As the weather gets warmer, and we are all still stuck in quarantine what better drink to make then a spicy skinny margarita. I find the more sugar in our drinks the more hungover we get, so I used minimal sugar and basic ingredients. These margaritas are super spicy for the spice lovers, simple and easy.

Here’s a Tipsy Tip – You can also make regular Skinny Ritas (just don’t add the jalapeño). You can also add grapefruit for that citrus kick.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 2 jalapeños
• Your favorite Blanco Tequila
• Chili Lime Salt ( I used Trader Joes)
• 4 Limes
• 2 naval oranges
• Optional (lime seltzer)

1. Roughly chop 1 – 2 jalapeños
2. In a small sauce pan, combine your sugar, water and jalapeños together.
3. Bring to a boil and then low simmer for 3-5 minutes
4. Take off heat and let steep for 20 minutes
5. Slice two limes into wedges
6. Take one wedge, glide it along the rim of your glass
7. Pour the chili lime salt on a plate and take your glass upside down on the plate to gather the salt on the rim.
8. Slice your orange into wedges

In your beverage shaker (this makes 2 drinks, add more depending on the amount of drinks you are making)

Make sure your shaker has lots of ice and your glass has ice.

• Pour two shots tequila
• Two shots of lime juice
• half of the juice of the orange
• Three shots of the jalapeño simple syrup

Shake well and enjoy

Add more lime juice if needed. You can also add a splash of seltzer to make it a little bubbly.

Here are some of my favorite tequilas

In my opinion, you can’t really cheap out on tequilas. These are my favorite tequilas with prices ranging from $25 – $45.

1. Herradura – this is my all time favorite. It is so smooth you can easily drink it straight with a glass of ice (if your into that sort of thing).

2. Patron – cult favorite.

3. Santera – this is delicious but may be hard to find. This is made by the manufacturer who also makes Patron. However, it is just as expensive.

4. Espolon – this is the most affordable tequila that tastes the best. This runs for about $20 – $25 and has won many awards.

Hosting parties can get very expensive. I feel like we host a party at least once a month with well over 20 people each time. In the summer these parties get more frequent, because we have the outdoor space, live on the water and its what we love to do. One of my passions is coming up with creative appetizers and drinks for our friends and family. With my career change, we are really on a budget and can’t get as crazy with food as we used to. I like to think I make it work where our parties have creative food for affordable prices.

We are hosting Super Bowl this year and have about 20 people coming over (last minute these numbers always grow). I am preparing a bunch of appetizers and putting them out at different times of the party. Sometimes, I will have appetizers and make two bigger meals as a dinner but for super bowl our friends like to pick on food all night.

Mini Weenies

This is a basic appetizer that everyone loves. What I like about these are they are 100 percent grass-fed beef. I bought these at Costco for about $12.99. I put out a bunch of different condiments for people to dip their weenie in. Trader Joe’s has the best affordable unique condiments. They have a beer mustard, horshradish mustard, horseradish mayo, sweet ketchups, regular ketchup, Aoili’s and whatever else you can think of. You can get real cute and make mini hotdogs or mini chili dogs.

Party Wings

I did a separate blog post about my party wings. For super bowl, I will make different flavor wings. Last time, I made them plain and had a bunch of dipping sauces but this time I am going to bake them with the sauces. Click HERE for my recipe. I made about 50 wings for $25.

Easy 3 ingredients – Mini Crockpot Sweet BBQ Meatballs

I like this recipe because you can make it in the Crockpot and it is one less thing to worry about. There are only three ingredients. which is meatballs (frozen or you can make them yourself), grape jelly and Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce. The thing I like about mini meatballs, is you can make them so many different ways by changing up the sauce. These are my plain meatballs in the crockpot before I added sauce. I also put onions in them to make them more savory. Maybe I will do a post about my meatballs in different sauces. You can buy chop meat for as little as $5.00 This will only cost maybe $10.00 to me to make for the party.

Football Deviled Eggs

Super easy and cheap. You can buy a carton of eggs for $3.00 and hard boil them. I like to mix the yolk with whatever I have in my fridge. My favorite combination is Mayo, Mustard, Relish and paprika. You can do spicy mustard, Horseradish Mayo, cheese, I’ve seen Ketchup (although I’ve never tried that). Disclaimer – this is not my photo – but I will be making my own version of this and posting it later on. Click Here for the recipe for this photo found on Pinterest.

Sloppy Joe Sliders

This is one of the cheapest and easies apps I’ve ever made. I cooked 3 pounds of chop meat in a large pot with McCormick sloppy Joe seasoning, tomato paste and a little bit of water. I slow cooked this in a pot for about an hour and served it on slider buns. This was a HUGE hit and only $12.00.

One Pan – Nacho Dip

I will be making this for the party as well. It looks pretty simple, you just need chop meat, taco seasoning, tomatoes, onions, cheese, beans, corn, and whatever else you like to put on your nachos and bake in the oven. Not my photo – click here for the recipe. I will be making my own version. I like nacho dip because you can get creative with it and it’s cheap!

Spinach Dip Apps

This is another basic item but Costco makes the best spinach dip. It is only about $10.00 and you can put these in mini peppers and make Spinach Dip poppers. You can also put this in a bread bowl or on cucumber slices.

Trader Joe’s has become a cult favorite. Some people are die hard Whole Foods fans and some are die hard Trader Joe’s fans. I used to shop at Whole Food’s all the time when I lived in Chelsea and they have great things, but ever since I moved back to the suburbs I have converted to Trader Joe’s. Whole Foods is also so expensive it burned a hole through my pocket. However, now that amazon partnered up with Whole Food’s I will from time to time order the 365′ (Whole Foods brand) online (but don’t tell Joe).

A common misconception about Trader Joe’s is that it’s all organic, so it must be super expensive. Well folks, its not ALL organic and it is much cheaper then when I shop at Stop & Shop or King Kullen.

So, if you’d like to save some money and there’s a Trader Joe’s near you, these are my top favorite picks.

If your a cous cous lover, then this is the best Israeli cous cous around. In the regular supermarket this can cost more then $7.99 per box. I purchased this for only $1.99 and its so delicious.

This is my favorite Jasmine rice. This box stays in your freezer and includes 3 microwave bags inside for $3.99

If your looking for a non-dairy yogurt, this is the one to try! There are plenty of great non-dairy yogurts out there but this is one of my top favorites for $1.29

This is the HOLY GRAIL non-dairy cheese I have ever had in my entire life and I have tried so many. My husband hates all things non-dairy and is obsessed with this cheese. We make homemade pizza’s and you cannot tell the difference. There is no weird after taste either. It literally tastes like mozzarella. It needs to be cooked, this is not for eating it raw. $3.99 per bag, worth every penny.

Their soups are off the charts good. I love this Carrot Ginger Soup. They also make great butternut squash soup. $1.99

Speaking of soup, they have the cheapest bone broths around. At your typical market this can go for $7.99 and this was $2.99, but they have cheaper ones in a can for $1.99. Why get bone broth? It is rich in nutrients, helps joints, helps fight against osteoarthritis, heals the gut and is an anti-inflammatory; need I say more?

If your a sauce lover, you need to get your hands on this. I actually mix this with the carrot and ginger soup, place underneath a salmon with broccoli and it’s so delicious. One of the best Thai sauces around and not too spicy (I hate spicy). $1.99

The cheapest Almond Butter around – end of story. $4.99 – I have also seen it for $3.99.

They were sold out of the Coconut Amino’s this time around, but I ALWAYS pick this up. This tastes just like a soy sauce, its crazy. You can use this to marinade with, as a dipping sauce, soy sauce, stews, and even cook with it instead of salt. Why use this? read about the benefits of coconut amino’s here. I found a great article that lists health benefits that I didn’t even know, including fighting against colon cancer and improving mental health. $2.99

Last but not least, is the cheese selection. I am going to do a whole separate post for their cheeses. As much as I try to have a non-dairy diet, I cannot resist a good cheese. It is my kryptonite. I have been to the best cheese stores from NYC to the Hamptons and nothing beats Traders Joe’s cheese quality for the price. They have really stepped up their game. Some cheese can run you $60 per pound at speciality stores and you can get the same cheese from $8lb – $16lb. I have not seen a cheese at Traders more then $16 per lb. They also have rare cheeses such as my absolute favorite, triple cream truffle brie.