We decided to have Margaritas and for appetizers we ordered Chili’s appetizer trio deal called the Triple Dipper. We got a double order of the Southwestern Egg Rolls and the Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip.

I love those Southwestern Egg Rolls, so I’ve been searching the internet for some copy cat recipes. 

Here’s what I’ve found so far:

Copy Kat.com has a few of Chili’s recipes including the Prezidente Margarita, which is what I had last night. You can find their version of the Soutwest Egg Rolls here.

I could not find a copy cat version of the Spinach and Artichoke dip recipe for Chili’s, but there are a lot of them out there for Applebee’s.  You can find one of them here.

Another appetizer that they serve at Chili’s is their Skillet Queso Dip. I’ve had a similar dip at Baja Fresh, as well.  You can find a copy cat of it here.  

Both dips taste great with chips.

Margarita image credit: Kohls

Post from: Blisstree

Southwestern Egg Rolls and Margaritas

My current favorite is the raspberry Chambord margarita that I wrote about last month, but I’ve also found a page with eight other yummy margarita variations, from basic to interesting!

Raspberry Chambord Margarita

The page has recipes for a basic mix, a blood orange margarita, a Cadillac Margarita (which just uses higher-end ingredients), an Italian margarita, a Lovely Rita, a Melon Margarita, Strawberry Margarita (my favorite!), and a Three-Citrus Sunrise Margarita.

Any of these would be great for a relaxing evening out on the back porch or for a rowdy get-together on May 5th. Which one sounds most appealing to you?

Post from: Blisstree

8 Different Margaritas

After a long week, and another long week looming, my husband I decided Saturday night to kick back after the kids were in bed!

Several years ago we had a restaurant here in town called Z’Tejas Southwestern Grill. Sadly, they’ve since left the state and took with them one of the best drinks I’d ever had — a Chambord Raspberry Margarita.

One day I was hunting around online, browsing through a couple of those “secret recipe” websites that supposedly reveal the secret ingredients and methods restaurants use to prepare certain dishes, and came across one for the margarita.

I printed it out but it sat in my recipe folder for a long time, until I went through and cleaned it out last week. I couldn’t bring myself to toss the recipe, even though we hadn’t tried it yet, so I tucked it back in, and when my husband suggested we watch a movie and relax Saturday night I dug that puppy out.

We had everything we needed except the Chambord raspberry liqueur, which I’d never been able to find and wasn’t even sure where to find it. After some quick Google-fu, my husband dashed off to get it and I mixed up the margarita. Problem was, it needed to go into the freezer for a while, get stirred, sit in the freezer a little longer, get stirred again, etc. We had started so late in the evening that unless we wanted to wait until the next night it just wasn’t going to happen.

My husband then had the brilliant idea of putting the margarita mix in the ice cream maker, and voila, we had slush the perfect consistency within about 20 minutes!

Chambord Raspberry Margarita

4 cups warm water
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup lime juice
2/3 cup lemon juice
10 oz gold tequila
5 oz triple sec
Chambord raspberry liqueur

Combine the sugar and warm water and stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Add lime and lemon juices, tequila, and triple sec. If making way ahead of time, pour into a pitcher, stick it in the freezer, let it freeze up a bit and give it a stir every now and then so it’s slushy. (This is a great plain margarita.)

If you’ve got an electric ice cream maker, pour the mix in and run it for about 20 minutes, or until it’s thick and slushy. Transfer to a pitcher.

Pour about 1/2 an ounce of Chambord (a little goes a long way!) into the bottom of a glass and spoon or pour the frozen margarita over it. (This recipe halves well.)

Post from: Blisstree

Chambord Raspberry Margarita