Lime-Mint Spritzer {aka The Virgin Mojito}

First of all, we get to announce the winner of our FINAL Feta Friday giveaway! The winner is The Stace who likes them on her fish tacos (and I can’t disagree with her there!) Congrats! Please email us asap at general (at) ourbestbites (dot) com so we can get your prize mailed out.

So after all my whining in Monday’s post, I decided I needed to suck it up and find a way to enjoy what’s left of my summer. When we bought our house last winter, one of our very, very favorite things about it is that it has a big, long, shaded porch that goes all the way across the front of the house. The house came with a porch swing and then a few weeks ago, we added some white wicker furniture. This week, my kids and I have spent a lot of time on the porch watching the thunderstorms and playing with toys while enjoying the cross breeze (albeit a hot and humid cross breeze) and it’s been nice. I’ll admit it.

I mean, how could I not love the idea of a mojito–it involves three of my favorite things: fancy drinks, lime, and mint. So when I was thumbing through one of my favorite cookbooks recently and found a recipe similar to mojitos (and to which you could easily add some rum for the real deal), I was inspired to whip up a batch, sit on the porch, and pretend I was in some tropical paradise (only one not involving Nestor being timelessly tormented by a smoke monster. He was, however, more than welcome to act as my cabana boy and bring me awesome drinks).

These were super easy and pretty darn inexpensive. A 24-oz. bottle of Perrier barely set me back a dollar. The mint was the spendiest part of the drink, although you don’t have to buy that if you have some growing in your garden. Which I don’t because I have a black thumb, although I’ve been known to steal some from my friend Kelly’s garden when she’s at work. And, generally speaking, the small, smooth-skinned, juicy limes that you want to be using should be super cheap. All in all, I spend a little more than $4, although really, it was less because I only used a bit of the mint and have other plans for the rest of it later this week. Not bad for a fancy summer drink for 4 people, right?

Then all you do is finely chop the mint…

Press the chopped mint with a back of a spoon to release the oils and then combine with some sugar and lime juice until the sugar dissolves, then you add the sparkling water. Maybe 10 minutes if you have to juice all the limes by yourself, 5 if you have help.

After adding the sparkling water, serve immediately over lots of ice and garnish with slices of lime and sprigs of mint.

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Lime-Mint Spritzers

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Description

I mean, how could I not love the idea of a mojito–it involves three of my favorite things: fancy drinks, lime, and mint. This Virgin Mojito is delish, refreshing, and inexpensive to put together.

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Ingredients

• 8–10 large mint leaves
• 1/2 c. sugar (you can add more if necessary, especially if kids are involved)
• 3/4 c. fresh lime juice (about 7 small, juicy limes)
• 1 24-oz. bottle of sparkling water (like Perrier)

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Instructions

1. Finely chop the mint leaves. Place the chopped mint leaves in a bowl or non-reactive pitcher and press them with a pestle or the back of a spoon to release the oils. Add the sugar and press the mint leaves and sugar together with the back of a spoon. Add the lime juice and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved and no longer grainy.
2. If you haven’t been mixing the mint and sugar in a pitcher, transfer to a glass or plastic pitcher. Right before serving, add the sparkling water and serve immediately over ice. Garnish with lime slices and mint leaves.

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