This smoothie recipe is based on the traditional Mexican beverage Agua Fresca, which is water served with fruit or juice. Normally, this mixture is combined with more water, but I left it as is to enjoy the flavor of the papaya.
1 small papaya, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks
1 cup cold water
1/4 cup sugar
juice of 2 small limes
Combine all ingredients in a blender until very smooth (blend longer than you think is necessary). Serve over ice. Umbrella optional.
From Cooking Light magazine, this smoothie is based on a traditional Cuban beverage (batido is a smoothie made with milk and tropical fruits). Look for a mango with bright coloring and no blemishes on the skin. A ripe mango will yield gently when pressed and have a fragrant scent. You can also find peeled, refrigerated slices, which would be a fine substitution (use about 1 1/2 cups). Use brown sugar instead of honey if you would like your smoothie a bit sweeter.
1 ripe mango, peeled and sliced
1 1/2 cups skim milk
juice of 2 small limes, about 1/4 cup
1 tablespoon honey
Combine all ingredients in a blender and puree until very smooth. Pour over ice and serve. Makes about 3 cups.
Shown left, garnished with mint.
You knew it was coming, admit it. Would I really devote an entire project to smoothies without throwing in a little sangria? Of course not!
Back before smoothies were particularly cool or hip, I would make my own (albeit unsophisticated) by throwing strawberries, ice, and a splash of milk in a blender. Since this was before ice-crushing blades, I destroyed many a good blender that way. I dare you to go out and find a blender now that does not have ice-crushing power and other fancy options that turns smoothies into a hassle-free process.
I decided to resurrect my old smoothie “recipe” and take it up a notch by adding sangria. I used a pre-made variety instead of making my own sangria because homemade sangria is really meant to be consumed immediately and doesn’t do well after the first day. Bottled sangria, when properly stored, can be good for 3 days or so (translation: multiple days of sangria smoothie goodness).
1 pint strawberries, stems removed and halved (quarter if large)
1 cup sangria
1 lemon
1 lime
1 cup ice (6-7 cubes)
Combine chopped strawberries and sangria in a blender. Cut lemon and lime in half. Juice one half of each fruit and save second half for garnish (or another batch of smoothies). Puree until smooth.
Add ice, a couple cubes at a time, until mixture has desired consistency. Pour into two glass and garnish with lemon and lime slices (optional). Serve immediately.
James and I did debate whether this constituted a smoothie or if it was a daiquiri. Apparently, an official daiquiri is a cocktail whose main ingredients are rum and lime juice, so technically this is not a daiquiri. Common usage of the term frozen daiquiri, however, has come to include beverages that are mixture of crushed or blended ice, fruit, and alcohol. So, Jenn’s official ruling is that frozen daiquiris fit under the umbrella of smoothies, therefore this drink can be considered both!
Want to make a batch of tasty Sangria? Start with a bottle of Wild Bunch California Red Wine and add the following:
3/4 cup simple syrup, or to taste
(see below)
1 orange, cut into wedges
1 lemon, sliced
1 lime, sliced
10 to 15 strawberries, halved or quartered if large
Place fruit in a large pitcher, pour wine and simple syrup over the fruit. Stir well, slightly crushing fruit. Fill glasses with ice. Pour wine over ice and spoon fruit on top.
Simple Syrup:
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups water
To make Simple Syrup:
In a small saucepan, bring sugar and water to a boil, stirring. Boil until sugar dissolves. Let syrup cool and chill, covered. Simple Syrup will keep for 2 weeks. Chill, covered, until ready to use. Makes 1 1/2 to 2 cups syrup.
From Cooking Light magazine, via MyRecipes.com (see Links), this summer cooler is great to enjoy as the last summer days turn to autumn. Recipe may be halved.
6 cups water
3 cups fresh blackberries
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup fresh lime juice (about 4-6 limes)
lime slices, for garnish
Place 1 cup water and 3 cups blackberries in a blender and process until smooth. Press blackberry puree through a sieve into a large pitcher and discard seeds. Add remaining 5 cups water, sugar, and lime juice to pitcher. Stir well to dissolve sugar. Serve over ice and garnish with a lime slice.
The blackberries used below came from a local Farmer’s Market:
After seeing a recipe onRecipezaar for Green Tea with Rose Water, I was compelled to make my own version. This iced tea combines rose water (pink) and lime (green) with green tea to make a fresh iced drink with an interesting twist. Rose water is typically used in Middle Eastern-style cooking, so whip up this drink, take a sip, and image yourself in an exotic cafe far, far away.
2 green teabags
1 cup water
1/2 tsp rose water
1 tsp honey
1 tsp fresh lime juice
lime slices, for garnish
Bring water to a boil and add teabags. Steep 3 minutes and remove. Stir in rose water, honey, and lime juice.
Fill a large glass with ice. Pour tea over ice and add lime slices. Pop in a sprig of mint, if desired. Sip slowly and enjoy!
The website www.thesimpleleaf.com calls this recipe ”a rejuvenating drink for your mind, body, and soul.” The recipe calls for “bold black tea,” such as Assam, Earl Grey, Irish Breakfast or strong Orange Pekoe. Fresh lime and mint flavors add both a crisp and cool flavor to the tea.
4 tea bags of bold black tea
4 cups water
2 cups loosely packed mint leaves
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup lime juice
mint sprigs and/or lime wedges, optional
Bring water almost to a boil. Mix tea bags, mint and sugar in hot water. Let steep for 15 minutes. Remove tea bags and strain out mint leaves. Chill for 1-2 hours.
Add lime juice just before serving. Garnish with mint sprigs or lime wedges as desired.
If tea is too tart, add a bit more sugar.
Steeping tea and mint:
Garnished with mint spring and a lime wedge:
From Everyday Food magazine, this recipe calls for a 6-pound piece of watermelon. I cut that in half and adjusted the rest of the ingredients accordingly. Here is the original recipes:
1/2 tsp finely grated lime zest
2 tbsp lime juice (from 1 lime)
2 tbsp light brown sugar
2 tbsp light rum
1/4 tsp salt
6-pound piece chilled seedless watermelon
2 tbsp slivered fresh mint leaves
In a large bowl, whisk together lime juice, sugar, rum, and salt.
Using a melon baller, scoop melon into balls (about 10 cups) or cut melon into bite-sized pieces. Add melon to lime mixture. Sprinkle with mint and lime zest, and toss gently to combine. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate, up to 2 hours.
When using the melon baller, I noticed a large amount of juice from the melon getting left behind. I would suggested saving it if possible and pouring back over the pieces of melon.
This tea was inspired by the drink “Five Alive” by MinuteMaid, which combines orange, tangerine, lemon, lime, and grapefruit into one beverage. I added some iced tea and sugar (though feel free to use honey if you prefer), and came up with this 5 fruit concoction.
6 black tea bags
6 cups hot water
1/4 cup sugar (or honey)
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup pink grapefruit juice
1 lemon, juiced
1 tangerine, juiced
1 lime, cut into wedges
additional fruit for garnish, if desired
Pour hot water over tea bags in a heat-resistant pitcher. Allow to steep for 10-15 minutes. Stir in sugar until dissolved.
Add orange, grapefruit, lemon and tangerine juice. Stir well. Chill for 1-2 hours.
Fill glasses with crushed ice and lime wedges. Pour tea over ice and lime. Serve with additional fruit garnish (optional). Suggestion: orange wedges or lemon slices.
Here is a great dessert recipe from the Everyday Food book. It is listed in the “Fall” chapter, but I think it works better for spring or summer, when the stone fruits are more in season. The combination I used was peaches, plums, and apricots. Because the apricots were small, I used 4 instead of 2.
Pick 3 of the following:
2 apricots
2 nectarines
2 peaches
2 plums
Plus:
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 to 3 tbsp sugar (depending on the sweetness of the fruit)
2 tbsp butter, cut into pieces
1 tbsp fresh lime juice (about 1 small)
Vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt, optional
Preheat oven to 400F
Prick the skins of the stone fruit. Halve each fruit and remove pits. Halve fruit again. Separate rosemary leaves and discard stems.
In a roasting pan, toss the fruit with rosemary, sugar, butter, and lime juice. Roast, tossing occasionally, until the fruit is fork-tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
Serve warm over vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt, if desired, and drizzle the pan juices over the top.
