Life Is Like A Box of Prickly Pears . . .well at least in the winter!

Life is a little hectic these days and like a lot of people I'm struggling to keep up with projects; work, emails, blogs, wifely duties, laundry . . . on and on the list goes. Excuse me-I'm in my "will winter ever end" phase of lunar phases.

Moving on . . .

I tend to keep things in the kitchen fairly simple in the winter. The days are too short to spend two or three hours at night making dinner and then cleaning up my mess. My show this week reflected that sentiment with a simple New Orleans-style Stuffed Artichoke and an original cocktail called " "Pretty In Pink".

Some of the ingredients can be prepared ahead and already in the cupboard-so it's pretty easy. The recipe is online . . . try it-you'll like it!

The recipe that isn't online and is really worth a try is the Pretty In Pink Cocktail. Great for parties with a pink theme! Perfect for spring . . . (there I go again!)

The key ingredient is the prickly pear- common to many arid regions of the world – including the U.S and Mexico. I prefer the bright beautiful red fruit (called tunas) in drinks for obvious reasons. The fruit in stores is already cleaned of the spines and ready to be peeled and juiced. The taste is an earthy watermelon-ish, raspberry-like flavor!

I buy eight to ten at a time-juice the tunas (I can hear it now-she puts tuna in her cocktails-read on) all at once and store the juice in the fridge. One tip that has worked well for me is to allow the fruit to sit on the kitchen counter in a sunny location for a few extra days. They continue to ripen and become much sweeter.

If you haven't ever tried Prickly Pears this might be the beginning of a great love affair! This recipe work well as a Margarita, too. (Just substitute the vodka for tequila.) I hope you are reading Margarita Mary!

So here you go! (Per Drink)

Pretty In Pink Cocktail

1 1/2 oz vodka

½ oz triple sec

1 ½ oz prickly pear juice

2 scoops HOLA Margarita Sherbet

Place ingredients in a cocktail-mix thoroughly until sherbet melts. Pour into your prettiest martini glass and enjoy!