Cinco De Mayo Cocktails

Happy Cinco de Mayo! We already have two great margarita recipes on the blog – Beer Margaritas and Skinny White Claw Margaritas – so normally with Cinco de Mayo falling on a Tuesday (i.e., work night/school night for our family) I would simply put these tacos in the Instant Pot and make one of these margaritas to celebrate the occasion. 

But this May 5^th is far from typical and I need all the fun things to keep me sane and optimistic right now. So, I decided to kick it up a notch and try out some fun Mexican-themed cocktails and order in a Cinco de Mayo meal from @thepantryseattle. Here is what is on the menu for this evening: 

Sounds yummy right?! A little impromptu fiesta is good for this quarantined soul!

And here are the Mexican-themed cocktails I tried for the occasion – Lela Rose’s Quarantini Mexitini and Half Baked Harvest’s watermelon rosé paloma. 

Clothing designer Lela Rose has been posting some great cocktail ideas on Instagram over the past few weeks (@lelarose or @pearlbylelarose). Check out her highlight video #tequilalela! I decided to try her Quarantini Mexitini recipe (I don’t even drink martinis!) and it did not disappoint. Highly recommend you try this one!  

QUARANTINI MEXITINI

INGREDIENTS

• 4 oz Tequila
• 2 oz Grand Marnier
• 2 oz Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice
• 1 oz Olive Brine (I found a brand called Filthy Olive Brine at Safeway. There are recipes online for making your own olive juice but that seemed far too complicated for a weeknight)
• Splash of Vermouth
• Manzanilla Pimiento-Stuffed Olives
• Trader Joe’s Chile Lime Seasoning Blend

DIRECTIONS

• Pour all ingredients into a martini shaker. 
• Add ice.
• Shake well.
• Pour into a chilled martini glass with a Chile Lime salted rim
• Add olive if preferred (I added two!)

Recipe Courtesy of @lelarose and @pearlbylelarose

WATERMELON ROSÈ PALOMA

INGREDIENTS

• ¼ cup Watermelon Juice (I simply bought watermelon juice at the store. The recipe called for making your own but that also seemed for too complicated for a Tuesday or quarantine generally) 
• 1 1/2 ounces Jalapeno-infused Tequila (original recipe called for regular tequila)
• Two tablespoons Trader Joe’s Jalapeno Limeade (original recipe called for juice from 1/2 lime)
• 4 ounces sparkling or regular Rosé wine, chilled
• 1/4 cup sparkling water for topping
• Trader Joes Chile Lime Seasoning Blend

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DIRECTIONS

• To make Jalapeno-infused tequila, simply cut up one Jalapeno and put into a bowl with one cup tequila. Let infuse at least 15 minutes (we did about two hours) but can be left for days to add more heat.
• Salt the rim of your glass with Trader Joe’s Chile Lime Seasoning Blend.
• To your salted cocktail glass, add watermelon juice, the tequila, limeade, and the Rosé, gently stir to combine. 
• Add ice, then top off with a splash of sparkling water. 
• Garnish as desired with watermelon.

Typically, I love Half Baked Harvest recipes but unfortunately this cocktail was a little dull tasting and fell flat. To improve the flavor profile and add a little heat, we swapped out fresh lime juice for Trader Joe’s Jalapeno Limeade and infused our tequila with jalapeno. These substitutions helped add some kick, but I still would only give this cocktail a “B”. 

Recipe Courtesy of Half Baked Harvest at https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/watermelon-rose-paloma/

So, this Cinco de Mayo I will be having a Mexitini with my @thepantryseattle meal. What do you have planned to celebrate?