In other news, August is my "no alcohol for one month" month. With this crazy heat, it's a tough month. After a sweltering 101 degree day with a heat index of 110, what is more refreshing that a freezing cold, fruity sangria?! (Water, you say? Whatever.) In August, instead of a spiked fruity delight I'll be experimenting with hugely refreshing, ice-cold non-alcoholic drinks.
One of my favorite NA drinks is the cucumber cranberry cooler at Founding Farmers. I get the darn thing and have to use every bit of my willpower not to chug the whole glass immediately. It tastes clean and smooth and oh-so-delightful. It isn't too sweet and the cucumber is a stand out. I started searching around for recipes and found this one below on an awesome blog - Cake, Batter and Bowl - that I'm going to try. You'll see it's a cocktail and calls for gin - we're just going to substitute that for some crisp, sparkling water. Stay tuned for an update - or try it yourself and let me know what you think!
Cucumber Cranberry Cocktail
Ingredients:
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
1 cup shredded English cucumber, plus 6 slices for garnish
1 cup gin (or sparkling water!)
1 cup sparkling cranberry juice
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
Directions:
Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan and heat over medium high heat for 2 minutes or until liquid is boiling and sugar has dissolved. Stir in shredded cucumber and remove from heat. Allow simple syrup to cool to room temperature, about 1 hour, and strain out cucumber.
Combine 1 cup cucumber simple syrup with gin, sparkling cranberry juice, and lime juice and stir until well combined. Serve over ice and garnish with extra cucumber slices. Makes 6 servings.
