strawberry-lavender spritzer (and syrup)

Drinks count as food, right? How about if you make them from fruit? Or if they have fruit floating in them? Either way, I'd like to talk about a couple drinks I made for my second VeganMoFo entry this month!

When the husband and I threw our housewarming party in August, it was 90 degrees and humid, and we knew that cold drinks would be essential to the event. There was, of course, lots of beer, but I wanted to keep our guests hydrated, not dehydrated, and to provide interesting options for people who don't drink.

On the left, iced tea with mint. On the right, Strawberry-Lavender Spritzer! If you click on the image, you can see it up close, and read my little cards--I labeled each drink, and also provided options if people wanted to turn them into cocktails. (I recommended bourbon or rum with the iced tea, and vodka or gin with the spritzer.)

The Strawberry-Lavender Spritzer was the BIGGEST HIT of the day. It ran out very quickly, and I only got to have half a glass myself! I got the idea from the Kitchn's Blueberry Lavender Vodka Spritzer recipe, but I kept it non-alcoholic, and replaced blueberries with chopped strawberries.

You can follow that link for the recipe; you make a simple syrup with the fruit and lavender, then mix it with lime juice and seltzer. I also added a bunch of frozen strawberries to our drink container, for looks and to keep it cold without watering down the flavor.

I felt sorry for myself that I barely got to enjoy the spritzer at the party, so I recently made more of the strawberry-lavender syrup for myself. I figure I'll add it to seltzer to make my own Italian sodas at home, and to glasses of soymilk for tasty strawberry milk!

Such a pretty pink!

 The syrup recipe is easily scaled up--I think I made a quadruple batch for my 2-gallon drink dispenser above? And I made a double batch the second time around, so that I can enjoy it (and offer it to friends, as a mixer and as a soda base) for a while to come!