Monday, October 22, 2007

Mint Lemonade - it's NEWs to me

Okay, so the Lemonade Crystal light with mint tea has quickly become my beverage of choice.
Rather than mixing the crystal light with 8 cups water, mix with 6 cups water and 2 cups brewed mint herbal tea, then chill. Yum Yum! I have gone through 6 batches in a week.

This may or may not have something to do with me losing 5 lbs in the last week. :)


How have I lived 30-something years and never tried mint lemonade until this week? Last Tuesday I asked a waitress at Mistral in Redwood City if they had lemonade. Her response was, 'We have raspberry lemonade and a mint lemonade--it's pretty good.' I was suddenly intrigued. I had to try the mint lemonade. YUMMMMM! I had two.

I've been thinking about that mint lemonade all week and how to re-create it. I actually bought fresh mint and a bottle of fresh lemonade at the grocery store last night. I put a sprig of mint in a glass of lemonade and tried to bruise it up by stirring it. Not quite the level of mintiness I was looking for, so I started to experiment.

Then I googled mint lemonade and found several different recipes. It sounds like the best method is probably to boil a handful of fresh mint in a small amount of water (1/2 cup), let this cool, then use as part of the water when making lemonade from concentrate or from scratch. I haven't tried this yet, because I already have a whole bottle of lemonade with mint that I combined in a blender in my fridge (and another pitcher of the one described below).

AND for those that are into sugar-free like I usually am, I tried this today. Brew 2 cups of mint tea and let cool. Combine the 2 cups of mint tea, 6 cups of water and a packet of Crystal Light Lemonade, and voila! Not exactly the same, but still pretty tasty and sugar-free.