Here’s a tasty and refreshing cocktail that will help chase away those Monday blues.  This Raspberry Lime Basil Gin Cocktail is bursting with so much flavor from all the natural and fresh ingredients, you won’t even miss the lack of a simple sugar syrup.  Yes, I’m still on this (beep) sugar detox but I’m eating fruit so this drink is completely acceptable for me to consume.  Plus, I’ve had a super busy weekend and slightly stressed out one too, which is more than reason enough to have one of these beauties when I get home later tonight.

I made this cocktail on the fly last night.  I wanted something light, fresh, and gin based, so I started looking around to see what I had on hand.  The gorgeous pint of organic raspberries that I bought the other day was calling out to me and my garden’s basil plant, which is growing out of control right now, needed to be cut back.  I grabbed both of those, with some limes and my trusty bottle of Tanqueray Gin and I was ready to start mixing up something special.

Since I’ve been on the sugar detox, I have eliminated all processed sugars (and some natural ones like honey) from my diet.  I originally stopped eating fruit but I stopped that nonsense by day three of the detox.  Seriously, a girl can only take so much.  If there’s one thing I have learned from not eating sugar is, I really like sugar.  If I’m expected to cut out my daily dark chocolate, the least I could do for myself is eat a little fruit here and there.  With a little alcohol.  The wonderful benefit to using super fresh ingredients in this raspberry lime basil gin cocktail is that a simple sugar syrup isn’t needed.  The natural sweetness of the raspberries is enough and pairs excellently with the slightly sweet finish of the fresh basil and tartness of the lime juice.

Let me tell you why my weekend was so busy…J and I are renovating a travel camper that we bought a week ago.  The weekend also took a turn down stressful street when we started the renovations and found some pretty major water damage.  Looking at this whole sh*t show in a positive way, we got a really fantastic deal on the camper and J is doing the repair work himself so it won’t cost us a ridiculous amount of additional money out of pocket.  The negative is that the guy we bought the camper from intentionally hid this previous water damage from us and J doing the work himself means more time spent repairing and less time spent road tripping.  Thanks RV Dude!  In the end I guess it is ultimately our responsibility to find the damage and we did do a thorough inspection of the camper before we bought it BUT we both missed checking the corner wall under the mattress area in the bedroom.  Of course, that was where the water damage was hiding.  J determined the leak was from the window and proceeded to tear out the whole wall of the bedroom, wood frame and all.  He then built back up the frame, put in double installation, and sealed everything back up with a brand new wall.  In the end it is all working out because, in all honesty, travel campers are built cheaply in the first place.  Unfortunately, Manufacturers will use the thinnest and cheapest material that they can get away with using.  I’ve heard complaints about the quality of craftsmanship from people who have spent serious money on luxury RVs.  The original wood frame and installation in this camper wasn’t the best material so I’m very glad that crappy wall is gone and a nice new one is in it’s place.  Yay!!!  And I just know karma is going to sneak up one day and smack that RV guy upside the head for not disclosing the damage to us.  Jerk.   Another positive of this whole situation is I think I’m going to take an opportunity to write up a few blog posts about our experience renovating and repairing this camper.  I think it might be fun and kind of cool to document all of our work.  Then we can look back on it and think about how it really wasn’t that bad.  Even though a road may get a little bumpy during a journey, sometimes it turns out better in the end than you had originally imagined it

All I know is, my Monday is going to turn out just fine because I am ending it with this tasty Raspberry Lime Basil Gin Cocktail.  Hope you join me and cheers to a great start of a wonderful week!

5.0 from 3 reviews

Raspberry Lime Basil Gin Cocktail

 

Print

Prep time

5 mins

Total time

5 mins

 

Author: Tasty Ever After

Serves: 1 drink

Ingredients

• 6 whole fresh raspberries
• 1 Tb fresh basil leaves, chiffonade (cut into thin ribbons)
• 2 ounces gin
• 1 ounces sparkling water or club soda, lime flavored or plain
• 1 Tb fresh lime juice
• ½ cup ice
• Optional garnish: lime slices and whole fresh basil leaves

Instructions

1. Place raspberries and basil in cocktail shaker and lightly muddle together. Add gin, sparkling water or club soda, fresh lime juice, and ice to shaker and shake for 3 seconds.
2. Pour mixed drink in a glass. Garnish with additional limes slices and fresh basil leaves.
3. Can strain drink into glass with ice to remove raspberry seeds and basil, if desired.

3.3.3077

The post Raspberry Lime Basil Gin Cocktail appeared first on .

Read the original on: Tasty Ever After