Blueberry Ginger Fizz

Oh Monday… It is probably the least favorite days out of the whole week. No more fun and extra sleep. To cheer you up, I got you a refreshing drink recipe! It can be alcoholic or non-alcoholic, depends on whether you prefer alcoholic ginger beer, ginger beer or ginger ale. No one will judge if you feel like getting a bit tipsy even on Monday! 😉

Blueberries are in season now. They are something special when they are ripe and sweet. Recently, I had some Mexico jumbo blueberries from Bristol Farms. They were perfectly sweet. I couldn’t have enough. I remember we went blueberry picking near Santa Barbara a few years ago. That was totally awesome! You can eat your way while you are picking. They were super sweet and flavorful. To celebrate these juicy berries, I was determined to find a drink recipe that could show off their flavors. This recipe is just the right one! Even with only 5 blueberries, the blueberry flavor really came through. It is a sweet refreshing beverage for the spring and summer day. It is also great to serve with dinner. I promise you it is wonderful and you will want a second glass!

In other news, if you have noticed, I have been a Yummly publisher for a while. As a blogger, Yummly creates a great platform for bloggers to share their recipes. As a user, Yummly is a great place to search and browse recipes. When you come across a recipe that you like, you can just save them in your personal recipe box by clicking the Yum button. When browsing recipes, the ingredient and time count are shown below each recipe. It is clearly written on how much time and how many ingredients you need. One of my favorite features of Yummly has to be the taste graph. It shows you whether that recipe is salty, savory, sour, bitter, sweet or spicy. I can pick a recipe based on if I am feeling something sweet or savory for dinner tonight. No more guessing around! I also like that they can filter recipes based on your liking. For example, if you don’t like Mexican foods, you can opt out and they will not show you any Mexican recipes. Also if you are allergic to gluten, they can also filter out the gluten recipes. Easy to use and helpful!

How to join and become a Yummly member? All you need to do is create an account. It is free! Remember to check out my Yummly page!

Now enjoy the blueberry drink and have a happy Monday!

Blueberry Ginger Fizz

1 serving

Ingredients:

–   5 fresh blueberries, plus more for garnish

–   1 ounce simple syrup

–   1 ounce fresh lime juice (about 1½ limes)

–   6 ounces ginger ale or ginger beer or alcoholic ginger beer

–   3 – 4 ice cubes

–   slice of lime (optional for garnish)

Simple Syrup:

–   ½ cup sugar

–   ½ cup water

Direction:

1. To make simple syrup, in a small pot, add sugar and water. Cook over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Transfer to an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 1 week.
2. In a serving glass, add 5 blueberries and 1 ounce simple syrup. Muddle. Add the lime juice and ginger ale. Add ice cubes and stir. Garnish with extra blueberries and the slice of lime. Serve immediately.

Tips:

1. Ginger ale vs Ginger beer: Ginger ale and ginger beer are both carbonated drinks. The ginger flavor is not as strong in a ginger ale than ginger beer. Regular ginger beer only contains less than 0.5% alcohol, which is categorized as an non-alcoholic beverage. But there are also some alcoholic version out there, like Crabbie’s.
2. This drink can be an alcoholic beverage or non-alcoholic. It depends on whether you use alcoholic ginger beer, ginger beer or ginger ale.
3. I used Reed’s Premium Ginger Ale for this recipe.

(Adapted from Absolut)