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Strawberry Lime Moscow Mule Mocktail

strawberry lime moscow mule mocktail, moscow mule cocktail, fresh strawberry cocktail drinks, barritts Ginger beer, lime juice, vodka, strawberries, summer drinks

The Memorial Day holiday weekend is right around the corner, and it marks the beginning of summer fun and refreshing fruity drinks. If you’ve got a picnic or barbecue with friends this weekend, the Strawberry Lime Moscow Mule Mocktail is a perfect way to beat the heat. I’m not a drinker, but I love to enjoy delicious and gorgeous non-alcoholic cocktails. In these, friends have said that adding some DRY vanilla bubbly is always a fantastic way to add another edge to a drink! If you’ve been following along, you may also know I like to take recipes and twist them around to make them healthy. I’ve taken the classic moscow mule recipe of vodka, spicy ginger beer and lime juice and made a few changes to make it a mocktail and bring in a taste of summer with fresh strawberries, which are currently in season.

I’ve teamed up with Barritt’s Ginger Beer, which is perfect because it’s the main ingredient you need for a moscow mule! Barritt’s Ginger Beer is a popular, non-alcoholic zesty ginger soft drink and a great mixer. And also how cool is their retro packaging? You can find Barritt’s Ginger Beer in the liquor section of your grocery store or online and it comes in regular, diet or made with cane sugar.

To make the strawberry lime moscow mule mocktail, I used fresh strawberries and then pureed them to a pulp and poured through a sieve. The results are fresh strawberry juice. I did add a little water to make the consistency slightly thinner and agave to sweeten it up just a bit. It’s the best way to drink a strawberry! Of course, if you aren’t up to the extra labor you could just use prepackaged strawberry juice. But you can definitely taste the difference between fresh and packaged!

Strawberry Lime Moscow Mule Mocktail

1 cup of fresh strawberry juice (pureed with a little water and then pour over a sieve) or store-bought strawberry juice

2 tablespoons of fresh lime juice

1 bottle of Barritt’s Ginger Beer

Sweeten to taste with agave if needed

A splash of fresh lemon juice

Garnish with lime wheels and strawberries

Enjoy!

If you are hosting the Memorial Holiday party with friends and family, set up a mixing station for your guests. Use a bar cart or a large serving tray and have it set up so your guests can easily mix their favorite moscow mules together. Since there are only a few ingredients needed, moscow mules are perfect. Here are a few of Barritt’s moscow mule recipes . Make sure to have clean copper mugs or glasses available for your guests. Barritt’s ginger beer packaging is so cool and perfect to put on display along with other juices. Have fresh limes and lemon wedges, stirring sticks, coasters and cocktail napkins readily available on your bar cart. If you are planning to serve alcohol, make sure to have it readily available along with recipe cards or mixing ideas so my guests have a fun variety of choices.

Enjoy your Memorial Weekend and many upcoming warm summer nights!

Thank you Barritt’s Ginger Beer for sponsoring this post!

Healthy Blackberry Syrup for Pie or Pancakes

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Healthy Blackberry Syrup for Pies or Pancakes

If you follow me on Instagram (@darleenmeier), you might of saw pictures from our berry picking adventure.  We went on the perfect day!  The farm had so many different fruits to pick from, so we picked strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and peaches.  Yes!  True Georgia peaches!  We came at the end of strawberry season, and the beginning of blueberry season, so we didn’t get quite as many of the perfectly ripe strawberries and blueberries.  But we did for the blackberries and peaches.  This was the first time we had picked blackberries and it was one of my favorite berries to pick because you can pick from standing up, and they are easy to pick off the branch.  Once we got home, I realized we had pick more blackberries that our mouths could eat at a given time, so I flash washed them and froze them.   I called my mom up and asked her how I should process the blackberries and she fondly recalled an easy syrup recipe that my grandma actually use to make with blackberries and blueberries while my mother was growing up.  This berry syrup is so yummy and can be heat processed for canning or frozen or refrigerated.  Of course, I made one change to make the recipe more healthy.  The healthy blackberry syrup could be used for a pie dish, on top pancakes, vanilla ice cream, yogurt parfait…or like me, in my morning smoothie!

blackberry-syrup-basic-ingredients blackberries-syrup-pie-ingredients pecan-crust-no-bake-gluten-free blackberries-pie-cream-base pecan-crust-with-cream-cheese-filling blackberry-syrup- blackberry-syrup-pouring-in-pie blackberries-ontop-of-pie

Healthy Blackberry Syrup

4 cups of fresh, washed blackberries or blueberries

1/3 cup of SweetLeaf SugarLeaf (or 1 cup sugar)

Juice from 1 lemon

1 tsp arrowroot

Throw blackberries in a medium saucepan on medium heat on stove.  Stir in SweetLeaf SugarLeaf and lemon juice.  Continue to stir until blackberries start to breakdown.  Use a masher utensil to mash the blackberries.  Let the blackberry mixture come to a slow boil.  Add the arrowroot and stir until completely dissolved.  Take off heat.  Serve or store.

blackberry-pie-slice-healthy

Healthy Blackberry Pie

1 pecan crust (put in fridge to harden crust)

1 no-bake cheesecake  (for this recipe I used 1 cup cane sugar instead of the Sweetleaf)

1-2 cups of healthy blackberry syrup

Fresh blackberries for garnishing

Make the pecan crust and form to a pie sheet.  Put in the fridge to harden the crust.  Make the cheesecake and pour over the crust and smooth out.  Then pour the healthy blackberry syrup.  Garnish and enjoy!

More recipes:

Tasty Healthy Lemonade

blueberry-lemonade-healthy

Chia Seeds Recipes

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Fourth of July Shaved Ice

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Healthy Strawberry Jam

strawberry jam, homemade, recipe, healthy
It’s a rule in our house: when you pick strawberries, you have to make grandma’s homemade strawberry jam.  Because every bite is just so good.  On toast, ice cream, bagels, pB&J, right off the spoon.  So, here’s the problem.  At least for me, who really pays attention what I eat, the recipe is packed with sugar and corn syrup.  And sugar and corn syrup doesn’t look good on me and also I don’t really want all that sugar in my kids.  So, I had to tell my mom that her family recipe was going to get hacked into a healthy recipe…at least by me.
For the sugar substitute, I’ve been using SteviaLeaf’s Sweetleaf, which is stevia mixed with raw cane sugar.  Raw sugar is healthier than refined sugar because it hasn’t been processed with additives and easier for body to digest. If you are familiar with the taste of stevia, it usually leaves an aftertaste but I haven’t noticed that with Sweetleaf.  I like how I can use it for baking.  
After you make this yummy, healthy jam, don’t forget to print up the labels.
Freezer Strawberry Jam



6 3/4 cups crushed strawberries (I like to blend mine)
1/2 cup frozen organic white grape juice or apple juice concentrate
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup of SweetLeaf (or another natural sweetener like honey, coconut sugar.  Adjust for taste)

Fruit pectin (follow recipe)



Instructions 
Combine crushed strawberries, juice concentrate, water, lemon juice and sugar until it dissolves.  Slowly heat medium on stove and add fruit pectin.  Follow the instructions for pectin. Pour into prepared jars.  Leave 1/3 space if you plan to freeze so jam can expand.  Refrigerate until cool.  Label, then freeze.  

Homemade Blueberry Gelato

Berry season is here!  So to celebrate, I posted a yummy recipe over at How Does She making homemade gelato and using fresh blueberries.  This recipe make a creamy and rich frozen treat.  I also put down healthy substitutes to make the recipe still full of flavor, but lower in calorie and sugar free.  This is a perfect summer treat!

Healthy Strawberry Ice Cream–Sugar Free, Diary Free, Gluten Free

We’ve been having so much fun eating and making all things strawberries.  And of course we have to make homemade strawberry ice cream.  With summer here, I have been trying so hard to really watch my diet and have cut out (for the most part) sugar and diary.  But in the summer we break in our ice cream maker quite a bit and the kids have a lot of fun coming up with different recipes.  So homemade ice cream is quite tempting around our house.  This healthy recipe is guilt-free, and ice cream that I can turn too when I crave something sweet and fruity.

Ingredients
16 ounces of strawberry–chopped and pureed
2 cups of coconut milk
3-5 tbsp of maple syrup (depending on how sweet)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 lemon juice
Instructions
1. Cut stems off strawberries and measure out 16 ounces in cup.  Put it in your blender and puree.
2. Combine coconut milk, maple syrup, vanilla and lemon juice in a mixing bowl.  
3. Slowly stir in strawberry puree with the milk mixture
4.  Pour mixture into your ice cream maker and follow directions.

After the ice cream is made, serve immediately and enjoy.  Got any leftover ice cream?  Don’t put it in the freezer just yet.  One of the bummer things about coconut milk is once it freezes it comes really hard…like ice hard and the consistency is not creamy anymore.  BUT, what we do with any left over coconut ice cream is put the remains in popsicle molds.  It works out great and kids like it as do adults.  And you don’t have to chisel out a huge block of ice.  

Georgia Strawberry Picking

All I want to do this summer is take advantage of all the fruit picking there is in Georgia.  With all the moving we’ve been doing the last two summers, we haven’t really gone out to the farms and done our own picking.  The seasons come sooner down here than Connecticut, so Georgia strawberry picking is in full swing the month of May instead of June.  So many strawberries! My little helpers were, in fact, really good helpers.  They did most of the picking…and the eating of course!

Strawberry Jam + Free Labels

Last week I made 18 jars of strawberry jam.  Anyone want to buy one?  Seriously…it’s a lot of jam.  But they are best gifts to give away.  So, you can make your own strawberry jam!  It’s really easy and we are right in the heart of the strawberry season. When making strawberries into jam I like to use a freezer jam recipe because it preserves the vibrant redish pink color of the strawberries.  If you do a cooked jam recipe, the strawberries change to a dark red.  Not as pretty.  So here’s my Mom’s yummy freezer jam recipe. 

Freezer Strawberry Jam

6 3/4 cups crushed strawberries (I like to blend mine)
1/2 cup frozen white grape juice concentrate
1/2 cup water
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup lemon juice
4 cups sugar
1-1.5 cups ultra gel

Before I go on into the instructions, I want to give you a briefing on ultra gel.  This product can be bought through Carnet Foods.  It’s a food thickener that is really easy to use and remains stable.  You can actually double your recipe and it will thicken, unlike pectin.  And you don’t have to wait until it sets; it thickens right there.  You slowly stir the gel in until desired consistency.

Instructions
Combine crushed strawberries, juice concentrate, water, lemon juice and sugar until it dissolves.  Gradually stir in ultra gel (1 tablespoon at a time).  Allow to stand 10 minutes to thicken.  Add more if desired.  Pour into containers, label and freeze.

And here is the FREE DOWNLOAD STRAWBERRY JAM LABELS to make your jars look pretty and ready to give away.  Enjoy!

Strawberry Picking

Yesterday was the perfect day to go strawberry picking.  Temperature was in the low 80’s with a cool breeze.  School in our neck of the woods is still in session so the crowd was minimal.  And the strawberries were a perfect red, and taste like candy.  I must admit that picking strawberries is not my favorite amongst berry picking.  You’ve got to get down on your knees.  The ground is wet and muddy, and with a 6 month old in tow…there was a lot of crying.  But in about an hour we picked 16lbs of strawberries!  I’ve got my work load of jamming and freezing and baking.  But it’s so worth it.

Strawberry shortcakes–an after dinner treat

Blueberry Flax Shake

Need a way to get vegetables down your kids? Make them a Blueberry Flax Shake. I’ve been making it every morning for a healthy way to jumpstart my day, and my kids beg for their own cup (straw included). My sister Marleen made up this recipe, and it’s so good and healthy and filling. And I promise–your kids won’t know that there are vegetables mixed in. Below is the recipe. Check out Simply Healthful for more healthy recipes.

Blueberry Flax Shake

1 10 oz bag of frozen blueberries (or mixed berries)
Juice of one half lemon
1 handful of spinach
4 inches of cucumber, cut in chunks
half of one avocado
1-2 cups of water (or coconut water or almond milk (for creamy texture))
2 tablespoons of honey (or agave syrup)
1 tablespoon of grounded flax seed
Ice
Blend all ingredients together until desired consistency.

Blueberry Eyes

Oh my little blueberry-eyes boy! He is nine months and growing. Too quickly, that is. I’m so backward with doctor visits–anyone know if he’s suppose to go at nine months? So I don’t have any stats but here are a few things going on in his little busy life.

  • Crawling everywhere and standing up
  • A very serious/curious child. He likes to examine objects–not much of a test-tastier, more a finger-tester. Pays close attention to different noises.
  • Interested in things that open and close
  • Loves the sand and is determined to catch a sea gull
  • Already saying “mama” and calls for me.
  • Bring his blankie, and he’ll sleep anywhere
  • Knows a little bit of basic sign language
  • Clapping and almost knows how to blow kisses, wave and give kisses

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