Sweet and Tart Summer Beverage

Hi friends!

It’s going to be another warm one here today in Denver!  Upper 80s, I love it!

To keep you cool, here’s a little refreshment to whip up, carry out to the shade of your front porch and sip on while you rock in your rocking chair (swing in your swing, or glide on your glider – whatever you happen to have on your front porch!).

Cherry Limeade

makes one 8 oz drink – scale up as needed to accommodate guests that arrive on  your porch! 

Have at the ready 1 green (Granny Smith) apple, 1 small lime (both washed well) and a bag of frozen pitted cherries.  Because the skins of all three fruits will be going into this, find organic if you can.

Slice a little piece of the lime off to use in the juicer (no more than 1/4 of the lime or less per serving).

Run the green apple* and the lime piece (including the peel) through your electric juicer.  Transfer to your blender and add 4 frozen sweet cherries*.  Blend until smooth, maybe 40 seconds and serve immediately.  Rinse your blender and juicer with hot water quickly and park your backside out to the shade.

I used to LOVE limeade from Dairy Queen and Cherry Limeade from Sonic, back in my early 20s which was way before I learned to eat more naturally and with less added sugars.  Rather than buying premade drink mixes chock full of artificial ingredients, chemicals and added sugar, here you are getting all the healthy goodness of just good ol’ lime, apple and cherries.

Here’s an example of the ingredients from a premade cherry limeade drink mix: Citric Acid, Maltodextrin, Natural And Artificial Flavors, Aspartame, Red 40, Acesulfame Potassium, Calcium Citrate, Potassium Citrate, Calcium Silicate, Magnesium Oxide. (source)

Oddly there is NO juice in that mix!

Since this FitFeat version of Cherry Limeade is FRESH juice straight from the juicer, it’s still alive and full of enzymes, unlike bottled juices which have all been pasteurized.

Variations:

• I like the tartness the lime peel provides to this, but if it’s too bitter for you by all means feel free to peel it.  You’ll want to use a little more of the lime in this case.
• I like to use green Granny Smith apples because they are lower in sugar and therefore have less impact on your blood sugar since this is a juice.  Use whatever apple you prefer or have on hand.  Or you could even use a pear!
• Switch out the lime for lemon (use a larger slice of lemon that you do lime) and try Cherry Lemonade.
• You can skip the cherries altogether if you just want a limeade and don’t feel like cleaning your juicer AND your blender
• If you want to make it spiffy, add some sparkling water for a more sophisticated drink to serve with appetizers.  (Or toss in some coconut rum or vodka for happy hour…!)

Let me know if you try it!  Stay cool today – I hope your summer is off to a fun start!

– Shari B. =)

*Note:  if you are going to do anything with the juice pulp after juicing apples, be sure to core and seed them.  Apple seeds (and cherry pits for that matter) are poisonous – especially to kids and dogs, if consumed in high enough quantities.  If you aren’t planning to consume the pulp in some other way then you can leave your apples whole or halved and toss straight into the juicer.