Don't Waste the Tequila


I come from a family of "-holics" - opiumholics, alcoholics, workaholics, dramaholics, foodoholics. . .so since I am something of a controloholic, I don't do much drinking. I don't like the feeling of medicine head I get from alcohol, so I definitely don't know much about tequila, but the tequila lime shrimp asked for tequila, so I decided to look for other tequila recipes, otherwise, poho, especially since I don't know what normal people do with tequila when they're not cooking with it. What drinks contain tequila? Is it just for shots? When Ken was in a Hawaiian culture class at UHH, his teacher was the artist formerly known as Kaipo Frias (Mr. Kekuhi Kanahele/Dr. ???). Anyway, they had a party at the haunted house in Hakalau and the tequila (Patron) was for swilling straight from the bottle, then chanting or singing very loudly. That's my tequila knowledge. What I did learn, though, is that when a recipe calls for tequila, be prepared to stand in front of the liquor aisle and look befuddled.

Did you know that there are 700 different brands of tequila? I should have gone to tequila.net before I went to the store, but basically, there was clear tequila and gold tequila. The gold tequila is a mixed tequila with the agave tequila (clear) mixed with other sugars, like cane sugar. The gold tequila is a lower quality tequila, but it was for cooking, so I didn't mind.

This dessert recipe is from Hungry Girl again (it was on the same newsletter as the tequila shrimp). It's fluffy and mushy with a kick of alcohol and a strawberry tang at the end. 1 cup of this is 2 Weight Watchers points, alcohol and all.

Strawberry Margarita Mousse
(ok, maybe I can make margaritas with tequila?)
1 large (8-serving) or 2 small (4-serving) package(s) JELL-O Sugar Free strawberry gelatin dessert mix
2 cups frozen unsweetened strawberries, mostly thawed
1 1/2 cups Cool Whip Free, thawed
1 cup cold Sprite Zero (or any diet lemon-lime soda)
1/4 cup plus 1 T. (2 1/2 oz.) tequila
3 T. lime juice (my limes were a little hard, so I put them in the micro for half a minute, then rolled it around on the counter like I was rolling dough)

Directions:
In a medium-large bowl, combine gelatin mix with 1 cup boiling water, and stir until completely dissolved, about 2 minutes. Set aside. (This is half of the water that it calls for on the box. Don't fret.)

In a blender, combine strawberries, soda, tequila, and lime juice. Puree until smooth. Add this mixture to the bowl with the gelatin mixture and stir thoroughly. Refrigerate for 45 minutes, until slightly thickened but not set. (Do not over-refrigerate.)

Using an electric mixer, blend in the Cool Whip. Once mixture appears mostly blended, use a spoon to mix it up from the bottom. If needed, continue mixing until uniform. (I didn't actually do that so mine had some white spots among the red. I used my "stick blender" because I was too lazy to set up and clean my hand mixer, and my bowl was too big so my "stick blender" was spraying juice outside of the bowl. )

If you have the right glasses, Hungry Girl also has a diet margarita recipe.

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