I've been thinking about doing infused water ever since I first saw this picture on Pinterest:
Don't they look delicious?!?! Plus, I know that I need to drink more water and less soda....my caffeine headaches tell me that!
My sister finally made some, and all it took was somebody "real" saying it was good for me to try it myself. I floated through the produce section, picking various fruits and a few veggies to try in my infused water.
I got recipes from here and here and then just sort of made my own combinations. These were my first three flavors:
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| From left to right, citrus blend, raspberry-lime, and cucumber-lemon The raspberry-lime was my favorite of the three, but the citrus blend was also really good. I didn't like the cucumber-lemon, only because I couldn't handle the cucumber seeds that kept sneaking into my cup. I guess I could have strained it better, but it just annoyed me. Since then, I have also made peach, blueberry-peach, strawberry-lemon-mint, and raspberry. Hands-down, my favorite has been strawberry-lemon-mint. It is so refreshing and tasty!! Matt even liked it enough to say, "I might actually drink this," and he doesn't like strawberry, lemon, or mint!! So how can you make your own infused water? Here's a step-by-step description...without pictures, because I am terrible at doing tutorial pictures. Sorry. 1. Get several Mason jars to put your infused water in. You can also buy an infusion pitcher that keeps the fruit from falling into your water, but I like to have a variety in my fridge so that I don't get bored with the flavors. Plus, I had the Mason jars. 2. Slice the various fruits you want in your water. The more fruit you put in, the stronger your water will taste. (I've found that in a Mason jar, 1/2 a lemon is plenty for me). There's no measuring involved! 3. Slightly squeeze each fruit as you drop it in the Mason jar to get the juices flowing. Don't completely squeeze the juice out. You can add cucumber, mint, or other herbs at the same time--they all go in the bottom. 4. After you put all of the fruit in the bottom, fill the Mason jars completely full of ice. 5. Poor water over the ice. 6. Give the jar a shake to get the juices mixed a bit. 7. You will notice a bit of flavor immediately, but the flavor intensifies the longer you wait. I make it at night, and it's very flavorful by the next day. Give the jar a little shake before pouring yourself a drink. 8. You can continually refill the jars with water (using the same fruit) for up to 48 hours. After that, you should discard the fruit and start over. No preservatives, no sugar or artificial sweetener...just water and fruit. Yum!! I can proudly say that I have not had anything but water to drink in an entire week! I haven't had any headaches either, which is pretty remarkable. If you try out infused water, let me know what you think--and share any good flavor combinations! |
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