Summer non-alcohol cocktails

I am throwing a baby naming this Saturday at my apartment, it's supposed to be very warm and I would love to have a few pitchers of refreshing (and colorful but not as important as taste) drinks waiting for people when we return from temple. Would love to hear any ideas.

I'm serving the basic bagels and lox buffet.

Thanks!!

Mix guava juice/concentrate to taste with a 2L bottle of ginger ale. (light pink colour)

Mix a can of frozen concentrated fruit punch with sprite/7-up. You can make some ice cubes with fruit frozen in the middle and have them floating.

Thanks all for your ideas! I just found out that my kitchen will not be usable from now until then so anything where I have to squeeze things will not be able to be done. I may just use Newman's own Lemonade to make one of those lemonade mixtures.

Also my brother in law gave me a good idea which I haven't tried yet -- Litchee juice with ginger beer.

I'll let you know what I end up using.

For the easiest, prettiest drink, use the Pom's pomegranate juice. Add 1-2 tablespoons to regular or diet, ginger ale or lemonlime soda, for a beautiful deep rose colored drink. The pomegranite juice adds a deep sweet/bitter taste that makes a soft drink taste like an adult alcoholic drink. Cranberry juice is insipid by comparison. You can make up a pitcher or enjoy the drama of adding the Poms to each glass.

My favorite non-alcoholic cocktail, thanks to suggestions on this board, is a cranberry-lime spritzer.

Combine one shot (2 Tbsp, I think) cranberry juice, the juice of half a lime, and seltzer/club soda to taste (I use 2 shots/4 Tbsp). If it's too tart, you can add a little sugar or simple syrup - but I like it tart. Very refreshing.

Anne

I'm sure your drinks are great and the proportions/parts are what matter BUT I believe a shot=3 tbls. So be careful with those alcohol drinks!

Aha! That would explain why I'm looped after just one drink with one shot of alcohol in it. I thought I was just a cheap drunk, but instead I'm measurement-impaired.

Thanks for the info.

Anne

I love Jamaica - the Mexican beverage made from dried hibiscus flowers (it's the "red" in Red Zinger tea). If you have a Mexican or Latin grocery near you, get a few packs of it, boil a gallon of water, add the flowers, simmer them a few minutes and let the whole pot steep until the water is cool. You add sugar or artificial sweetener, to taste, while it's warm. Strain it through cheesecloth, and toss the flowers. I follow a recipe from one of Rick Bayless' cookbooks, and I think that's the gist of it, but I would check proportions of water to flowers to be sure.

This is a delicious and refreshing summer drink - it's a deep purple red, quite beautiful. Sometimes I make it more concentrated, then dilute it with club soda. I also like to add Meyer's rum or tequila to it, if I want an alcoholic beverage.

I'll second the rec for jamaica. At Latino markets or at Food4Less supermarkets here in L.A. you can find dried jamaica for $2-3/lb.

I usually make it at night. Bring a gallon + 2 cups of water to a boil. Then remove from the heat and add 1-1/4 cups of dried jamaica. Cover and leave it. By the next morning it is cooled and fully infused. Strain it, sweeten it to taste and refrigerate. Serve it in tall glasses with ice and add a kiss of lime. It's a delicious and tangy, ruby red summer thirst quencher.

Thanks, this sounds great, even if I don't make it for Sat I will def. try it.

I was watching Real Simple the other day and they had 4 recipes for different kinds of lemonade. They all looked good, but the ginger-infused lemonade and the strawberries and cream lemonade (farmer's lemonade) both intrigued me. It would be fun to have several unique kinds of lemonade for everyone to sample.

Link: http://www.realsimple.com/realsimple/...

I saw this virgin mojito recipe on Food & Wine, haven't been able to try it yet...

Scroll to the very bottom of the article to find several non-alcoholic drinks...

Link: http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/s...

The Fresco recipe sounds really good too... I think that would be very refreshing!

I've found watermelon juice to be very popular. Just cut the watermelon (minus rind) into big hunks, then put the chunks in a cheesecloth and squeeze. Let a vanilla bean sit in the juice for a few hours to perfume it, and serve just this side of frozen.

Of course, spritzers are nice. You could always buy a few different types of juice and offer the selection along with soda water and maybe mint leaves and some ice tea - a make-your-own situation.

I also like lemonade made with ginger syrup, just for a change.

Link: http://seasonalcook.blogspot.com

Watermelon juice sounds good. Any reason not to just puree it (seems easier than squeezing)?

You know, I'm sure there's not - puree and strain. It's just that I worked briefly at a restaurant that used the squeeze method, and I've done it that way since. It's surprisingly easy - you can do a whole watermelon in no time flat. In fact, it may actually be faster than cutting the melon into pieces small enough to fit in a blender - that may have been the original logic. But certainly either way should work.

Do try the vanilla bean; it adds an extra layer of flavor that's very nice.

Seems a Foley food mill would work too and it would hold back the seeds. I've been looking at a recipe for a watermelon margarita (the real thing not a slushy) and waiting for the weather to get hot enough for that. I will try my mill.

Right. Duh. Seeds.

I'm back to the squeezing method. (The food mill would surely work, but seems more bothersome to me.)

I made Watermelon margueritas last summer for the 4th. Used seedless mellons in the blender. I don't remember the exact recipe, but it mainly involved watermelon, lime juice, Grand Marnier, and I can't remember if I used more sugar or not. Probably. I made one batch w/ tequila and one batch virgin. They were very popular.

If you can find passion fruit cordial, I know Rose's makes one, it is delicious mixed with cold sparkling water, not club soda. It is a different lovely flavor. And if you find yourself in the mood for something with a bit of booze another time it is good with rum added to the mixture.