This Labor day weekend here in Minneapolis has been down right tropical.  Highs in the upper 80s and lower 90s, and humid.    I know this is likely the end of summer here.  In fact it could likely go from 90s to 60s here soon, so I am going to enjoy summer while it's still here!  What better way than with a cucumber Lime cooler?  This is so refreshing it's perfect for a hot day.  Even better it's light enough you can have more than one!    


I love the combo of cucumbers lime and mint, so when I learned about local organic Prairie cucumber vodka of course I had to create a cocktail with it.  Cucumber flavored vodka that's organic and local, like music to my ears.  Even better Prairie sent me a sample to try. 

check out where Prairie Organic Vodka Starts

I love the story behind Prairie, not only is it organic and local but they also are made from three local farmers, (one is been farming the same land  his great grandfather farmed), they take three years to prepare each field. This allows the soil to cleanse itself from any contaminants and to regenerate its nutrient base. They also plant a 25-foot buffer crop to ensure that chemicals from neighboring farms don’t contaminate theirs. Since they don’t use herbicides, they create old-fashioned prairie fires to naturally control unwanted weeds. And because they don’t use pesticides, they rely on native birds and bats to consume their insect populations, turning their fields into complete ecosystems that flourish with all kinds of wildlife.  One of the farmers, Marvin Boike, even has set aside part of his land as a State Wildlife Management Area.  They also convert leftover corncobs and other biomass to fuel the stills.  

I've long been a fan of cucumbers in drinks ever since we first started our garden and I had a huge bumper crop of cucumbers (it was just about all that grew except for broccoli and peas).  I was trying to think of ways to use them and thought hummmm I wonder if it would be good to drink?  I figured I'd try an internet search for cucumber juice or drink and see if anything came up.  If there was nothing anywhere online it's probably a bad ideal.  I found that in Mexico cucumber limeades are actually pretty popular, and therefore probably worth trying.  So I did and I was hooked.  I now drink most of my cucumbers (believe it or not I've never pickled them). I usually make cucumber limeade.

I've been growing the biggest cucumbers this year!

Despite the fact I've been growing the hugest cucumbers ever (see the photo above), I actually was feeling lazy when thinking about making this drink and thought I would make a simpler recipe that anyone could make in less than a minute without the need to buy produce.  I wanted to make a light cocktail that was refreshing, super easy to make for a crowd, low in sugar, all natural, and low in alcohol.  Or in other words the perfect easy cocktail for a summer party.  Even the novice bartender can throw this together at the amazement of onlooking guests. These cocktails are definitely going to become our go-to summer beverage.


For my recipe all you need is to mix ingredients together from your pantry.  You can find the sparkling water I used at Target, it's their Archer Farms brand cucumber mint flavor.  You could easily substitute  La Croix's lime flavored sparkling water which is available at most grocery stores.  I used Lakewood organic lime juice but you could of course juice a real lime instead.  I used Honest's mint limeade but you could substitute any other natural limeade like Santa Cruz's Limeade.




 Cucumber Mint Lime Cooler
Serves 2-4
Only 198 calories for the whole recipe!

Ingredients

• 1 cup (8 oz) Mint Limeade ( I used the brand Honest 70 calories 17 g sugar)
• 2 oz cucumber flavored organic vodka (I used Prairie's) (128 calories)
• 1 oz organic lime juice
• 12 oz Sparkling water cucumber mint flavored ( I used Target's Archer Farms brand)
• ice

Mix all ingredients in a shaker and add desired amount of ice shake and strain.  Serves two garnish with cucumbers and or fresh mint (can find in farmers markets if you don't grow any).