
Photo by Whitney Wright on Unsplash
There is nothing quite like a warm evening out in the yard with good friends and a cool drink in hand. What often happens though is that our drinks are filled with refined sugars, artificial flavours & colours. Did you know that one pina colada can cost you up to 10 teaspoons of sugar and 600 calories
Take your bevvies up a notch with these simple and tasty recipes. You won’t find any artificial flavours or copious amounts of refined sugar here!
Step 1: Choose Your Base
Kombucha – fermented tea with probiotic activity, supports digestion, even though it tastes sweet, it contains far less sugar than pop
Sparkling Water – carbonated water, no sodium or sugar
Ginger Beer – alternative to ginger ale, often more natural ingredients and less sugar; since it has a stronger flavour, you will also use less
100% Fruit Juice – avoid fruit ‘beverages & cocktails,’ that often contain additional sugars
Tea – herbal, green, black – look for natural options without added artificial flavours
Step 2: Consider Your Sweetener
Not all mocktail recipes require any additional sweetener. Much will depend on your taste buds and also how much natural sweetener is already present from fruit & fruit juice ingredients.
Stevia – Can be up to 400x sweeter than refined sugar; doesn’t adversely affect blood glucose levels and may be used by diabetics. Stevia has a unique flavour. Along with its sweetness there is also a bitter component. The poorer the quality of the leaf the more bitterness is evident in the taste.
Honey – if you are using tea as your base, you can naturally sweeten with a little bit of honey during the steeping process while the tea is still hot. Adding honey to cold tea won’t dissolve as well.
Simple Syrup – 1 cup raw organic sugar to 1 cup water – gently heat
Tips
Make ice cubes out of fruit juice to avoid diluting your drink. Add frozen fruit or citrus slices to fancy them up a bit.
Make ahead and serve in a large glass jar. Use a ladle to serve fruit to each glass.
Left over mocktail? Turn it into a healthier frozen treat option.
Recipes are by the cup unless otherwise noted. Mocktails will become more flavourful with infusing time. Make your drink ahead of time and let sit for a few hours in the fridge. Add sparkling water or ginger beer just before serving.
Cucumber, Lime & Mint Mojito
1″ cucumber, thinly sliced
1/2 lime, thinly sliced
1/2 lime, juiced
1 mint sprig or 5 leaves
1 c sparkling water
Ginger Beer Mojito
1/2 c ginger beer
1/2 c sparkling water
3 – 4 lime slices
1 mint sprig or 5 leaves
Kombucha Mocktail
1 c kombucha, unflavoured
1/4 c frozen fruit of your choice – blueberries, strawberry slices
Blueberry Infusion Herbal Iced Tea
1 c blueberry herbal tea, steeped & cooled
1/4 c frozen berries
1/4 c sparkling water
1 tsp simple sugar syrup
Watermelon-Lime Mocktail
serves 4 – 6
8 c seedless watermelon, cubed
1 lime, freshly squeezed
1 lime, sliced for garnish
mint sprigs
1 can sparkling water
Sangria
serves 10 – 12
1 litre white grape juice
1 c orange juice
1 litre sparkling water
1 bag frozen mixed berries
2 limes – 1 squeezed & 1 sliced
1 orange, sliced
Raise a glass with me to starry nights & good friends!
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