My favourite bloody mary recipe
My Go-To Spicy Bloody Mary Recipe
One thing about me is I will always enjoy a Bloody Mary, a margarita, a big bowl of pasta or a cinnamon scroll. I'm a women's health naturopath and nutritionist, and I live an 80/20 life. 80% of the time I'm eating well, supporting my gut, managing my stress and getting my sleep sorted, and the other 20% is a good margarita, a dozen oysters, or the recipe you're about to read. I practise what I preach, although Christmas ends up closer to 70% trifle.
I believe restriction, deprivation and perfectionism are all forms of self-sabotage, which is why I will never be the practitioner telling you to give up every drink you love in the name of health. If I'm going to have a cocktail, it may as well be one built on vegetable juice (I'll take my wins where I can find them).
The best way to drink one
My favourite way to enjoy a Bloody Mary has nothing to do with a bar. Pack a picnic, throw the Bloody Mary ingredients in with it, take a mini road trip and find somewhere to set up camp for the day. Nothing more peaceful than being deep in nature with your loved ones, a delicious drink in hand, and nowhere you need to be. We do this from our farm and it is my idea of a perfect day off.
Why V8 Hot & Spicy is the base
I've tried plenty of bases over the years and V8 Hot & Spicy is, in my personal opinion, the best there is, no contest. It comes pre-seasoned with heat, which means you're building flavour on top of flavour rather than trying to rescue plain tomato juice with a mountain of add-ins, and the spice level sits exactly where a Bloody Mary should start before you've touched the Tabasco.
The recipe
Makes 1 serving. I like mine LARGE, so scale down if you're a normal person.
Ingredients
500ml V8 juice Hot & Spicy
1 shot of good quality tequila (for a Bloody Tommy - I love 1800 anejo) or vodka for the OG
Tabasco sauce (I do around 6 drops, but start with 1 and taste as you go, this depends entirely on how spicy you like yours)
2 to 3 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon celery salt, plus extra for the rim
Squeeze of half a lemon
Sea salt and pepper to taste (I like mine salty)
1 stalk of celery
Optional: 1/4 teaspoon horseradish (straight from the jar is fine)
Method
Rim your glass or jar first. Shake some celery salt onto a small plate, run the squeezed lemon half around the rim of the glass, then press the rim into the celery salt and spin it to coat.
Mix everything except the alcohol into the V8 juice, stir well, and taste test.
Add your tequila or vodka, mix well, then taste again and adjust the Tabasco, salt and lemon until it's exactly how you like it. The taste test is not optional, this drink is personal.
Garnish with the celery stalk, find a nice patch of grass, and enjoy.
A note from the naturopath and nutritionist in me
Of course, alcohol is still alcohol, and it firmly belongs in the 20%. Your liver processes it as a priority over everything else, which means the rest of your detoxification pathways wait in line while it deals with your drink, so this is a weekend-picnic beverage rather than a Tuesday habit. Having it with food (that's the picnic part), staying hydrated alongside it, and keeping it to one or two is how I keep the 20% from creeping into the 80%.
The guilt, on the other hand, can stay out of it entirely. One drink you love, enjoyed slowly in the sunshine with people you love, does more for your nervous system than a weekend of white-knuckled restriction followed by the inevitable blowout. Enjoy the drink. Then get back to the 80%.
If you found me through this recipe, welcome, this is the fun end of what I do. The rest of my week is spent helping women work out why they're exhausted by 3pm, bloated after every meal, waking at 2am and gaining weight around their middle no matter what they try. I'm a women's health naturopath and nutritionist and I work with clients 100% online, worldwide.
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