Home Grown Mojito

Since moving house a few months ago I have discovered various herbs, fruits and vegetables growing in the garden. I've never grown anything I can eat before (my house plants are very lucky to have survived my not-very-green fingers) and I'm more used to cooking with dried seasonings from a jar and vegetables bought from the supermarket. I never imagined myself as the type to wander around the garden picking fresh herbs and digging up fresh vegetables (who has time for that?). I do quite like the idea of it but for now I'm ashamed to say during the working week I'm more of a 'lets see what's not gone off in the fridge' kind of cook due to my lack of organisation in the kitchen.

BC (Before Children) I used to be quite organised and would experiment with new recipes and flavours and enjoyed cooking. I'm hoping as the children get older I'll find the time to do this again. Don't get me wrong, I do cook, it's just more quick and easy recipes that use store cupboard ingredients than carefully prepared and planned meals. 

In the mean time I have lots of herbs growing that I don't know how to care for so I'm thinking of picking them and using them over the next few weeks so they don't die off - (can they do that?) So far I've worked out that I have rosemary, parsley and mint growing so I need to find some good recipes to use these in, any suggestions?

I've decided the first thing I'm going to pick from my garden is some mint and use it to make a Mojito as it's my favourite cocktail and because it's the weekend - why not?

Here's an easy recipe to try, sit back and enjoy!

Ingredients 

- 2 teaspoons of sugar
- Juice of Half a Lime- 12 mint leaves
- 90ml soda water
- 50ml white rum (I like Bacardi)
- Crushed ice (To crush ice, use a heavy duty processor/blender or place ice cubes in sealable freezer bag and bash with a mallet - good for de-stressing after a day at work)

Method

First you need to release the flavour of the mint. Professional cocktail makers use a muddle, you could try a pestle or simply crush the leaves well with your hands.
Tear the leaves and drop into a tall glass. Pour in the lime juice, add the sugar, soda water and fill half the glass with the crushed ice. Mix together to dissolve the sugar, then add the rest of the crushed ice and the rum. Stir well.
To serve, garnish with mint leaves and a slice of lime if you want it to look professional or alternatively just grab a straw and enjoy!


Tip: If you haven't got any crushed ice and are feeling lazy, just use 4 ice cubes instead and add them at the end with the rum.


Cheers!