Functional cocktails - With 3 Healthy home recipes
3 healthy and guilt 3 cocktail recipes from the mindful mixologist that you can make at home - Delicious, Fun to make Fun to drink and functional.
For the longest time cocktails have been associated with bad health. They are synonymous with partying, hangovers and high doses of sugar. I think it’s pretty safe to say that you would get laughed out a gym if you mentioned that cocktail drinking was a major part of your nutrition plan…
Just imagine signing up for a new trendy diet that consisted of bloody Marys in the morning and Margaritas in the evening. Sure, that would be awesome! But not exactly fitness friendly right?
If there's one thing we can agree on, its that usually cocktails are not something you would put in the same category as nutritional drinking. However, that’s where functional cocktails come in the mix.
Functional Cocktails
So lets talk functional cocktails. What exactly are functional cocktails? Functional cocktails are cocktails that provide some kind of function other then getting you drunk and making you dance. They still have the same delicious tastes as regular sugar loaded cocktails, but by selecting our ingredients carefully we can craft delicious cocktails which instead of being overly sweet and dehydrating, are nutritional and, well, functional.
Whether you’ll be drinking to curve dehydration, drinking for a healthy heart or trying to get that detoxing glowing skin look. We can work all this into cocktails and turn our cocktail party into a wellness sparty.
Mindful drinking
Mindful drinking is something I talk about a lot on this blog. I am the mindful mixologist after all. What else would you expect? Mindful drinking is usually a term used to describe people who have chosen to live a booze free lifestyle, but it's not just about being sober. Its about anything where you’re drinking has a positive impact. Be it sustainable cocktails, healthy drinking, metal wellbeing and of course, functionality.
If you want to know more about mindful drinking and what it is, check out my post on the matter here.
Why functional cocktails are the future of drinking
To keep this short and sweet. Cocktails are delicious, fun to make, fun to drink and fun to look at. The issue with them is that they aren't the most healthy option. Packed with sugar and an array of liqueurs and spirits.
Cocktails usually have a negative effect on the body and especially the dreaded hangover (which reminds me, if you hate hangovers take a look at my hangover home remedy article)
By taking these cocktails we love so much, and packing them with healthy ingredients that we may not normally have or don’t have enough of. It means not only do we have delicious drinks that are fun to make, fun to look at and fun to drink. But we also have functional drinks
Imagine having a night of binging out on cocktails and actually feeling better and healthier the next day. Having your skin glow, your breath not stink and your body function properly. That’s the dream which isn’t to unattainable if you stick to mixing functional ingredients with high quality liqueurs and spirits.
3 Functional Cocktail Recipes
Which brings me to my 3 functional cocktail recipes for you to try out and make a start on your functional drinking. Before you start, make sure you have a good cocktail kit ready to get mixing and some nice glassware. And with that said let's get functional!
What’s up doc - Carrot cocktail recipe
This cocktail is one that uses carrot juice as its base. Drinking carrot juice is a great way to get a whole variety of your daily vitamins as well as some other impressive health benefits such as eye health, skin health, blood sugar control and immunity boosting properties.
If this wasn’t enough to make carrot juice a powerhouse ingredient it is also great for protecting your liver due to its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Which is great for balancing out the alcohol in the mix; an ingredient that usually has negative effects on the liver.
As well as carrot juice, we also have a touch of sweetness. Remember, sweetness isn't the enemy of functional cocktails. A bit of sweetness is good for us, its about picking the right type of sweet nectar, which in this case is honey. To take it that much further we are going to do a quick ginger honey infusion to reap all those ginger stomach settling properties.
Ingredients
Carrot juice
Pineapple juice
Ginger infused honey
Cointreau
Vodka
Click here to view the full recipe
Matcha do about nothing - Matcha and celery cocktail recipe
A healthy and functional riff on the classic bees knees, this gin and honey cocktail uses both the natural caffeine, antioxidant immune boosting powers of matcha powder. With a dash of celery bitters to make for a healthy energy providing cocktail to substitute your go-to espresso martini with.
Cucumber & Aloe Vera Margarita
This final cocktail pairs the hydrating powers of cucumber juice and aloe vera juice with 100% tequila blanco to give you a cocktail that will hydrate you as opposed to dehydrating you.
As well as its hydrating effects, cucumber and aloe vera juice also helps with skin health. Keeping your skin looking clear, fresh and youthful.
Now I’m not saying this cocktail is the answer for anti-aging and probably shouldn’t become a part of your daily skincare routine. However, as far as functional drinking goes. This cocktail is first-rate. Hydrating, skin care friendly and due to the 100% tequila, is also hangover preventing.
Ingredients
40ml 100% Tequila blanco
10ml Cointreau
20ml Cucumber juice
10ml Aloe Vera juice
15ml Lime juice
Method
Mix everything together in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake till cold.
Strain into a chilled coupe
For the cucumber juice - simply cut up cucumber and weigh it out, then blend it with water to a 2.1 ration. For example, if you have100grams of cucumber, blend it with 50ml of water.
If you don’t have a blender you can replace the cucumber juice in this cocktail for a quarter of a medium sized cucumber muddled in the cocktail shaker.
As for the aloe Vera juice, make sure you pick up 100% aloe vera. Here's the one I recommend if you’re UK based, and here's the one I recommend for USA based.
So there you have it, my 3 functional cocktail recipes that offer more then a good night and a bad morning. It goes without saying that although these cocktails are functional, you shouldn’t drink them as a replacement for medicine. Don’t drink more than you usually would just because they have functional effects. These recipes are to replace your usually cocktail choices not to add on top of them. It’s all about balance with functional drinking.
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If you have enjoyed this healthy home cocktail recipes guide then why not check out some more mindful drinking cocktail recipes here. I also have an Instagram dedicated to mindfulness and functional cocktails which you can find at @mindful_mixologist. This blog is a one man show so I appreciate all the support you can give.
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