3 cocktail and mocktail recipes to enjoy this season!

People ask me what is the healthiest alcoholic beverage to drink. My answer is to always try to choose things that come most naturally from the earth with the least processing and chemical additives: organic wine without sulfites, vodka, and tequila. Wine comes from grapes, tequila comes from the agave cactus and vodka comes from potatoes. Did you know that vodka can contain gluten if it was derived from wheat?  Always go for vodka that comes from potatoes as it’s the cleanest upgrade, rather than from dairy or corn. Home-brewed beer is another good option. Many of these drinks make delicious treats with or without alcohol and are a major health upgrade rather than buying them which are made with refined sugars, dairy, gluten, corn syrup and GMO ingredients. A lot of people wonder why they feel bloated after drinking, and it’s because the ingredients in conventional drinks cause inflammation. These recipes are anti-inflammatory – a much healthier way to enjoy your favorite adult beverages. 

You can make any of these cocktails a delicious and nutritious mocktail! 

Citrus and Elderflower Cocktail

Total time: 10 minutes

Serves 1

Ingredients:

. 2 ounces gin

. 1 ounce St. Germain’s elderflower liqueur

. 1 ounce orange juice, freshly squeezed

. ½ ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed

. 1 teaspoon coconut sugar

 Action:
1. Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. 

2. Cover and shake vigorously until chilled. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

 Cosmopolitan 

The cosmopolitan you would find out in a bar is made with triple sec and cranberry juice that may contain refined white sugar. This version is made with pure cranberry juice and instead of triple sec made by juicing your own orange and grated orange peel. This beverage is high in antioxidants. 

Total time: 10 minutes

Serves 1

Ingredients:

. 13/4 ounces vodka 

. ¼ ounce lime juice, freshly squeezed

. ½ an orange 

. ¼ ounce organic cranberry juice

. 1 lime wedge for garnish

 Action:
1. Squeeze the orange to get enough juice to make ¼ ounce.

2. Grate the orange peel until you have ½ teaspoon.

3. Combine vodka, lime juice, cranberry juice, orange juice and peel in a cocktail shaker with ice. 

4. Cover and shake vigorously until chilled.

5. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Garnish with an orange twist or lime wedge!Perhaps the simplest cocktail of all… grab a can of Volley Tequila Seltzer and mix with orange juice! 

Volley Tequila Seltzer is made with just 3 ingredients, organic juice, 100% Agave Tequila, and sparkling water. When you drink Volley, you're declaring yourself a believer in "good, clean fun." If you like to know what you're putting in your body, Volley's for you. Only want the best ingredients while enjoying an alcoholic beverage? Volley's for you. Volley is also partnering with Leave No Trace to clean up our local environments—making sure we'll always have a beautiful place to enjoy a Volley.

I don’t advocate for drinking alcohol if you don’t already include it in your life, however a lot of people enjoy it and if that’s the case I recommend doing it in the cleanest way possible. Tequila and wine are the cleanest alcohols to drink that exist. I like that tequila doesn’t have any preservatives like sulfites at all! It’s completely sulfite free. I also include studies in my Anxiety Free with Food book that alcohol is bio-individual, for some people it can provoke anxiety while others it helps to reduce anxiety. Everyone is different in this way. However, I don’t recommend ever going over on excess of 1-2 drinks for women and 3-4 for men. Anything in excess is like poison to the liver and it has to work hard to cleanse the alcohol out. I do believe drinking can be enjoyed in a balanced way. I hope you enjoyed this and try these recipes!

Volley comes in 4 different flavors:

Ginger: organic ginger, premium tequila, sparkling water 

Lime: organic lime, premium tequila, sparkling water 

Grapefruit: organic grapefruit, premium tequila, sparkling water 

Mango: organic mango, premium tequila, sparkling water 

 Try this easy-to-make cocktail recipe for yourself with 20% off Volley Tequila Seltzer!