When hot weather comes around, I usually crave watermelon. It’s so refreshing and it’s good for you too. And I discovered that watermelon is also great for making flavored water! Combining chunks of juicy watermelon with fresh mint and tart limes makes a great-tasting summery drink! You just have to plan ahead a little, since you need to chill the mixture for 1 to 2 hours before drinking.
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Now that it’s the new year, I know a lot of people who are trying to eat healthy and exercise away all that holiday food. And if you’re trying to get into a healthy routine, drinking lots of water is always a good idea. I actually made this particular pitcher of water at the end of last summer with some fresh mint I was growing in a large pot and some home-grown cucumbers my friend Mary gave me from her garden. I didn’t have a chance to post it back then but now, since it’s winter, you can just buy your cucumbers (use organic if you can) and fresh mint is usually available in the produce section at many stores, too. The cucumber and mint lightly flavor the water in a soothing, refreshing way. If you like naturally-flavored water, you’ll want to try this out!
CUCUMBER-MINT WATER by NancyC
Makes 8 servings
- 8 cups water
- 1 medium cucumber, peeled or unpeeled and thinly sliced
- 6 to 8 large or 12 to 16 small fresh mint leaves
Put water in a gallon-size pitcher. Add sliced cucumbers and mint leaves and stir everything together. Place in your refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours to chill. When ready to serve, add some ice to the pitcher or pour over ice in your glassware. The water usually keeps for several days if kept chilled in the refrigerator.
If you don’t have mint, you can just make cucumber water–that has a nice flavor, too. Mint by itself is also good in water.
I think water tastes so much better when it’s flavored with natural ingredients. Do you like to flavor your water too?
Linked to Inspire Me Monday at Create with Joy.
I thought I’d try a flavored water with a green theme, since St. Patrick’s Day is coming up! But of course, this water is great any time of the year. You mostly taste the lime in this, but the kiwifruit and pear slices make the pitcher of water look so nice! 🙂 I think this water tastes best the same day you make it, but you’ll want to refrigerate it a few hours before serving so the water has more flavor. Use organic produce if you can when making this.
PEAR, LIME, KIWIFRUIT WATER by NancyCreative
Makes a large pitcher (half gallon) of flavored water
- 8 cups of water (I used 2 cups of sparkling water mixed in with 6 cups of regular water to give it a slight fizziness–see note below*)
- 1 large organic pear, cut into thin slices
- 2 limes, cut into thin slices
- 2 kiwifruit, cut into thin slices
Fill pitcher with 8 cups of water. Add slices of pear, lime, and kiwifruit, and stir all ingredients together in the pitcher. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving (the slices of kiwifruit tend to settle at the bottom, so you will need to stir before serving to mix all the fruit evenly). When ready to serve, add ice cubes to pitcher and stir or add ice to individual glasses and pour the flavored water over the ice.
*For a fizzy water drink, use Seltzer water or natural sparkling water (like Perrier) instead of regular water, or use some of each (do not use Club Soda or Tonic Water, as one is high in sodium and the other is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup).
Have you tried making any uniquely-flavored water lately?
Linked to Inspire Me Monday at Create with Joy.
I like making my own flavored water, and now that it’s autumn, I thought I’d try a water recipe with the flavors of fall, and apples and cinnamon are such a classic autumn flavor combination. There are sliced apples and cinnamon sticks in this, and I added some slices of fresh ginger root for a little extra mild spice. It’s really refreshing!
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Now that the warm weather is here, I’m craving some flavored water! Not the sweet, artificially-flavored kind you buy, but naturally flavored with fruits and herbs. I have some recipes for flavored water here, but I found another water recipe I wanted to try that I found on a site called The Denver Housewife. It’s supposed to be good for hydrating and detoxing (or removing impurities from) the body. The lemon-mint-cucumber combination is said to cleanse, aid in digestion, and rehydrate. I added an extra lemon because I love the lemon flavor (it does make the water pretty tart and lemony, so try it with two lemons first), and a little more cucumber. I already had mint growing in a large container on my patio, so it was so convenient to just snip some fresh mint right from the pot!
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NancyC 