Margaritas: Skinny Wild Hibiscus Margarita

Anyone who knows me knows I love my margaritas-frozen, fresh, skinny.  I love them all!

I also love my tea! I honestly have about 50 different types of tea at all times in my house. Black, rooibos, herbal, I love them all!

I first saw a Hibiscus Margarita on Wild Hibiscus and was inspired to create my own variation.  I figured the combination would be like heaven-tea and tequila.  I do like herbal teas but rarely drink them.  And I was sold when I saw the gorgeous Wild Hibiscus flowers-they're edible and really make the drink feel special.

Skinny Wild Hibiscus Margaritas
2 parts hibiscus tea
1 part tequila
1 part grapefruit juice
1 part Wild Hibiscus syrup (found here)

1. Make the hibiscus tea double-strong. Ex. Instead of using one teabag, use two.
    Don't have hibiscus tea? Use Celestial Seasonings Wild Berry Zinger Tea.

2. Chill tea. 

3. Once tea is cold, add tequila, grapefruit juice, and Wild Hibiscus syrup. 

4. Shake well.

5. Garnish with a Wild Hibiscus flower.

Hibiscus tea can be strong and tart.  If you don't like the taste, add sweetener (sugar, agave, Splenda) while the tea is hot. 

Frozen Chai Tea Latte

Coffeehouse Drinks: Frozen Chai Tea Latte

I don't frequent coffeehouses too often because a) I hate coffee (and the smell) and b) I'd rather not pay $3 for a cup of tea.  I love chai tea though and, in the summer, I love having frozen chai tea lattes. Very refreshing!

Frozen Chai Tea Latte (Makes 1 serving)
1 cup coconut milk

1 cup ice

3 tablespoons Torani Chai Tea Spice Syrup  

Type: Non-diary, Vegan

1. Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend.
    -If using the Margaritaville Key West Frozen Concoction Maker, this will fill up the Blender Jar at the lowest setting.  Follow the automatic settings. 

2.  Make it your own! Customize it with more chai tea spice syrup, sugar, vanilla, and/or cinnamon.

Don't have the chai tea syrup-brew chai tea like this one twice as strong as you normally would.  Let cool before using.

Affiliate links were used in this post. 

Margaritas: Strawberry Peach Frozen Margaritas

Anyone who knows me knows I love my margaritas, guacamole, and shrimp tacos. With the summer coming up, along with Cinco de Mayo, I was itching to try out my new Margaritaville Key West Frozen Concoction Maker.

My first margarita recipe in my new blender: a frozen strawberry peach margarita! I love strawberries, I love peaches, and I figured the combination would be like summer just exploded in my mouth. 

Frozen Strawberry Peach Margaritas (Makes 4 servings)
7-8 large strawberries, hulls removed
10 oz. peach/1 cup slices
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 cup coconut water (I used Zico Coconut Water, Natural)

1 cup tequila
2 cups ice
Margarita salt (if desired)
Limes for garnish (if desired)

1. Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend. 
    -If using the Margaritaville Key West Frozen Concoction Maker, this will fill up the Blender Jar about half-way. Follow the automatic settings. 

2. Rim margarita glasses with salt and/or limes if you desire.

I used the Calorie Count on Caloriecount.com-this recipe comes out to be just 177 calories per serving!  Plus with the strawberries and peaches, this is like a smoothie with alcohol. 

Note-If fresh peaches aren't available, use frozen or the ones available in jars like Dole's Sliced Peaches. I actually used the can peaches (rinsed first) and they tasted fine. 

Affiliate links were used in this post. 

Cocktails: Skinny Pina Colada

So, I was wandering around Target after my failed Lilly for Target shopping trip. Sob, sob! I was thinking of my dinner and felt like something tropical.  Something that would have gone along with a bright pink Lilly shift...

When I saw Bai 5 drinks, I was escastic.  I had first had them at a Yelp event last year and loved them.  The Molokai Coconut was delicious-coconuty but not too sweet, only 5 calories, and full of antioxidants.  It even has 100% of Vitamin C.  The Bai 5 drinks have no artificial colors or preservatives, are kosher, non-GMO, vegan, soy free, and BPA-free.  I worry about drinking most low-calorie drinks, but this one is all-natural. 

The coconut is actually made from coffeefruit, the same fruit that coffee comes from.  It doesn't taste like coffee but does have caffeine.  

After seeing the coconut drink, I was inspired to make a tropical cocktail.  I saw there was a pineapple drink and decided to combine them.  It's 5 o'clock somewhere.

Skinny Pina Colada

1/2 bottle of bai5 Molokai Coconut

2 oz. bai5 Peru Pineapple

1 oz. Rum

Combine the Molokai Coconut, Peru Pineapple, and rum.  Garnish with pineapple, if desired. 

The result- a delicious tropical cocktail that is healthy for us.  This will be a go-to drink this summer for me. 

The best part-the calorie count! This drink comes in at just 75 calories (69 calories for one ounce of rum, 5 calories for the Molokai Coconut, and 1 calorie for the Peru Pineapple.)

Tip:

You can find Bai 5 drinks at Whole Foods and Targets everywhere.  You can also find them at Amazon.com.

Affiliate links were used in this post. I was not paid by bai5; I just like their products.

Review: Home Chef & Get $30 worth of food for FREE!

Home Chef is a meal delivery service that brings you all the ingredients needed to create fresh, healthy, chef-inspired meals at home.   

How it works:

Each week, Home Chef releases nine dinner selections, as well as a fruit option and breakfast option. You choose whichever meals you want based on your dietary preferences, likes and dislikes.  (The dietary preferences are extensive-choose from meals that are low-calorie, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, nut-free, paleo, etc.)

Next, you choose the number of meals you want, the number of servings per meal and the day you want your food delivered to your home.  (You can choose from 2, 4, 6, or 8 servings per meal and you can do between 2 to 8 different meals per week.) Home Chef then takes care of the rest. It delivers to your front door a box of professionally sourced, portioned and prepped raw ingredients. You then follow the step-by-step recipe cards to prepare each meal.

The highlights: Each meal contains 10 or fewer ingredients; dinners are designed for start-to- finish-preparation in 30 minutes or less; and the cost per serving is just $9.99.  The only three ingredients that you are expected to have are salt, pepper and olive oil.  Everything else is provided in pre-portioned, recyclable containers to minimize food waste.

My Meals:

For my first time getting Home Chef, I was immediately impressed by the selection of meals. I had a tough time choosing between all of the recipes.  Eventually I narrowed it down to Blue Cheese-Crusted Sirloin Steak, Skinny Chicken Mozzarella, Smoky Tofu Club Sandwich, Korean Pork Medallions, Southern Style Shrimp and Grits, and Cajun Blackened Chicken. 

My "meals" came in a well-insulated box neatly organized with the ingredients for each meal separated in individual plastic bags.  

Each meal was easy to cook.  The recipe cards are well-written and very easy to follow.  If you can read, you can cook these recipes. My boyfriend was laughing as I was following the recipes because they're so easy to follow.

Here's a photo of the Blue Cheese-Crusted Sirloin Steak.  The Sirloin Steak ended up being one of my favorite meals.  This meal did take 35 minutes to prepare, but that includes prep and cooking time.  It tasted just like a high-end restaurant steak, only for just $2o.  Cheap date night!  I ended up eating most of the meals before I could take photos.  

Is it really two servings?

I ordered the 2 serving meals and was wondering if it would be a full 2 servings.  I am happy to say that each meal had a full 2 servings for me.  Of course, this may vary for you depending on your caloric needs, etc.    

Value

At $9.95 per serving, I felt this was a good value. Certain meals seem to be a better value but considering you get everything you need, including the spices, without having to grocery shop or meal plan, the meals are well-worth the price. 

Cooking skill required: On a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being the easiest, 1.  If you can boil water or turn on a stove-top, you can use Home Chef.  

What I liked:

-Home Chef has a breakfast option! I love this.  I didn't opt to try this as part of my 6 meals, but I know tons of friends who spend half their paychecks on brunch-having an interesting breakfast makes Saturday mornings much easier-and more affordable.

-There's a fruit option.  I love that you can add on fruit to your dinners.

-The dietary choices! Very rarely do these meal delivery services offer this selection of meals designed to work with a variety of diet and meal plans.  Home Chef has recipes that are low-calorie, vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, soy-free, low-carb, and/or paleo.  You can pick the recipes that work with your dietary needs.

 -You pick your meals and recipes.  I am a very adventurous eater, but I like knowing what I'm ordering. 

What I disliked:

Nothing. For me, the price is well worth it. I save time at the grocery store, the meals are only 30 minutes, and I don't have to worry about what to make.  I plan on getting many more meals from here. 

COUPON CODE FOR HOME CHEF:

Get $30 worth of food for FREE! Go to Home Chef right now and sign up!  You'll get $30 for free.

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Go to Home Chef now and start eating healthier!

A referral link was used but all purchases were made by me and all opinions reflect only mine.

Cocktails: The Peep-Tini

Last year, when Easter came around, I wanted a drink that was fun and sweet.  Introducing: the Peep-Tini! The perfect combination of cocktail and candies.

Peep-Tini
Ingredients:
Pink Lemonade
Marshmallow Vodka (I used Smirnoff)
Strawberry Lemonade Vodka (I used Svedka)

1. Fill a glass (or pitcher) 3/4 of the way with the pink lemonade.  
2. Add equal parts marshmallow vodka and strawberry lemonade vodka.   
3. Rim the martini glass with cocktail sugar.
4. Garnish with a Peep.  Split the Peep's bottom to get it to stay on the glass.

 That's it- a simple, refreshing springy drink.  Make it during the rest of spring, without the Peep.

 Tip: We made mocktails by just using the pink lemonade and a different colored Peep (to keep from getting confused.)





Note: Always comply with the drinking age. If you're under 21, don't drink. Don't drink and drive.
 

Snack Subscription Box Review: Graze

Graze.com is a healthy snack subscription box.  Graze sends snack boxes that are nutritionally balanced with a great mix of sweet and savory, nutritious and tasty food.  Every graze pack is a perfectly balanced portion – enough to satisfy and keep you feeling full.

Options with Graze:

-4 snack variety box for $6.99 per week

-8 snack variety box for $11.99 per week

-Sweet Treat box-just their sweet snacks. 4 for $6.99 per week

-Savory Box-just their savory snacks. 4 for $6.99 per week

-Calorie Count Box-4 snacks under 150 calories each. 4 for $6.99 per week

-Sugar Count Box- 4 snacks all under 5 grams of sugar. $6.99 per week. 

-Sharing Box-5 bags (20 portions) of your favorite snacks. $25 monthly

How it works:

After signing up and selecting the box you want, you can go through and adjust your preferences.  For each of their snacks, you can select like, love, or try.  You don't have to select any preferences-the snackers at Graze will pick snacks for you. You can choose to get weekly or semi-weekly deliveries. 

NOTE:

Graze is not suitable for people with allergies. All of their food is packed in the same place, so cross-contamination between any of our ingredients is likely to occur. Our snacks may contain traces of gluten, wheat, eggs, nuts, peanuts, soy and milk. 

My Box: I opted for the calorie count box so all 4 snacks were under 150 calories.  I loved the portion-controlled packs as sometimes I can overeat. (Opps!) 

The Graze boxes come in simple, easily recyclable boxes.

Here are the snacks. Sorry for the crappy photo!  Don't the snacks look delicious.  

The snacks included in this box were: lightly toasted pistachios, tutti frutti, El Picante, and peach & passionfruit parfait. Tutti Frutti is a mix of green raisins, pineapple pieces, blueberry infused cranberries and cherry flavored raisins.  El Picante is a mix of hot chili peanuts, jumbo salted corn and mini paprika breadstick. Yes, the snacks are very interesting combos that guarantee that we won't get bored.  Examples of other snacks include oatmeal and cocoa spelt cookie and cherry compote,  caramel sauce with wholemeal banana shortbread dippers, kale chips and edamame beans, and roasted chilli pumpkin and sunflower seed.

What I liked:

-The snacks.  Everything I've had from Graze has been amazing. I like the variety-there's over 90 different snacks to choose from in different categories like dips & dippers and pure fruit. I've had over 4 boxes so far filled with snacks that both interesting and delicious. I've been happy with the portion size and the variety for 150 calories. 

What I disliked (sort of):

The price can seem high. $6.99 for 4 snacks comes out to $1.75 per snack.  Depending on your snacking levels, if you normally get snacks through a vending machine or so, Graze can be more expensive than your normal snacking.  For me, the price is well worth it. I've been enjoying several weeks of Graze now.

COUPON CODE FOR GRAZE:

Get your 1st box for FREE! Use code DANAJ375P.  If you choose to continue, your 5th box will also be FREE.  You can always cancel too!

A referral link was used but all purchases were made by me and all opinions reflect only mine.