Watermelon Juice with Lime and Mint

It’s September, but summer is not over.  Nothing is more refreshing on a hot day than watermelon. This delicious juice tastes so fresh and is a nice switch from plain watermelon.  It can be made with or without the cucumber.  I love the fresh taste of cucumber, but the flavor can really take over so if you don’t really, really love the taste of cucumber, try it without.  This even kept in the fridge for a few days, so I made a bigger batch to have on hand for a refreshing pick me up!

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Ingredients

4 cups of cubed watermelon

juice of one lime

4-5 mint leaves

1/2 peeled, cubed cucumber (optional)

Crushed Ice

Blend all of the ingredients and enjoy!!

 

Maple mocha iced coffee with homemade almond milk

I love coffee! And every year when it’s starts to get warm, it seems like there is a switch that makes me crave iced coffee over warm coffee. There is nothing more refreshing then a good iced coffee on a warm day.  But watered down iced coffee is no good. This coffee is concentrated and keeps it’s taste when ice is added. You can make a big batch and keep it in the fridge for days.

Iced Coffee

Ingredients

1/2 lb of your favorite coffee, ground

1 gallon of water

Mix the coffee and water in a large container and let it sit on the counter overnight or at least 8 hours. Using a fine mesh sieve and cheese cloth (or I have used a coffee filter on the sieve) strain coffee grounds from the mixture. What’s left is a lovely coffee concentrate. Chill the coffee then enjoy over ice and your favorite add in.  I added homemade almond milk and a tsp of cocoa and a 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp maple syrup. Here’s how I make the almond milk. There’s different variations of the basic process to make almond milk, but I use the recipe from the cookbook “Against all Grain” by Danielle Walker.

Almond Milk

Ingredients

1 cup raw almonds

8 cups of water

Sea salt

1 small date

imageimageSoak the almonds and a pinch of sea salt in water overnight. Drain the nuts and rinse. Place almonds and date in blender with 4 cups of water.  Purée until smooth. Strain the milk through a fine mesh sieve and cheese cloth. Squeeze to remove all the liquid. Store in refrigerator for up to 5 days.  Save the pulp and use in your baking. I’ll be posting a berry cobbler recipe soon where I used the almond pulp. image