When you and your neighbors have been rotating being sick & spent most of January as an unintentional dry-month because of it, it’s time for a little creative mixology to the rescue.

What do you do when you feel like you’re on the borderline of needing a health cleanse & a cocktail after a long week?! Marry the two.

One of my new year’s resolutions was to do something I would never do, that scared me, put me out of my comfort zone, and was just for fun. So I used one of my Christmas gifts, a Groupon to Masters of Bartending, and thanks to Arny’s awesome skills + patience + knowledge, I have a few new tricks up my sleeves, and a cert to prove it. What was my goal?

To have fun. To learn. To do something “just because.” To complete a task off my #2016AdventureList. To challenge myself. To go out of my comfort zone. To feel proud of something. To work on #ProjectWholePerson. To be present. To be inspired. To learn something new. 

So I took what I learned and paired up with my neighbor, Cassie, who is an uber talented graphic designer and artist; check out her skills at Creatively Cass Designs // @creativelycassdesigns (with a secret past of a college bartender), and we whipped up these two beauties. Cheering to a TGIF, we kicked our feet up, threw our hair in messy buns, caught up on life, and watched trashy, girly, reality TV while enjoying these healthy craft cocktails.

If you find yourself at a fork in the road between a cleanse and a cocktail, meet the Mother Pucker and the Sass-n-Sour Mojito…

SASS-N-SOUR MOJITO

Yields two cocktails

Ingredients:

• 10 fresh mint leaves, muddled OR 2-3 drops mint extract
• 4oz Deep Eddy’s Grapefruit
• 1/4 C Grapefruit La Croix
• 1/2 bottle of Mojita Kevita
• Raw, local honey on the end of a stir stick
• 1/4 of a fresh squeezed grapefruit
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly shaved ginger
• Grapefruit rind piggy-tail garnish + fresh mint sprig
• Coconut sugar (rim)

Directions:

1. Add all liquid ingredients but the Kevita + La Croix to a shaker tin + shaved ginger + fresh-squeezed grapefruit + mint leaves, with ice
2. Shake well until chilled (you can serve this as a shooter now if you’d like)
3. Add La Croix + Kevita to shaker and give one shake to blend
4. Wet rim of glass with lemon juice and add coconut sugar
5. Using a cocktail strainer, pour shaker contents into two glasses, evenly shared
6. Add honey-coated stir stick
7. Add piggy tail garnish to the side of each rim
8. Cheers & enjoy!

Yields two cocktails

Ingredients:

• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 4oz Deep Eddy’s Lemon
• 1/4 C Lemon La Croix
• 1/2 bottle of Lemon Cayenne, or Mango Coconut Kevita
• Raw, local honey on the end of a stir stick
• 1/2 frest squeezed lemon
• Freshly shaved ginger
• Blood orange or lemon rind piggy-tail garnish
• Coconut sugar (rim)

Directions:

1. Add all liquid ingredients but the Kevita + La Croix to a shaker tin + shaved ginger + fresh-squeezed lemon, with ice
2. Shake well until chilled (you can serve this as a shooter now if you’d like)
3. Add La Croix + Kevita to shaker and give one shake to blend
4. Wet rim of glass with lemon juice and add coconut sugar
5. Using a cocktail strainer, pour shaker contents into two glasses, evenly shared
6. Add honey-coated stir stick
7. Add piggy tail garnish to the side of each rim
8. Cheers & enjoy!