Staycation Mojitos & Jalapeno Burgers

Since we didn't go away for the weekend like usual G thought we needed a couple of "Staycation Mojitos" to enjoy on the patio while we made our Jalapeno burgers.

Nothing tastes more like Summer in a glass than a good mojito.

We've tried lots of mojito recipes and pretty much we love them all. Most recipes call to make a simple syrup which creates a very sweet mojito. We both enjoy more of a lime impact with our mojitos so we've found this adaptation works and also takes a little less time than making a simple syrup.

For 2 mojitos I chop some mint, add the juice of 2 limes add 2 shots of white rum and shake with ice. Pour the mixture into 2 glasses with ice and top with diet 7up. Yum.

Perfect drink for the patio.

The sun was surprisingly out mocking the Seattle weatherforcasters after all. We decided we needed to take advantage of the sun and warmth as much as we can and have our own little staycation cookout with a campfire and smores and the whole shebang.

We were both hungry for a burger and had been thinking jalapeno burgers would hit the spot.

We first roasted garlic, onion and jalapeno on the grill

Once they were grilled

we added them to the mocajete where we grinded them into a paste.

I sliced some pickled jalapeno as well, cubed some pepperjack cheese

We added it all to beef with onion powder, jalapeno salt and pepper.

We then formed some burgers ready to be grilled.

While  G cooked the burgers on the grill

I put some fries in the oven and opened a bottle of Charles Smith Rose'. We are really liking this wine it is perfectly paired with burgers.

We served our burgers on french rolls with tomato, the grilled onion and red leave lettuce.

The burgers were scrumptious if we do say so ourselves. Yum. The only thing we want to do next time is create an avocado mayo of some sort.

Next keeping with our Staycation cooked G built us a patio fire. It got a bit big at a few points prompting our neighbor to come out to make sure we weren't burning down the neighborhood.

While he tinkered with the fire I gathered some smores goodies together. We went with Dove dark chocolate pieces on G's request.

We waited for it to get dark

and smores were made

Another YUM!