I know that fruit flavored waters have been A Big Thing for a while. You can tell how Big of a Thing by how much stuff you can buy to support this latest Big Thing, or how many hits you get with a web search. Go ahead, Google “Fruit Flavored Water,” and you will see recipes even. Want a water bottle to take on-the-go that has a strainer to hold back your flavorings? It exists. But, as always, I’m slow to incorporate the latest Big Thing.
I’m part camel and decided this when I was quite young, maybe six or seven. I never drank very much water or other beverages. Even as an adult, one of my favorite lines to explain why I don’t drink a lot of Adult Beverages is to say “Everyone has to drink a few to catch up to my level of obnoxiousness au natural.” I think the simplicity of a simple slice of cucumber, lemon, and a single mint leaf may have me finally hitting somewhere in the six to eight cups we are recommended to drink.
When making several lemon recipes in February I was smart and sliced the leftover rinds, now squeezed of their juice. Into the freezer they went. When I was slicing limes recently to freeze, too, I remembered the frozen lemons… and the cucumber that I had sliced up for hummus (yum). AND I just bought a mint plant (who buys a mint Plant? It grows like a weed! I do… I can kill mint, I have that little luck with herb gardening).
Voilà. Flavored water. Sit a bottle of water in your fridge with a few slices of fruit and a mint leaf or two. Drink right away, or let the flavors steep overnight. I love this stuff, and hope I remember to keep sliced citrus in the freezer from now on- there’s room by the strawberries for smoothies.
branching out... on a limb 