Skinny Strawberry Lemondrop

Continuing on the fresh fruit journey of summer cocktails we have a Skinny Strawberry Lemondrop.  Made only with vodka, strawberries, and a whole lemon.  Tastes like strawberry lemonade, but then when you get to the bottom of the drink there is a strawberry that has been muddled so it soaks up all the vodka and whoo that's a kick at the end :)  I hope you enjoy!!

Ingredients:

2.5 oz Vodka (I used Grey Goose because it was around, but I think it would be better with Absolut Citron)
1 whole lemon
3 strawberries (diced)

Directions:

1. Slice up the three strawberries, put one inside martini glass and the other two in martini shaker.
   

   

    
2. Slice the lemon into six slices.
3. Put the other two strawberrries into martini shaker and muddle into bottom, also muddle the strawberry in martini glass (if you do not have a muddler, just use a fork that was what I did.)
   

   

   
   
4. Fill martini shaker half way full with ice, add vodka and squeeze in lemon juice.  Go ahead and toss in a few of the lemon rines as well it will help get more lemon flavor into your drink when your shaking. 
5. Strain drink into martini glass and garnish with a sliced strawberry if you'd like to be fancy pants :)



Grapefruit Martini

  

Continuing on my journey of making fresh fruit incorporated drinks I have concocted up a refreshing Grapefruit Martini.  Made with fresh squeezed grapefruit juice, vodka and a dash of pure cane sugar simple syrup.  This reminds of when I was a kid and thought grapefruits were just way too tart and would sprinkle sugar on top and bite right into the grapefruit with that sweet and tart flavor.  I hope you enjoy as much as I did!
Tools Needed:

• Martini Shaker
• Martini Glasses
• Measuring Tool (Could be a jigger, or I used a measuring cup that had ounce measurements on the side)
• Juicer (Optional)

Ingredients:

• 1 Grapefruit (Any type will work, makes two martinis)
• 2.5oz. Absolut Citron
• 1/4-1/2oz. Pure Cane Sugar Simple Syrup
• Cane Sugar

Directions:

1. Put your martini glasses in freezer to get them ice cold while you are making your drinks.  It only takes about 10 minutes for the glasses to get frosty, but you can put them in earlier to get them extra cold.
2. Cut your grapefruit in half or quarters, dependent on what type of juicing tool you have available.  When you have the fruit cut in half cut off a small sliver to be able to use as a garnish if you want.  I used a juicer where where you twist the halves to get your juice.  If you don't have a juicer available to you though you can just cut into quarters and squeeze the juices on out, this is going to be just as good, so long as it's fresh squeezed juice. 

3. Fill your martini shaker full of ice, measure out 2.5oz. of Absolut Citron Vodka, 2oz. Grapefruit Juice, and 1/4-1/2oz. simple syrup (dependant on how sweet you would like it to taste). 
4. Shake vigorously for about 10 seconds, I like to see very small ice flakes in my martinis, it's sort of your way of knowing that someone put some extra time and care to make sure your martini is going to be ice cold and enjoyable.  No one likes a warm martini...ewww.
5. Dip top of martini glass into grapefruit juice and then dip into cane sugar.  Strain your martini into the glass and top with your garnish.  Ready to sit back and enjoy :)

Skinny Pineapple Mojito

This is one of my new favorite drinks, and I don't even like rums.  I've been trying to create drinks that incorporate fresh fruit for the Spring/Summer season; and this is no exception.  With fresh pineapple, mint and limes you get amazing natural flavors without all the calories that normally come with a Mojito.  Cheers to summer!

Tools Needed:

• Martini Shaker
• Muddler

Ingredients

• 6 Pineapple Cubes
• 10 Mint Leaves, mint sprig for garnish (optional)
• 3 Lime Wedges
• .5 oz Pineapple Juice
• 2 oz. Bacardi Limon
• Splash of Soda Water

Directions

1. Chop up your pineapple cubes, they should be pretty small about 1cm each.
2. Put the pineapple cubes, mint leaves and lime wedges into bottom of pint glass.
3. Pour in your pineapple juice, muddle vigorously to get the juices out of pineapples and limes.
4. Scoop in ice to fill up glass.
5. Add in the Bacardi Limon and shake in martini shaker for about 10 seconds.
6. Pour back into your original glass and top with soda water.
7. Add mint sprig to top of glass for garnish.  Enjoy :)

 You can see the chunks of pineapple floating in the drink and they as you drink you will get those yummy chunks of pineapple coming up and they are absolutely fantastic...mMmmM