I love Pinterest. There are so many interesting ideas there. One of the latest I've been eager to try is Sassy Water. I repinned it from one of my friends who had repinned it from a lovely blog named
Carolina Charm. The original recipe I followed is
here. Sassy Water is supposed to help eliminate contaminants, fat, and excess water weight. Plus, it just looked so pretty I had to try it.
I started out by grating fresh ginger, something I had never done before. I've baked with ginger spice before, of course, but always used the dried powder out of a little spice bottle. I've learned that the smell of freshly grated ginger is heavenly. Plus, I just like the looks of it. It reminds me of Earthroot from World of Warcraft. I used the little pokey side of a standard grater and had so much fun grating and enjoying the aromatic smell that I ended up with a little too much - you only need a teaspoon. (I tossed the extra into some oatmeal, which I heartily recommend.)
 |
| So that's what the other side of the grater is for. |
|
|
|
Next you need a medium cucumber, sliced thin. I sliced my cucumber much thinner than the cucumbers in the picture in the original recipe. I also had to cut out a suspicious looking section of my cucumber, leaving just slightly less than a full medium cucumber.
 |
| Another useful side of the grater that I never used before. Who knew it could do more than grate cheese? | | | |
|
|
Next, the lovely lemon - possibly one of the most delightful substances on earth. The smell of a lemon always takes me back to about age 11 or 12 when I was a knobby-kneed skinny bookworm girl, shimmying up the side yard tree to sit on a gnarled old limb and read, provisioned with slurpy refreshment in the form of a half of a lemon. I know, that's weird, but it seemed refreshing to me at the time.
 |
| Had to use the knife for this slicing job, about 1/4 inch slices. |
The final ingredient - mint leaves. I got these from Kroger. There are way more than enough for Sassy Water in this package. I will probably make more pitchers of water, but I'm contemplating other uses for the mint leaves, too. They smell divine! Pinch the leaves off the stems. I think I used 14-15 leaves. Recipe calls for 12, but some of mine were kind of small.
 |
| Such pretty little things. |
|
|
|
Okay, now toss it everything into your pitcher. Doesn't it look pretty?
Recipe says to add 8-1/2 cups of water. I found that 8 cups of water filled my pitcher. (Maybe my cucumber was large instead of medium.) Next, let stand in the refrigerator overnight. This was the really hard part because I wanted to drink it right away over ice, but I restrained myself.
 |
| The final product!! Beautiful aromatherapy! |
Okay! So when I got up this morning, the first thing I wanted to do was taste test my Sassy Water. The original recipe said to strain it, but I didn't want to do that. I poured it, bits and all, into my glass. I noticed a delicate taste of cucumber straight away, which was a little weird in a beverage but not at all unpleasant. There was just a hint of ginger; I think it was the perfect amount. The lemon and mint flavors were also a bit understated, but when taken all together it made a refreshing blend of flavors for a cool, light summer drink. I thought it was just about perfect.
 |
| CHEERS! |
Let me know if you decide to make this!
Kathy
