Did you know that the phrase “cool as a cucumber” is a scientific fact? Cucumbers are more than 90% water and the inside temperature of a cucumber can be up to 20 degrees cooler than the outside air.
This Cucumber Daiquiri is summery, festive, and just a little outside of the norm. My philosophy is that Zero-proof cocktails must be extra fun and made from typical bar or kitchen ingredients. Just because I want less alcohol on occasion does not mean I want an arduous recipe or use hard-to-find ingredients.
Calling it a “Cucumber Daiquiri” because of the lime and sugar, but if you want to tag it as a more family-friendly Cucumber Limeade, go right ahead. (And, for those who are asking? Yes, you can add white rum for a fully leaded cocktail.)
This issue also shares:
- The Best Life Living Tip: Glow-up your potluck with a salad party. 🥬
- The Self-Care Technique: Be ready to have your mind blown by the science of breathwork and sabertooth tigers. 🤯
- Ideas and Inspo: Feel the power of the Hulk! 🇺🇸
Read on for more — including this refreshing recipe for Cucumber Daiquiri.
Best Life Living Tip
Before we start drinking, let’s talk about dinner, specifically meetings and potlucks.
Are you part of a Reese’s book club, dinner-driven professional meeting, knitting circle, or situation at the home of a rotating host? Does your potluck need a glow-up?
How’s this for a great entertaining tip — Make it a Potluck Salad Bar night. The host provides the greens and a main protein. Everyone else brings a crispy, crunchy, mix-in.
It makes it a light lift for everyone and can be as easy as a bag of julienne carrots straight from the grocery store. Or someone can share their favorite homemade vinaigrette — or their go-to fave canned chickpeas. Tell guests to have fun with it.
You can also make a theme with Italian Night or Taco Tuesday. It’s an culinary exploration that can’t go wrong.
As the host, I suggest you make my Quick and Easy Garlic Shrimp, pictured above. (You can also batch-make the Cucumber Daiquiri and switch out from the same old wine-down.)
The big best-life living tip lesson is to make it easy for you, your guests — and make it easy to be good and good for you.
Self-Care Technique
Breathing exercises are powerful tools that can calm you and help you feel less anxious. One popular technique is known as 4-7-8. The 4-7-8 breathing technique involves breathing in for 4 seconds, holding the breath for 7 seconds, and exhaling for 8 seconds.
There are many others, the goal is to calm your nervous system. – and it may have something to do with being hunted… Our human ancestors were prey, not predators. According to Smithsonian Magazine, “For most of our evolutionary history as primates, one of the most common causes of death, perhaps the most common cause, was, well, being eaten.”
Anxiety was the tool our bodies developed to keep us alive long ago when we were being hunted. When you breathe out slower than you breathe in, your breathwork and body are telling your brain that you are safe.
Check out more on breathwork on this Mel Robbins Podcast for more info on 5 Tools to Protect Your Brain from Stress & Feel Calmer Now.
Practicing stress-reducing breathing techniques can help you slay modern-day sabertooth tigers. You can do it!
Ideas and Inspiration
Sticking with the Olympians! The last GGFY included Ilona Maher and this week’s shout-out is to South Carolina’s shot putter Raven Saunders aka @giveme1shot_ on IG.
Raven’s positivity and power are inspiring. Her bio reads, “Always I’m-possible”.
It wasn’t always this way. After her silver medal performance at the 2016 games she was riding high, but unprepared for what came once she returned home. Raven speaks about her dark depression in the PBS Short Doc Voices and has become a leading advocate for mental health dialogue among athletes.
She is quoted on Olympics.com, “A lot of times when you’re going through troubles and pains and trials and tribulations, if you find other people that say, ‘Hey, I’m going through the same thing’ it makes it easier because you think you’re not in the fight alone.”
Preach sisterwoman. Give her a follow.
Point it Out
A lot of folks think of a daiquiri as a neon pink frozen drink served out of a plastic hurricane tumbler at the beach. In truth, the original is a Cuban-inspired classic cocktail made from shaken and stirred rum, lime juice, and simple syrup. That’s it.
In this Cucumber Daiquiri, we add pureed cucumber to the mix with a bit of herb to give it a burst of savory flavor. Cucumbers are high up on the good and good-for-you list. You can make this Cucumber Daiquiri one at a time or prepare in batch cocktails or mocktails.
This libation comes in at 136 calories and 3 points per serving. Fresh lime is best as it is clear and not cloudy due to pasteurization, but you do what you gotta do. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy! Please tag me if you make it.
Bon Appétit Y’all!
Virginia Willis
Cucumber Daiquiri
Ingredients
- 1 English cucumber stem end trimmed and chopped, more strips or slices for garnish
- ¼ cup water
- 1 ½ cups lime juice
- ¾ cup simple syrup
- soda water, for topping off
- 6 ounces rum, optional
- Limes wedges for garnish
- Herbs such as mint or parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Combine the cucumber and water in the jar of a blender. This will produce about 1 ½ cups.
- To batch-prepare the Cucumber Daiquira aka Cucumber Limeade:
- Place the cucumber in the jar of a blender with ¼ cup water. Puree until smooth. Strain through a mesh sieve. Set aside.
- Line the glasses with thinly peeled strips of cucumber. Add ice. Set aside.
- In a pitcher combine the strained cucumber juice, lime juice, and simple syrup. Add optional rum, if desired. Stir to combine. Serve immediately
- For a single Cucumber Daiquiri: Line a glass with a thinly peeled strip of cucumber. Add ice, ¼ cup cucumber juice, ¼ cup lime juice, and 2 tablespoons of simple syrup, or to taste. Add 1 ounce of optional rum. Stir to combine. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
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