Pama Margtini

Looking to take the edge off with a strong margarita? I've concocted the perfect cocktail: a cross between a margarita and a martini. See below for ingredients for 2 margtinis:

- 4 parts of silver tequila

- 1 1/2 parts triple sec

- 1 1/2 parts Pama liquor

- 1 1/2 parts fresh lime juice

- 1/2 parts agave, optional

In a shaker, fill with the ingredients listed above. One tip to make things easier, buy a giant bag of limes from Costco and pre-squeeze them. If you have sweeter tastebuds, add agave to lessen the tart from the limes. If you have several citrus fruits and want to make your own sweet n sour mix, use limes, lemons and oranges, a splash of water and agave to make more of a base margarita mix rather than a martini. The other margs in the photo are a homemmade sweet n sour + a few jalapeños for a little kick!

These tasty drinks go down well but will definitely sneak up on you! Drink with caution and preferably more to eat than I have pictured below...I learned from experience.

Trio Dip

I'm going to let you in on my queso secret.... store bought. I make most things homemade, but that isn't one of them. As for the pico and the guac, I've got you covered. For those you'll need:

- tomatoes

- avocados

- 1/2 onion, diced

- 1 jalapeño

- cilantro

- lime juice

- salt

- cumin

- chili powder

My pico is just a chunky salsa with all the right flavors. I use Campari tomatoes because they are my favorite, but use whatever kind you like. Depending on how many people you are feeding you can just dice everything up and see what you're working with. I used about 8-10 tomatoes. After dicing the tomatoes, onion and jalapeño (remove the seeds!!!), salt the salsa mixture and let sit for about 5 minutes before squeezing a lime over it. Next, add about a teaspoon of cumin and chili powder and stir. The spices are totally up to your taste, so add as little or as much as you like and taste along the way!

Guac is one of those things that you take to parties and no matter how much you make, it will always get eaten. If you have ripe enough avocados, making guac is easy! Someone once told me that in order to make enough guacamole, you should account for one avocado per person. If you've already made the pico, take a few scoops of it and add into the guacamole. This will give it more flavor and texture, plus you use a lot of the same ingredients/flavors in both.

Squeeze a lime on top and add more salt, cumin, chili powder and garlic powder and stir. Depending on how much you are making you can always dice more onion, tomatoes and cilantro to give it more texture. The key to good guac is making however you like - there is no right or wrong!