Strawberry Basil-Ade

My second recipe post- another summery drink!

It's 100+ degrees in Chicago. This summer calls for 'em.

This time, it's my take on a strawberry-lemonade-basil combination. I thought if strawberry and basil went together, and strawberry and lemonade went together, and basil and lemons go together....

wouldn't they all compliment each other?

Turns out the combination is very exotic-tasting. Well, at least for a suburbanite like me. 

Anyways, I used sweet basil that I grow on my deck. Do not use other types of basil (like Greek basil or Thai) because these are spicier and I really don't know how your drink would turn out!

Again, feel free to alter some of the measurements to fit your taste; like my last drink, there are no totally specific measurements.

This drink is NOT going to be super sugary sweet and fake tasting, like many bottled lemonades and such. We are using real lemons here people, and no corn syrup. It will be more like a tea of sorts!

This makes one drink.

Step 1: Gather ingredients. You need a half of a lemon, a leaf or two of sweet basil, and a handful of strawberries. The strawberries I used were from my garden, so they were the size of grapes! If you use bigger ones, it will give it more good strawberry flavor, so that's ok. I used an organic lemon so it was a bit smaller as well.

If you don't like the flavor of basil, feel free to swap in raspberries or maybe even mint, but I can't vouch for the taste here. Experiment!

Step 2: Place all chopped ingredients (except lemon) in bottom of glass. Squeeze lemon juice over top, discard lemon.

Step 3: Muddle with a wooden spoon or if you're fancy, use a muddler.

Make sure you muddle till everything is a pulp, get all the juices out.

Step 4: Add in 6 oz of water. You can also swap regular water for club soda if you like the fizz! Mix.

Step 7: Now, strain this mixture through a fine sieve into another cup, pressing down to get all the juices through. Rinse out your first cup, and pour the strained drink back into the cup. Sweeten with honey, raw sugar, or whatever you like. I only used about 1.5t and it wasn't very sweet, but that's how I like it. If you want it sweeter, add more.

Add ice, garnish with a lemon slice!

It turns a beautiful color!

All photos and instructions copyright Allison Cooling for Quiet Lion Creations.

If you share/use/post this tutorial, please link back to me. It is much appreciated!

Beachy Waves Hair Mist

Summer is here! Time for summer hair. What says summer more than the sunny beach?

The look of effortless waves is the envy of many city dwellers, but it's totally easy to achieve sans-beach! 

Celebrity hairstylists rely on chemical-laden and totally overpriced beach sprays to give their clients "the look". Plus, anyone who buys these sea salt sprays is basically buying 80% water. 

That doesn't work for me, or for my DIY-ers. 

So, why not create a totally natural and totally handmade version yourself?

Silly question, I know.

The DIY version produces the same results, see above.

Yes, your spray will be about 99% water. But that's ok, because we are taking out all the nasty chemicals and other undesirables you really don't want in there anyways.

What's best about the spray is that it won't smell like artificial fragrances; it will smell of fresh herbs.

Much nicer to your nostrils and the environment.

Enough talk; let's begin.

Step 1: Get an old spray bottle (I used a small one, maybe like 4 oz., recycled from a Bath and Body spray). Fill it up with water (distilled). Dump this water into a glass. 

Gather a generous handful of fresh herbs from your garden, if you have one. I used a combination of lavender and spearmint. 

If you don't have a garden, you can use herbal tea bags. Maybe like chamomile or peppermint would be nice? You could also try a combination.

Place the herbs or tea bags into the glass.

Step 2: The magic ingredient; sea salt. It will mimic the saltiness of the sea, and give your hair that beach texture. Get a handful of sea salt and add this to the glass.

Step 3: Get a wooden spoon. Muddle all these ingredients together; really break up the herbs, and if you have tea bags you might want to break open the bag and dump the herbs into the water to make sure you get the most out of your muddling.

Muddle, muddle, muddle.....

Now, set this glass aside in the sun (maybe on a patio table), cover with a dish o for a couple of hours to really infuse this water with the essential oils and nutrients from the herbs.

Step 4: After this has had time to infuse, strain it through a fine mesh sieve into a measuring cup. Make sure to press down and squeeze the herbs to get all the lingering juice out!

Step 5: Pour this back into your spritz bottle. Make a label if you want and tape it on!

Store in fridge, and make sure you use it up quick as it won't keep like those ones with preservatives in 'em!

*TO USE*

Spritz on your hair, just enough to dampen a little. Scrunch hair for a looser texture, or twist for more ringlet-style curls. 

Beach ready!

Pineapple Mint Virgin Mojito

Yes, my first recipe post.

Excited?

Inspired by the summer coming, I've created a virgin "mojito"-type recipe that's light and refreshing. 

This makes one drink.

Yum.....

I used spearmint from my garden...

Step 1: Gather Materials. Needed are pineapple chunks, a lime slice, some mint leaves, seltzer water, sweetener and ice.

Step 2: Place everything but the water and ice into a glass.

I only used one chunk of pineapple, use more for stronger flavor. There are no "exact" measurements here!

Muddle together with a wooden spoon, nothing fancy needed here! Muddle everything 'till the pineapple is completely mashed with the mint and lime. Now, pour in 6 oz. of seltzer water.

Strain over a fine sieve into a measuring cup.... (I don't like to have things floating in my drinks! :) )

And pour the liquid from the measuring cup back into your original glass (you can quickly rinse out the original glass after straining to make sure it's completely clean, yes I am a little OCD!)

You will have a pale mint green drink. Now, add your sweetener; I used only a teaspoon of raw cane sugar. If you like it sweeter, just sweeten to taste. Again, no exact measurements here!

 Top with ice. And maybe a skewer of mint, pineapple, and a lime slice to top it off!

Delicious!

Add a monkey and umbrella and you're in paradise!