The "Not Too Girly" Strawberry Margarita—Paleo Friendly

by Linda

"Know when to give up and have a margarita."

   We sisters love margaritas. As the legions of tequila aficionados from around the world already know without a doubt, drinking tequila is very different from drinking any other kind of alcohol. My personal motto is this—if you want to add some fun to almost any occasion, just add a little tequila.
   You are most likely already acquainted with that huge country hit that I love by Joe Nichols, Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off. That song was playing on country music radio every ten minutes when my son Jordan and I took a road trip from California to Arizona to see the family during the Christmas holiday of 2005. I can remember laughing out loud when I heard the lyrics for the first time because—well, umm… they are true.

      I developed a margarita recipe about fifteen years ago that has been a party staple of our family ever since. My Carnitas and Margaritas parties were legendary when I was living down in the South Bay, and I have no shame at all in saying that the police actually showed up to end one of them. When I invited the officers to join us, they looked longingly at the great spread of food and drink (not to mention the beautiful women that were dancing in my backyard on the patio to lively salsa playing on my boom box), and it was with courtesy and real regret that they told me that my neighbors had complained and we needed to shut things down—and no, but thank you very much—it was against department regulations to join us. I know my margarita recipe so well in fact, that I have it committed to memory, and so do a number of my friends.
   My original recipe makes a pitcher, and for large gatherings, I have been known to make up a couple of gallons of the magical elixir in advance of the party. During our Sistercation in Bisbee, in September of last year, Michelle and I whipped up a batch before departing Tucson in anticipation of we sisters and our family members of drinking age enjoying the warm summer air while sipping margaritas that first evening in town. So what would my motivation be to come up with a different recipe you might ask? Well, I went Paleo.

   In my efforts to eliminate sugar from my diet—I with a great deal of sadness and kvetching—gave up drinking margaritas, because my recipe was full of refined sugar—arrgh! Then one languid afternoon this past summer, as I was scrolling through my Facebook feed, I found a blog post from Danielle Walker of Against All Grain. She posted her brother's recipe for Paleo Margaritas which was a game changer for me. Well, hello, Margarita… long time no see.
    I also was very inspired by the discovery of honey simple syrup, which it had never previously occurred to me to make. To learn more about the health benefits of honey and how to make honey simple syrup click here. It has many uses other than in the making of cocktails.
 

   It was with real delight that I discovered Paleo Margaritas are delicious, and it wasn't very long before I wondered what would happen if I infused the tequila with strawberries. Typically I use vodka to infuse fruit. Turns out that my strawberry version was a huge hit at our house. You can try out the results for yourself, and we cordially invite you (I know—I love silly puns) to let us know what you think.

The "Not Too Girly" Strawberry Margarita

   Mark, having been a former professional bartender in earlier years, was not too enthusiastic about my idea of making a strawberry margarita. To him, a typical strawberry margarita is more of an alcoholic fruit smoothie—something that the ladies like to order at the bar. So he turned up his nose at my efforts until I made him try one of mine. Hence the name. This is no girly drink—that's why I serve on the rocks—because it benefits from the dilution of the ice. It is full of flavor and packs a wallop, just like my Strawberry Lemon Drop. You can also shake this drink in a cocktail shaker and serve it "up" in a martini glass, or dip the rim of your glass in some salt or sugar, but I prefer this cocktail without those distractions. It is perfectly delicious just poured over ice. It also occurred to me given that the holiday season is upon us, and that the tequila could be infused with pomegranate seeds (fresh or frozen) to make a fall/winter-themed margarita.

Equipment:
A large glass jar or crock (I used my large enamel cast iron Le Creuset pot)
Save your empty tequila bottles
A fine mesh sieve
Cheesecloth (optional)
A citrus juicer
A 1 cup Pyrex measuring cup or ounce measuring shot glass

The place where the Le Creuset collection lives at our house.

Ingredients:
1 litre 100% pure agave Reposado Tequila ( I buy Zapopan at my nearest Trader Joe's)
1 pound frozen strawberries (365 Frozen Strawberries preferred)
Fresh limes
Honey simple syrup

This photographer was multi-tasking for this photo. Check out my post on
how to make homemade sauerkraut.

Infused Tequila:
1 litre 100% pure agave Reposado Tequila
1 pound frozen strawberries (365 Frozen Strawberries preferred)
Simply place the strawberries in a large pot and pour in the tequila. Stir and then cover and allow to sit for 24 hours. After the mixture has infused for 24 hours, separate the infused tequila from the strawberries, which will have lost all of their color. I pour the infused and strained tequila back into the original bottles.

24 hours later, the tequila is a beautiful red, and the strawberries have lost their color.

Ingredients for one Margarita (1 cup):
4 ounces strawberry-infused Tequila
2 ounces fresh lime juice (none of that stuff from a jar)
2 ounces honey simple syrup
Ice (for rocks or shaking)

Procedure:
1. Combine ingredients and pour over ice. Enjoy!

A Final Note: With the gift giving season upon us, we thought we should mention that a bottle of fruit-infused tequila makes a great gift along with a couple of glasses and a card with the recipe or a link to our recipe. Linda found the glasses featured in this post at her local thrift store. We are huge fans of recycling and reusing—especially our sister Juliette who is the family authority on thrifting. Check out Juliette's thrifting tips by clicking here.