Drinking under Quarantine

Spicy Jalapeno Margarita Mix & Grapefruit Cocktail Mix by LAVA.

These are Great Mixers

This company contacted me recently for a collaboration, which pretty much means that I get to try their product for free and pass on a discount for you, and all for the small price of show casing their product. So, just know that I’m not getting paid for this and I’m sharing my true opinions about these two products.

First off I’m happy with the shipping, 3 days from Florida to the mid-west and nothing was broken. That’s important because I ordered a 6 gallon carboy last week and it arrived shattered with bubble wrap. These mixer bottles are glass too but they both arrived unscathed with no bubble wrap so, that’s saying something.

I received a Spicy Jalapeno Margarita Mixer and a Ruby Grapefruit Cocktail Mix. The Margarita Mixer recipe requires, of course, tequila and Lava recommends vodka or gin for the Grapefruit cocktail mix. I chose to go with gin.

The Jalapeno Margarita I thought was amazing. I salted the rim with chamoy and tajin, which gave it some more kick, and I felt like they paired very well together. Over all, I’ll definitely be adding Jalapeno to my Margarita’s in the future.

The Grapefruit cocktail was good too and probably about as good as it could get. The second time I tried it I liked it even better because I rimmed the glass with honey and sugar and I think that helped balance the sour. My wife thought it was great but we both agreed that we liked the margarita’s better.

Margarita and Grapefruit Cocktails.

How much do they Cost

I only have one con for these products and it is simple; I don’t like the price, and not just because I’m the Poor Man’s Gourmet Kitchen or because I’m frugal. They’ve included a 10% off discount for purchases over $20 dollars but at $12.99 per 1 ltr bottle(33.8 oz), that still only knocks you down to $11.69, plus tax and shipping costs. Sorry Lava, I’ll stick with Mr. & Mrs. T Margarita Mix for $6.99 per 1.75 ltr (59.2 oz)and just blend in a Jalapeno. And, their Strawberry Daiquiri/Margarita mixer is even cheaper than that but tastes incredible. Plus, I can get it at any Walmart and most grocery stores.

I’m all for supporting small business’s and I love these products but LAVA has just got to be reasonable. If they want these drinks to take off, they need to drop that price down a little more, get people addicted to it, like crack/cocaine, and then hike up the price. Just my two cents.

UPDATE: LAVA has the following response to offer in regards to pricing.

“As far as product pricing goes, we definitely feel you but for online orders unfortunately the shipping company makes most of the money as it costs us anywhere from $9~$10 to ship our glass bottles which are much heavier than plastic and require better packaging. Add to that credit card processing fees, packaging, cost of goods, etc., and it doesn’t leave a whole lot. At retail stores here in California, the bottles retail for about $7.99~$9.99 since we don’t need to ship across the country. Just wanted to let you know for reference. 
The good news is, we are working on a better discount structure for online orders based on bottle volume so if someone orders 2, 3, 4, bottles we can pass additional savings (that we get from the shipping company) on to the customer.”

Lava Mixers Unveiling/Review – Drinking Under Quarantine – PoorMansGourmet

Natural Juice Push Pop Popsicle’s

6 homemade push pop Popsicle’s made with real fruit juice.

The Best Juice Popsicle’s

One thing that I love to have in the freezer during the summer time is a bag full of Popsicle’s for the whole family. There are so many wonderful flavors to choose from and they’re so tasty but which ones do you buy? Well, lately I’ve stuck with the old Otter Pop or Fun Pops style of Popsicle because they’re cheap, self contained (less mess) and there are a ton or flavors to choose from, including tropical. The problem is that my kids want to eat them at all hours of the day and their little bodies just don’t process added sugar the way they process naturally occurring sugars. I’m not an idiot, so I started looking at my Juice drinks a little closer and guess what I decided to do? If you’re thinking, “Start a Taco shop?”, you’re absolutely right!

3 different Natural Juice companies that make a variety of fantastic juices.

Natural Juice for Popsicle’s

I started drinking these Juice’s a while back because, let’s be honest, I don’t cook and eat the healthiest food in the world. I’ve got some great recipes on this website but I don’t appropriate and balance my diet well, with fruit and vegetables. I’m an entree eater and instead of spending the amount of time it takes to prep and prepare an entire meal, I usually just cook one amazing dish for everyone. That’s where these drinks come into play.

Now already I’m getting hounded with questions about the sugars in these Popsicle’s and drinks. I am not an expert, nor am I trained in the medical field or Nutritional arts and, while I’m at it, I’m not affiliated or receiving any compensation for advertising these products either. In my opinion, that’s what Google and other die hard blogger’s are for. So, you won’t find that information here. I will, however, tell you about my personal experience with Natural Juice.

A few years ago I was inspired to start juicing, thanks to that Netflix Show, “Fat Sick and Nearly Dead”. I purchased an $80 dollar juicer, $50 dollars in fruit and vegetables and I started a 7 day cleanse. Boy was I deleterious, literally. Not only did I not know what I was doing but I couldn’t believe how horribly expensive it was to live that way. I wanted to be healthier but not at the expense of taking food off of my children’s plates. That $50 dollars in fruit and vegetables only gave me 2 quarts of juice (64 oz). Drinking a 12 oz serving of that, 3 times a day exhausted that juice in the first 2 days! How anyone affords that life style is beyond me.

Now, I realize a juice cleanse is quite excessive with the juicing but even just incorporating one glass a day exhausts 2 quarts of juice, before the 7th day, per week. Guess what, that’s still $50 dollars a week in just fresh fruit and vegetables that I can’t afford. That’s why I buy these natural fruit and vegetable juices for $6 and $7 dollars per 64 oz bottle and I realized that they would make some amazing Push Pop Popsicle’s, too.

Natural Juice Push Pop Popsicle’s video tutorial from PoorMansGourmet.

Baby Back Ribs Tin Foil Dinner

Fun Baby Back Ribs Dinner

Tin foil dinners were a regular thing for me, growing up. I was a Boy Scout and without mommy and daddy around to cook for me, I had to throw something together that could just be cooked by campfire. I didn’t like hot dogs so hamburger and vegetables was the next alternative. Well, now that I’m full grown, I don’t want little burned bits of under seasoned hamburger. I want ribs and an assortment of vegetables that any gourmet chef would be proud of and this is what I came up with.

Raw Baby Back Ribs seasoned with Kosher Salt, Black Pepper, Cumin and Blackened Seasoning.

The Best Baby Back Ribs

If you want great Baby Back Ribs, they’ve got to be seasoned. We’ve all got our own specific tastes but the key is to lay it on there thick. In my opinion, the only way you can over season ribs is if you add too much salt. That’s why I use Kosher. It’s light, fluffy and a few pinches, spread evenly, seasons the meat perfectly. There’s a variety of different seasoning I use for different recipes but the key is to cook them slow and low, no matter what you decided to season your ribs with. Cook them over some hot coals, in a smoker, barbecue grill or in the oven like I do and the slow and low method will never do you wrong.

In this recipe I use Cumin and Blackened Seasoning. That means there is Smoked Paprika, Garlic and Onion Powder and a few earthy ingredients that really make pork pop. I posted a recipe for Blackened Seasoning a while back if you’d like to put together some for your self.

Waxy potatoes, sweet peppers, asparagus and carrots.

Veggies and Baby Back Ribs

One pairing that is as sure as death and taxes is vegetables in tin foil dinners and this Baby Back Ribs recipe is no exception. Vegetables that are hard and take longer to cook are the best to use because it takes a few hours for the pork to cook. I chose some small waxy potatoes, carrots, sweet peppers and asparagus. Why I didn’t think to put onion in there, until this exact moment, I’ll never know. Truthfully I was trying to film 2 videos at the same time. 2 hours of cooking time gave me nothing to do so I must have racked my brain trying to get a second video done. Anyway, where was I… oh yeah, the vegetables. They will turn out perfectly with just a little olive oil and salt and pepper.

Baby Back Ribs Tin foil Dinner Ingredients:

1 rack Baby Back Ribs
Carrots
Asparagus
Small Waxy Potatoes
Small Sweet Peppers
Cumin
Blackened Seasoning
Kosher Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil

Cook at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 2 hours and then expose the ribs and kick up the heat 50 degrees. Bake a second time, with barbecue sauce if you’d like, for 20 minutes.

I’m not listing all of the exact amounts because it’s not necessary. I just bought a small bag of each item and just eye balled the seasoning and I’m confident that you can do the same thing and be proud of your self. Just follow the instructions in the Baby Back Ribs Tin Foil Dinner video tutorial and I’ll show you exactly how to make this.