier if we went for a mocktail rather than some booze. When I was pregnant, I would ask bartenders to create a mocktail for me when I was out to dinner with friends. Maybe it was pregnancy brain getting the best of me but it never really occurred to me to create some mocktails of my own at home. Now that I’ve made a few I’m actually inspired to make and drink more of them!

The inspiration on this flight of mocktails was really to create drinks comparable to cocktails I would normally order myself at a bar or restaurant. I enjoyed all four drinks listed here but the first two are my favorite. These could be so fun to serve at a baby shower or even just a booze-free brunch with friends!

Tips:

If added sweetness is desired for the Pink Lemon Drop, serve in a sugar rimmed martini glass.
You can buy or make your own simple syrup. To make your own, add ½ cup sugar and ½ cup water to a saucepan over medium heat. Stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Let cool completely before adding to your mocktail.

Flight of Mocktails

Sober Sangria – makes 4 drinks

1 orange, sliced

1 apple, sliced

1 lemon, sliced

1 peach, sliced (in winter, you can sub the peach out for 1 cup pomegranate seeds)

1 cinnamon stick

1 ½ cups pomegranate juice

juice of 1 lime

1 cup cranberry juice

Place all fruit and the cinnamon stick in a pitcher. Pour in pomegranate juice, lime juice and cranberry juice. Stir all ingredients and refrigerate a minimum of 4-8 hours in order to allow flavors to blend and drink to chill. Can be served over ice if desired.

Pink Lemon Drop Mocktini – makes 1 drink

¼ cup cranberry juice, chilled

½ cup Italian lemon soda, chilled

2 fresh ginger slices

1 small sprig rosemary

Optional garnish – 1 lemon slice

Pour juice and soda into a martini glass. Place ginger slices on a toothpick then place in drink. Add rosemary and lemon slice.

Mock-Mojito – makes 1 drink

2 tablespoons simple syrup

Juice of 1 lime

1 sprig fresh mint

¾ cup Topo Chico (or plain carbonated water of choice)

Crushed ice

In a 10oz glass, stir together simple syrup, lime juice, Topo Chico and mint. Add crushed ice until glass is full. Garnish with more mint if desired.

Berry Sunrise – makes 1 drink

1 handful blueberries (or opt for blackberries, raspberries or sliced strawberries)

½ cup grapefruit juice

½ cup sprite

Crushed ice

Muddle berries in the bottom of a 10oz glass. Stir in grapefruit juice and sprite. Add crushed ice until glass is full.