Huevos Rancheros and Tequila

Fresh homemade salsa has become a regular thing with me lately, and any dish I find that can accommodate it is going straight to the top of my “to do” list. More often than not, I’m racing to finish a leftover stash of it from a previous night’s meal. Any more than two days sitting in the refrigerator, and the salsa loses its potency, becomes too watery and stands in the refrigerator merely as a reminder of my inability to reduce recipe measurements when I’m only cooking for myself and MG and not the entire office.

So when I see a recipe or a blog entry (in this case, Smitten Kitchen, yet again that makes room for the salsa, I’m pretty sure it’s to cook up in my kitchen.

Add to the fact that egg dishes are usually pretty easy to conquer, fast to prepare, and good morning, noon and night, and this recipe even had more going for it.

And if you can find an excuse to squeeze in some tequila on a Wednesday night too, well…!

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String of Pearls

This is a sweet, smooth, dare I say “cozy” after-dinner drink to serve on a night you’re staying in with a movie on the big screen TV.  They also might fit alongside the Sidecar, Whiskey Sour and Horse’s Neck at a 1940′s Prohibition-themed party. The creme de cacao and the half-and-half pretty much sweep any alcoholic bite right out of the glass, so be careful.  They go down fast.

I have made this drink a couple times now for MG.  Not sure how he feels about the actual drink, but he’s certainly loving that I’ve regularly got bags of Hershey almond kisses in the kitchen cupboard.

• 1 1/2 cups of cracked ice or 6 ice cubes
• 1 1/2 ounces of vodka
• 1/2 ounce white creme de cacao
• 1/2 ounce of half and half
• 1 chocolate kiss or chocolate-covered coffee bean
• SERVES ONE

Fill a cocktail shaker with the ice and then add the vodka, creme de cacao and half-and-half.  Shake vigorously to blend and chill

Place the chocolate kiss in the bottom of a chilled martini glass.  Strain the mixture into the glass and serve

Sam’s Red Dot

Certainly this drink already exists in a similar form, but whatever it’s name is, it can’t beat “Sam’s Red Dot,” a tribute to the Westie who lives across the hall from MG and feverishly chases a red laser dot back and forth down the hall until he keels over from exhaustion.

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Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary Part 2

Several weeks ago, I started buying low-sodium V8 vegetable juice to keep on hand as an alternative to orange juice. An 8 ounce glass has ten grams of carbs, only fifty calories and ZERO grams of fat. It’s a little thicker on the palette than I’m used to, but it didn’t take long for it to replace orange juice as my breakfast compliment. Then, all of a sudden, here’s MG at every turn with a glass of vegetable juice and a suspicious stalk of celery sticking out of it. Turns out my baby is a fan of the Bloody Mary. I thought they were more or less a Sunday brunch beverage or morning hangover cure, but MG seems to be fond of them in the early evening, so I thought I’d have one ready for him when he showed up the other night. And of course, I thought I’d do a little research on the subject as well… because knowing how to make them is nice, but knowing who made them first is totally impressive.

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