This past week Ryan has been in South Africa for work. He’s been busy working, but not too busy to send me photos of him hanging out by the pool in 80°/27° weather. Needless to say, I’ve been jealous.
So yesterday, Ryan was having an awesome day. I won’t tell you any more about that because I’m saving it for later. Anyway… I was at home in very rainy London doing chores. Not nearly as exciting as South Africa, but to toot my own horn, I dominated those chores. I did everything on my list, which hardly ever happens. I trudged to the super market in my wellies, I did all the laundry, I cleaned the bathroom, I snaked the drain, and I vacuumed. After all that productivity, I wanted a treat to make myself feel like I was on vacation in a warm and sunny place.
When I think warm and sunny, I think cold drinks and lots of fruit. I wanted this to be pure fun and delicious, and not secretly healthy. (You know how I like to sneak veggies into drinks, but this isn’t one of those times) For whatever reason, I have limes on the brain so I bought a bag at the store. I then thought about what to go with it – because lime alone is too tart. I thought of strawberries, which are my favorite fruit. I went to the frozen aisle to pick some up, because fresh strawberries in February are gross, but the store was out of frozen! They did have frozen raspberries, and I thought, “yeah that’ll work.”
To add a little more depth to the flavors, I used coconut water. You can of course replace the coconut water with regular water, but I think the coconut adds a nice hint of nutty flavor. Besides, coconut water can make you feel fancy since it’s so popular right now. And, it’s a good source of potassium, so that’s good too.
The limes, raspberries, and coconut water all together are nice, but pretty tart. I added a healthy amount of agave nectar to balance the tartness and add some sweetness. I choose agave over honey because it’s a little runnier and I think mixes in more smoothly. But, mostly, I choose it because I was going for hot weather foods and the agave plant comes from the dessert.
Add a little white rum, and you’d have a delicious beach side cocktail. I left it as a virgin slushy, and enjoyed it as a rainy afternoon treat.
Messy level: One spoon. Blended drinks are the easiest thing to clean up – even though cleaning the blender can be really annoying.
- 5 limes, plus one more for garnish
- 2 cups frozen raspberries
- 1½ cups coconut water
- ¼ cup light agave nectar
- white rum, optional
- Juice the limes, and add the juice to a blender.
- Add the raspberries, coconut water, and agave to the blender.
- Blend until smooth.
- Taste and adjust as you see fit.
- If you're using the rum, add it to the blender a little bit at a time. Blend, then taste, and adjust.
- Serve with a straw and lime wedge.
