A Refreshing Mexican Mule Recipe For the Dog Days of Summer

I have a terrible habit of buying all the wrong stuff when I go to the grocery store. We’re lucky enough to live just around the corner from the supermarket, and that luxury has spoiled me. Seriously, it’s only about three minutes from our driveway to my favorite supermarket parking space by car, so it’s not a huge deal if I have to go back tomorrow. Or later today. Which I always do, because I no longer bother making lists or even carefully checking the refrigerator and pantry before heading off on my way.

I don’t know what it is. There’s something very disagreeable about making a grocery list. I hate it! It’s the worst part about grocery shopping. Another thing: Despite being proven wrong about this fact many, MANY times, I always convince myself that I know exactly what I need to get our family through the week. I know what we’re out of, I know what snacks my kids like to eat, I know what foods they need to take to school with them. Easy-peasy. And then I get to the grocery store, buy a few staples, and then start wandering the aisles as if in a foreign country for the first time in my life. Pop Tarts, eh? Sure, those could be good. Canned crabmeat? Why not? This is why, in addition to making multiple unnecessary trips to the store throughout the week, my cabinets are full-to-bursting with impulse buys that come home with me only to gather dust.

Speaking of which, I really need to dust…

Not long ago, I made one of my wayward grocery store trips only to come home with a 12-pack of Gosling’s Ginger Beer. I’d never heard of ginger beer. I’d heard of ginger ale, of course, but never ginger beer. It sounded like something they would drink in the Harry Potter universe, so I tossed it in the cart – meanwhile forgetting that we were out of bananas and toilet paper.

Anyway, I brought it home, and it went predictably neglected by my entire family, including me. Until, that is, I found a very special use for it!

Mexican Mule Recipe – A Use for That Ginger Beer You Bought!

To make this fresh variation on the timeless margarita, you’ll need the following:

– 2 ounces of tequila

– Half an ounce of lime juice

– 4 ounces of ginger beer

Fill a glass tumbler with ice, pour in your lime juice and your tequila, and then fill the glass the rest of the way with that poor, neglected ginger beer. You can finish the drink off with a lime wedge on the edge of the glass just to give it that, “oh yeah, I’m a certified mixologist” kind of flair!

This is a refreshing drink for hot summer days, and you might just find – like I did – that ginger beer is a true delight that deserves a place in your refrigerator!

Right next to those cans of uneaten crabmeat.