Healthy Mocktails For All Your Celebrations

As we approach the Fourth of July holiday in America, I’m reminded of a time when I was healthy and enjoyed a drink or two. Many people with chronic health conditions don’t drink but may still have cravings for a good cocktail.

Photo by Susanne Jutzeler, suju-foto on Pexels.com

Refreshing Cucumber Lemonade

Serves: 4

Ingredients

1 medium sized cucumber, peeled or unpeeled (See notes)
Juice of 4 lemons
⅓ cup granulated sugar (You can also use agave/honey)
3 cups cold water
Ice, to serve

Instructions

Cut cucumber into smaller chunks and blend this with 1 cup of water. You can also use a juicer to extract the juice.
If using a blender, place a fine-mesh strainer over a jug and pour the cucumber juice through it. Discard the pulp.
In the jug, add lemon juice, sugar and water.
Give it a good stir and let it sit in the fridge to chill. The sugar would gradually melt on its own.
Add more water or sugar if required.
Serve over ice.

Notes

If you are not using organic cucumber, I would suggest that you peel the skin of the cucumber. Some cucumbers have bitter skin, so it would be better to peel the skin.

Lemongrass Ginger Mockito

INGREDIENTS

3/4 lime – halved lengthwise then cut into 6
1/2 lemongrass – finely sliced
1 tbsp ginger syrup
1 tsp soft light brown sugar
2 mint sprigs
80-100ml apple juice
crushed ice
mint sprigs
lemongrass slices
2 straws

DIRECTIONS

Add the lime pieces, lemongrass slices, ginger syrup and sugar to a sturdy highball glass or a cocktail shaker. Muddle until the sugar has dissolved and the aromas are released. Add the mint leaves and muddle a bit more.
Add half of the apple juice. Stir.
Fill up with the crushed ice and the rest of the apple juice. Combine until well mixed.
Add the straws, mint and lemongrass slices.
Enjoy!

Jasmine Ginger Iced Green Tea Recipe

1 wedge lime
4 ounces *brewed jasmine green tea, chilled
4 ounces ginger beer, chilled (I used Gosling’s)
Garnishes: Fresh sliced strawberries and additional lime wedges

Fill a glass with ice cubes. Squeeze the juice of a lime wedge over the ice and drop the lime wedge into the glass. Add the chilled green tea and ginger beer; stir gently. Garnish with strawberries and additional lime wedges.

Makes 1 drink

Virgin Pina Colada

Here are the ingredients in a virgin piña colada recipe:

Frozen pineapple
Coconut milk
Maple syrup

Throw these in a blender, and you’ve got a tasty signature drink in no time. Except you need one last required item…drink umbrellas!

Green Russian

Brilliant green matcha makes this healthy mocktail creamy and comforting. Plus, it’s packed with antioxidants and features a little kick of caffeine.

We recommend using a plant-based milk as the foundation for your Green Russian. This renders the drink accessible to those not consuming dairy, but it also allows the matcha to really shine; milk proteins can block the absorption of matcha’s beneficial compounds.

Ingredients – makes 2 mocktails

2 ½ cups plant-based milk

Tip: Use a richer, fuller plant milk, such as cashew, macadamia, or barista-grade oat milk.

1 ½ tablespoons matcha powder

2 oz cold coffee

Tip: Try to use cold brew coffee. Since we’re only using a little bit, you’ll want your flavor to be as full as possible. Alternatively, use mushroom coffee to achieve an earthy taste and added nutritional benefit.

2 tablespoons sugar or other sweetener

1 pinch cacao powder (optional)

1 cup ice

Directions

Warm 2 cups of your milk over low heat. Add the sugar and stir. Next, add the matcha powder and stir until fully dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside.

Next, add ice to your glasses. Once the matcha mixture has cooled, pour into the glasses. Add a quarter cup of the remaining milk to each glass. Pour a splash of cold coffee on top of the milk for a beautiful combination of colors and flavors. For added glamor (and superfood power) dust the top of the mocktail with cacao powder. Serve and enjoy!

Enjoy!

Melinda

Refernces:

Culinary Nutrition

A Couple Cooks

Martindales Nutrition