Margit's & Charley's favorite margaritas by the pitcher

Ingredients:

2 cups Herradura Silver tequila

1 cup Triple Sec

1 cup fresh lime juice

1/4 cup agave nectar 

Fresh lime wedges

Crushed and cube ice, lime wedges, sea salt, pitcher, cocktail shaker, glasses & a deep plate or similar for salting rims

Directions:

Combine tequila, triple sec, lime juice and agave in a pitcher and stir.

Prep DOF glasses by squeezing lime wedge and running around glass rim, then pressing into sea salt on a plate. Add 3-5 ice cubes.

Combine crushed ice and margarita in cocktail shaker. Shake and strain into prepared salted rim glasses. Add lime garnish as desired and serve.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

This one is Frankenstiened together from the top three in a recent google search:

1. Danny Boome's recipe at Food Network
2. Ree Drummond's recipe via her The Pioneer Woman blog
3. Valerie Marie's Amazing Chicken Tortilla Soup! at Genius Kitchen

 INGREDIENTS

• Whole rotisserie chicken
• 2 tablespoons olive oil 
• 1 medium red onion, diced - reserve half for serving
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 jalapenos, finely diced
• 32 ounces, fluid Low Sodium Chicken Stock
• One 8-ounce can tomato paste
• One 14.5-ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
• One 14.5-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained 
• One 14.5-ounce can yellow corn, rinsed and drained
• 2-3 limes, juiced plus wedges for serving
• 1 cup roughly chopped cilantro, leaves only
• 1-1/2 teaspoon Cumin
• 1 teaspoon Chili Powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne 
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• One tablespoon masa or cornmeal

      GARNISH SUGGESTIONS

• Corn tortilla strips, cut into uniform narrow strips (or tortilla chips)
• Red onion diced (reserved from soup ingredients)
• 1 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 1 avocado, pitted, sliced
• 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese 
• Salsa Or Pico De Gallo
• Sour cream

 DIRECTIONS     

1. Sauté onion, garlic and jalapeño with olive oil in a large pot over medium heat until soft (about two minutes)
2. Pour chicken broth, all canned ingredients and salt and pepper into the pot and bring to a boil (may also add chili powder to taste)
3. Once ingredients are well combined, add masa and stir well
4. Over low heat, simmer for 45 minutes, uncovered, stirring occasionally
5. While soup base simmers, shred chicken in a large bowl and mix with lime juice, cilantro and spices then set aside
6. Once soup has simmered for 45 minutes, add chicken mixture to the pot and simmer for another 15 minutes, then serve and garnish as desired

The best damn Beef Stew I've put in my mouth

*disclaimer: hasty post is hasty. No lifeguard on duty.

Seriously. This one borrows heavily from Damn Delicious' slow cooker method and tips its hat to kitchn's advice on searing the beef.

ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil, more as needed
3 pounds stew meat (beef chuck), cut into 1-inch cubes
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 1/2 pounds baby red potatoes, cut into 1/2"(ish) thick cubes(ish)
6 carrots, cut diagonally into 1/2" thick slices
3 stalks celery, cut diagonally into 1/2" thick slices
small bag frozen green peas
1 medium/large white onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced (more is always okay)
4c beef broth
6 oz tomato paste
3T Worcestershire sauce plus more, to taste
1t dried thyme
1t dried rosemary
1t smoked paprika
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup all purpose flour
red wine, optional, for delglazing
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves, optional, for serving

______________________________________________

 prep 

In a medium sized shallow bowl, roll beef in a mixture of flour, salt and pepper.

Add olive oil to a large preheated frying pan, followed by a single layer of prepared cubed meat. (This step may be done in batches in order to prevent overcrowding. A friendly deglazing swish of a decent red wine between batches is a great move- just be sure to scrape those tasty crusty bits right onto the growing pile of seared meat.) Let cook over medium/medium-high heat for five minutes before turning. As meat browns, add garlic and half the white onion. Continue to cook until the meat is evenly seared on all sides.

In a large pot, over medium heat, add beef broth, tomato paste, Worcestershire, thyme, rosemary, paprika, bay leaves and vegetables* until well combined. Stir in beef, garlic and onions and season with additional salt and pepper to taste, if desired.Or, you know, more Worcestershire.

Bring to a simmer, then cover and cook on low heat for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

May be garnished with parsley and served with crusty bread or egg noodles.

*add them ALL now,  add them all at the hour point, or add half now/half then- it simply depends on your crisp-to-mush veggie texture preference.

Cranberry, Ginger and Orange Chutney recipe

This is a halved, lazy version of a recipe I discovered via Food & Wine.  And it's AMAZING.

ingredients

1 large navel orange
1 bag fresh cranberries
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup turbinado sugar (white or light brown work fine, too)
1/4 cup minced fresh ginger
Salt and freshly ground pepper

2. prep
   

   Using a sharp knife, cut the orange in half and juice. Reserve pulp to add later.

   In a medium non-aluminum saucepan, combine the cranberries and water with orange juice and bring to a simmer over medium heat.

   Cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the cranberries have popped (about 10 minutes). 

   Add vinegar, sugar, ginger and orange pulp and continue to cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until thick (about 5 minutes).

   Remove from heat, let cool slightly, then season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm or at room temperature.

3. *Will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for one week. 

Gingersnaps

Less talk, more recipe:

Cookie dough:

3/4 cup coconut oil (or butter, or shortening) 
1 cup dark muscovado sugar (or plain ol' dark brown sugar)
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 t salt
2 t baking soda
1 T ground ginger
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t cardamom
1/2 t ground cloves
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1 large egg
1/3  cup molasses

Finishing*:

1/4 c sugar (light brown or white work fine)
1 t ground cinnamon 
1/2 t ground ginger 
1/2 t cardamom 

Directions: 

Set racks to the middle of oven and preheat to 350°F.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. Stir well to mix.

In the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and at medium speed, cream together coconut oil and sugar for about 5 minutes.

Add the egg and continue beating until smooth.

Lower speed and beat in half the dry ingredients, then add the molasses.

If necessary, stop the mixer and scrape down bowl and beater with a silicone spatula.

Then add remaining dry ingredients, mixing until well combined.

Remove bowl from mixer and, if necessary, use a large silicone spatula to finish mixing the dough.

In a shallow bowl, combine sugar and spice mixture for cookie coating.

Use a teaspoon or small scoop to scoop out 1-inch diameter pieces of dough. Roll into balls, then roll in the sugar mixture.

Place the balls of dough on parchment lined cookie sheets, leaving about 1 1/2 inches all around to allow for spreading.

Bake for 12 minutes (longer for a crisper cookie- but in my oven on my old school IKEA cookie sheets, 12 mins gives me the perfect crisp outside/chewy inside combo). The cookies will spread and crack on the surface.

Slide the papers from the pans onto cooling racks. Store the cooled cookies between sheets of parchment or waxed paper in an air-tight container.

Yield: 3 dozen cookies, depending on size

*Note: add a pinch (or whatever) of cayenne to the finishing mixture for even MORE kick!

This recipe mash-up borrows heavily from Food Network and King Arthur Flour, with a little help from Brannon.