Vanilla Bean Blood Orange Margaritas ... oh boy!

February at the farmers' market means one thing ... blood oranges (at least here in California). I am not a huge fan of citrus but I LOVE blood oranges. On Valentine's Day Marc and I decided to ditch noisy, over crowded restaurants for dinner at home. What was I in charge of? A Coeur de La signature cocktail was the only request. 

Being that I love adding vanilla bean to just about anything and everything and had just purchased blood oranges at our local farmers' market I decided to make vanilla bean blood orange margaritas. I love how vanilla beans add natural sweetness and cut the tartness when added to citrus. Now, I am not a tequila connoisseur so we had a hilarious interaction at BevMo when we grabbed the Jose Cuervo … the cashier with huge eyes said … wow you guys like your tequila rough. Say what!??? He then kindly brought us to the tequila section and showed us several options of tequila that would be smoother and more $$. He added that we would have less of a headache in the morning if we had one too many margaritas (good call). So ... thankfully we went with the $$ tequila ... it was worth it. 

While Marc was busy searing ahi tuna, making a sesame sticky rice, and then an avocado mango salad I was busy dipping chilled mason jars with sugar and playing mixologist. Quite frankly ... there is not a restaurant out there that could have outdone the both of us … staying home was priceless.

My advice: The next time you want to stay in make it an event, create a signature cocktail, buy smooth tequila, and get tipsy. Ok, so if getting tipsy is not your thing make your margaritas sans alcohol and play Twister. I promise either option will be a good one. If you need the definition of tipsy read #2 here.

In other news … the winner of the Addie Lu's Bowtique Giveaway is Micaela of Dolce Vita … CONGRATS!!! Happy Wednesday everyone and until next time … BISOUS!

 Coeur de La Vanilla Bean Blood Orange Margaritas

Ingredients

3oz of fresh squeezed blood orange juice

2oz tequila

a teaspoon of fresh lime juice

1oz of triple sec

half of a scraped vanilla bean

    In a standard cocktail shaker, add a handful of ice, your triple sec, tequila, and fresh blood orange juice, and a teaspoon of fresh lime juice. 

Then, scrape half of a vanilla bean and get to shaking. The vanilla bean pods will break apart with the shaking.

   

  Pour into small frosted mason jars that have been rimmed with sugar.

 Serve with a cheesy straw. 

ENJOY!