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It's Hot! Summer is here and everyone will want to increase the amount of liquids they consume to preserve their skin and maintain their health.
The best drink to quench your thirst is, of course, water. But, if you want to savor a long cool but healthy drink here are some ideas.
You will need a food processor or blender, some fruit and some ice cubes.
All recipes roughly make a single long glass.
Watermelon Juice
Cut two large slices of watermelon and place the red center into a blender, pips and all. Add a couple of mint leaves. Blend until smooth. Using a fine sieve pour the mixture into a glass and serve right away with ice cubes.
Watermelon Smoothie
For a smoother sweeter alternative to the above, add a banana to the ingredients and a cup of ice cubes. Blend well and serve immediately.
 Iced Mint Tea
Use about 5g of mint fresh mint leaves to 1 pint of water. Pour boiling water over the leaves in a jug. Add 1tsp of honey or brown sugar stir and leave to cool. Cut slices of orange and add to the jug. Store in a fridge until chilled. Serve with lots of ice.
Fruit Smoothies
Any combination or orange, banana, mango, grape etc with ice zapped in a blender will provide a refreshing tastey drink.
My favorites include:
- The smooth one: 150ml orange juice, 1 banana, 2 apricots, 1/2 cup ice cubes.
- The power smoothie: whole segments from 2 peeled oranges, pips removed, 1 banana, 1 carrot (helps you see in the dark), 1/2 of seedless grapes, 1/2 cup of ice cubes.
- Smoothie Blue: 1 frozen banana, 1/4 cup of blueberries, 2 tbps low-fat yoghurt, 1/2 cup milk blended well with 1/2 cup ice cubes.
- True Blue: 1/2 cup blueberries (can be frozen), 1/2 cup blueberry yoghurt, 1/2 cup milk. Blend with 2-3 ice cubes.
Banana Lassi
Lassi is a yoghurt-based drink from India and can be made either sweet, with many different types of fruit, or salty. The salty variety uses ground cumin seeds and salt instead of sugar. This particular recipe is made with banana although although other popular varieties use mango, papaya or pineapple. Either way, its delicious and refreshing.
For one large glass blend 1 ripe banana, 1 cup of plain low-fat yoghurt, 1 tps honey or sugar, 2 ground cardamom seeds and 1/3 cup ice cubes. Blend all ingredients together, serve in a chilled glass with mint leaves.
The cardamom seeds need to be crushed with a pestle and mortar to remove the other shell. Then the seeds can be ground down to a powder.
Frappé
Frappé is a cold coffee drink that's become the number one drink of Greece. Take a tall glass, add 1 tsp instant coffee, sugar to taste, and about 1 inch of water. Mix until frothy with a frappe mixer or hand-held blender. Add ice, milk (if you like it) and top up with ice cold water.
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