Mint ~ Who Needs Soft Drinks?

Anyone who knows me well knows that I love Coke. Not the shady, powdered kind, the fizzy kind. Okay, that is out of the way. Hear this though; I am starting to hate the stuff. Have you ever looked at the calories in a can of that stuff? 140 calories, all from sugar.

I recently got used to drinking Perrier as it was furnished for free at an old job. Plain old carbonated water is pretty boring though, so it needs to be put through the paces. What’s a chef to do?

I remembered about a drink called a Mojito. Basically lime, mint, simple syrup and vodka. Since the idea is to cut back the calories here, we will dispense with the vodka and simple syrup and work from there.

The neat thing about this drink is that you can prepare it and keep drinking it. A word though – it is important to have good quality, fresh ingredients on hand. If you can, try to have the mint growing in your yard for the ultimate in freshness. Choose limes that are juicy, vibrant green. Your choice of ingredients will impact this drink.

Here we go:

Mint Lime Carbonated Water

serves 1

Ingredients:

• 500 mL (2 cups) ice, slightly crushed
• 1 lime, juiced with halves
• 10 mint leaves
• 500 mL (2 cups) Perrier or other sparkling water

Method:

1. Place ice in a container with a lid.
2. Squeeze lime juice into container; drop the lime into container as you are finished with it.
3. Add mint leaves.
4. Cover and shake the container to bruise the mint.
5. Add Perrier, stir and serve.

I hope you enjoy this drink. Try it out on the kids and see what happens. The world would be a better place without all the sugar and caffeine drinks today, no?

Tagged as: coke, drink, mint, perrier, soft