Mango Margaritas

My Guest Blogger is my daughter-in-law Amanda Cooper Inman. Here's the Mango Margarita recipe she whipped up for Dale's birthday last weekend. With the temps over 100 every day...this cooled us off quick. And yes, she served them up in a "red cup!"

When I was in high school, I became enamored with the Food Network. I was fascinated with everything to do with food--the different ways to cook, the enormous amount of herbs and spices you could use to flavor, and even the science of food (thanks to Alton brown from Good Eats). I even considered going to culinary school until I found out how expensive it is! Well now that I am married and having to pay bills (ugh) I no longer have access to the Food Network, but my parents still do and whenever I’m over there I’ll watch it.

One day I was over there and one of Giada De Laurentiis’ shows was on. She was making a really yummy Mexican dish. For her drink, she made Mango Margaritas and I immediately went Hmmmm…that sounds really good! So I went to the website and got the recipe! I made some slight changes to it (big surprise), but here it is:

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup fresh mint (I used dried mint and I found the conversion 1 cup fresh=1/4 cup dried)
• ½ cup sugar
• ¾ cup tequila
• 3 Tbsp fresh lime juice (from 3 large limes)
• 1 pound frozen mango chunks (thawed at room temperature for at least 15-20 minutes)
• 1 ½ cups ice

DIRECTIONS:

In small saucepan, bring mint, sugar and ½ cup water to boil. Stir until sugar dissolves and let sit until room temperature.

Strain mint syrup through fine mesh sleeve into blender. Press firmly on mint to release all of the syrup. Add the tequila, mango, ice, and lime juice. HINT-you can microwave a lime for 15-20 seconds to help get it soft and release the juice. Blend the mixture together until pureed. Pour into glasses and enjoy! I think I got about 4-5 drinks from this recipe, but you could double everything and get more drinks. J