Water is always my first drink of choice to stay hydrated, but there are the times when you just feel like something a little different. There are also those times when you are out socialising and you want to take something nice to drink that isn’t alcohol.  So many drinks are packed with sugar, but something that is refreshing, tasty and much lower in sugar than fruit juice is coconut water. It contains about half the sugar of juice, and also provides some potassium.   It makes the perfect base for mocktails, and adds a lovely flavour to nourishing green smoothies.

Recently I was sent some CoAqua coconut water to try out and it is really delicious.   Their coconut water is from Vietnam, taken from young coconuts at 6 months and you can actually taste the difference between this and other brands (I didn’t believe it would taste different, but it does!).  It tastes really fresh and has an amazing, pure coconut taste that I’ve been enjoying. I like that it also comes in recyclable bottles and nice slimline cans which are the perfect measure for making drinks and smoothies. You can find this brand at New World Supermarkets and Farro Fresh.

I’ve been experimenting with some new drinks and today I’m sharing with you a couple of my favourite simple coconut water based drinks – firstly the best ever tropical green smoothie and some ‘mocktail’ type drinks which are great for summer entertaining or a refreshing drink on a warm evening.
I’m a bit particular when it comes to green smoothies – if I’m going to be drinking my greens, I also want them to be tasting good too.  I’ve had some horrible green smoothie combinations, but this smoothie is a goodie!  It’s a yummy way to boost your fruit and vegetable intake for the day.

Tropical Green Smoothie

Since being on maternity leave, I’ve been enjoying this regularly as an afternoon drink as it’s refreshing, tasty and hydrating plus it’s an easy way to get an extra serve of fruit and vegetables in my diet.

The pineapple and coconut water are all that are needed to give this a yummy flavour, the vegetables added don’t have a strong flavour and the avocado adds a delicious creaminess.

Ingredients:

Approximately 1 cup fresh pineapple chunks
1 handful of ice cubes
¼ cucumber
4-5 cos lettuce leaves
2 florets of broccoli
1 can CoAqua coconut water
¼ small avocado
½  tablespoon chia seeds
Juice from ½ a lemon
Optional:  1 sprig of mint

To make: simply place all the ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth.
Makes 1 large glass

Coconut water mocktails

The CoAqua drinks taste great by themselves, but they’re also delicious blended with some fresh fruit to create fruity ‘mocktails’.  My favourite is the cranberry and mango – frozen cranberries taste amazing and are also a source of Vitamin C and high in antioxidants.  These are the perfect Friday night drink to relax with and are super simple to make too.  Here’s the recipes.

• Lemon, lime and passionfruit
  Juice from ½ lemon
  Juice from 1 lime
  Passionfruit pulp (You can buy this frozen and I scoop about 3 teaspoons in)
  1 can of CoAqua coconut water
  1 handful of ice cubes

• Cranberry and mango
  ½ cup frozen cranberries
  ½ cup frozen mango pieces
  1 can of CoAqua coconut water

• Coconut and pineapple
  1/3 cup chopped pineapple pieces
  2-3 teaspoons coconut milk
  1 handful of ice cubes
  1 can of CoAqua coconut water

To create the drinks, simply blend together ingredients in a blender until smooth. Garnish with fresh fruit and herbs.

These all make one serve, but you can double, triple the recipe etc as required if you have guests.

Enjoy.

WIN! WIN! WIN!

I’m giving away a case of the new slimline CoAqua cans.  That’s 24 cans so you can try CoAqua and whip up some of these recipes for yourself.

To be into win, comment below with what recipe you think you’d try out.

Winner will be drawn November 25th and notified via email. Their name will also be published on this post.  Open to NZ entries only.

This post was made possible thanks to CoAqua.

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