Cucumber-Basil Spritzers

If you’re here from Pillsbury.com, welcome! Pull up a hair, pour yourself a drink, and let’s cook some delicious recipes together. While you’re here, you can also leave a comment on this post to help me win a new set a pots and snag yourself a sample of lentils.

When I was in DC for Eat, Write, Retreat last month, one of my first stops was happy hour at Cuba Libre to catch up with some of my old friends. As instructed by the placard on the bar in front of us, Mary asked the bartender about their “new seasonal drinks.” We were rewarded with a cucumber-basil mojito, which was one of the most deliciously refreshing drinks that I’ve ever had. It didn’t take me long to order another.

I knew I wanted to recreate this drink at home, and thought that it would be perfect for our Memorial Day cookout. However, when Memorial Day rolled around it was so swelteringly hot that the mere thought of alcohol made me nauseous. I didn’t want to abandon the idea of a cucumber-basil drink though, so I reinvented the mojitos as a nonalcoholic spritzer. Despite the lack of rum, these spritzers taste surprisingly close to the drink that they were inspired by. The combination of cucumber, basil, lime, and bubbles instantly relaxes you, and is the perfect way to cool down on a hot day. I guarantee that we’ll be enjoying this drink all summer long.

I didn’t want to post a real “recap” post , but Eat, Write, Retreat was so amazing that I can’t help but sharing a little. If you heard about any of the drama that happened at the other “conference that shall not be named” that was held the same weekend, there was none of that at EWR. At all. It was a great group of about 60 attendees, who were all there to learn, grow, and share. The conference had such a community atmosphere to it, and I came home with new friends, new skills, and tons of inspiration. I’ve been to a few other food blogging conferences (Foodbuzz and BlogHer) and, in my opinion, EWR was hands-down the best one. I can’t wait for next year!

Here are a few of the many lessons/inspirational tidbits that I took home with me. Many of which apply not only to blogging, but to life in general:

• Don’t take shortcuts. Always try to make everything better.
• Communicate. Share. Give.
• When traveling, get off the beaten path and explore.
• Don’t strive to be “the next so-and-so.” That’s already been done. Be original.
• Do what you love, do what you love, do what you love. And always be authentic.
• And perhaps most importantly: if your suitcase contains a 3-gallon ziplock bag of dry thyme, you WILL get a note from the TSA informing you that your bag was searched. Even if said bag also contains a griddle pan, a mandolin, and a ridiculous amount of other fantastic swag. (I’m also pretty sure they helped themselves to a few Goo Goo Clusters while they were searching. I can’t say that I blame them.)

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I made these drinks with Stevia in the Raw, which measures cup for cup like sugar. I didn’t have any real reason for using the stevia, other than I had been sent a sample of it and I figured I could save myself a few calories. I’m not generally a fan of alternative sweeteners because sometimes they taste funny, but I was impressed by the way it works in this recipe. The small granules dissolved quickly, and there was no funny aftertaste. While you can certainly make these with regular sugar, stevia is a nice alternative if you don’t like to drink your calories. I’m looking forward to trying it out in a few other recipes to see if I like it as much. A note though – I found the name “Stevia in the Raw” to be a little misleading. I was expecting big crystals like Sugar in the Raw. The stevia is actually very fine, similar in texture to super-fine sugar. (I will admit that while I’m not a big soda drinker, I do drink diet soda on occasion. If you don’t, I can’t guarantee that you won’t notice an aftertaste with the stevia.)

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I’m submitting this post to Wanderfood Wednesday