in the Hopeful Kitchen: Sparkling Strawberry Mint Limeade

This Sparkling Strawberry Mint Limeade is a refreshing, family- and party- friendly drink to get you through hot summer days. Fresh ingredients and some bubble from the club soda make an ultra-cooling and delicious treat. Looking for something boozy instead? Add a shot of vodka or rum and you're set.

Sparkling Strawberry Mint Limeade was inspired by a strawberry mint lemonade that I had at Pizza Antica on Santana Row in San Jose. My brother and his girlfriend were visiting from the east coast and we were having a serious heat wave. The same heat wave that inspired Watermelon Mojitos. After several hours of non-air-conditioned sight-seeing we were hot, hot, hot and grumpy. We stumbled into Pizza Antica and immediately ordered several rounds of their strawberry lemonade. It wasn't just the heat... repeat trips have confirmed that this is a great drink: a nice muddling of fresh strawberries, lemon juice and mint, topped with sparkling water. Sure, the food is good (Pizza Antica has delicious thin-crust pizza, piadinis and salads -- I recommend a visit), but I couldn't stop talking about the lemonade. I (humbly) like my Strawberry Mint Limeade better, but you could sub in lemon juice to bring it back to it's Pizza Antica roots.

This drink was also inspired by the incredible strawberries we picked a few weeks back, which resulted in strawberry-everything (these were a hit). I've made Sparkling Strawberry Mint Limeade with fresh and frozen berries -- both work great. If your berries are frozen, they just need to warm up at room temperature so they soften for easier muddling.

strawberry bounty from u-pick at Gizdich Ranch in Watsonville, CA

Sparkling Strawberry Mint Limeade
Makes one 12-ounce glass (you can make a large amount in a pitcher -- multiply as you need)
Ingredients:
4 small/medium strawberries (fresh or frozen, slightly defrosted)
juice of one lime
2-3 mint leaves
2 teaspoons simple syrup (or to taste)
club soda
ice

Directions:
1. Muddle the strawberries, lime juice and mint in your glass (or pitcher). Optional: Strain the ingredients (I don't, but there will be some strawberry bits that float on the top make this drink easier to sip through a straw).
2. Add the simple syrup, stir.
3. Add ice and top with cold club soda. Stir again.

Enjoy!