Springtime Refreshment: Fruit-Infused Water!

When it comes to sweet tea, I feel the same way!! - Image via andsoitbeginsfilms.com

Y'all, there's nothing better than a cold glass of sweet tea.

I've been drinking sweet tea since I could hold a sippy cup. I used to watch my grandmother standing over the stove, mesmerized by the cascading waterfall of sugar that she poured into the pitcher. Her sweet tea was the best. Then when I 'grew up' and started making my own, I quickly figured out that a good glass of sweet tea was the way to a man's heart (extensive research had proven this to be true... at least with the Southern boys... wink, wink)!

But even though sweet tea tastes like HEAVEN and can potentially get you a hot date if you make it well, it sadly has enough sugar in it to kill an army!

So what's a girl to do when her man loves sweet tea, she's trying to deny her feelings for the stuff and plain old water is getting O-L-D?

That's right! INFUSE IT!

Water doesn't have to be so blasé. Now that things are warming up and the produce is looking better and better by the day, it's time we got a little creative.

Here, I'll make it easy for you...

STEP 1: Make a trip to the farmer's market, grocery store or even the fruit stand on the corner, if you live in NYC.

STEP 2: Pick out your favorite produce - we chose strawberry and lemon.

STEP 3: Select some fresh herbs (mint or basil will never do you wrong - we chose mint).

STEP 4: Proceed back to your casa and wash, peel or chop your purchases.

Slice as much lemon as you want flavor - we used 1/2 lemon for our small pitcher.

Wash thoroughly, then cut the tops off the strawberries and slice in half. We used about  6-7 strawberries.

Wash the mint and tear about 10 leaves off.

STEP 5: Fill a pitcher with filtered water and load it up with the goods.

STEP 6: Let it sit in the fridge overnight so that the fruit and herbs infuse the water with flavor.

STEP 7: Drink up and enjoy!

Who wants to pay for Vitamin Water when you can make the same thing yourself? There are endless combinations to try, and the kids will even want in on this project (if you don't have children, don't despair, you'll get this done in half the time).

The fruit will eventually go bad, so I'd suggest drinking it within 2 days of making it to be safe! You can try any number of combos - raspberry/lemon, cucumber, lime, orange/blueberry, lemon/basil.

Now that we've covered the basics, go forth and infuse!