Kombucha Cosmo

One Kombucha Cosmo, please!

Kombucha Cosmo, made with GTs Gingerberry Kombucha, Tito's Vodka, cranberry juice, a splash of pomegranate juice and spritz of fresh lime.

Woot Woot its New Year’s Eve, my favorite holiday!  A time for starting fresh, setting intentions, turning a new leaf and beginning a year with optimism and wonderment!  Time to celebrate with a kombucha cocktail!

I don’t always post recipes for cocktails, but when I do…they are made with kombucha!  

Kombucha Cosmo, made with GTs Gingerberry Kombucha, Tito's Vodka, cranberry juice, a splash of pomegranate juice and spritz of fresh lime.

I am OBSESSED with kombucha…home-brewed or store-bought.  No where on Cape Cod has yet to start an on-tap kombucha bar, but when they do I will be there! If you’re not familiar with kombucha, it is a fermented probiotic drink made with tea, sugar and a scoby…or “the mother” mixed together and brewed for up to 3 weeks producing a delicious carbonated beverage.  This beverage in my opinion is the wonder drink.  It has been said to destroy free radicals, improve eye sight, decrease risk of heart disease, prevent going gray…and the list goes on and on and on!

I’m not going to pretend like drinking alcohol is extremely healthy for you, but I fully believe in the motto “everything in moderation…including moderation!”  Heck, it’s New Year’s Eve…time to live it up!  Things will be getting wild and crazy in our house this year with these Kombucha Cosmos!  Made with GTs Gingerberry Kombucha, Tito’s Vodka, cranberry juice, a splash of pomegranate juice and spritz of fresh lime.  (I’m not paid by GTs Kombucha or Tito’s Vodka, but if either of you are reading I’d be happy to concoct kombucha cocktails on the regular…hint hint!)

Kombucha Cosmo, made with GTs Gingerberry Kombucha, Tito's Vodka, cranberry juice, a splash of pomegranate juice and spritz of fresh lime.

Kombucha Cosmo
 
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Kombucha Cosmo, made with GTs Gingerberry Kombucha, Tito's Vodka, cranberry juice, a splash of pomegranate juice and spritz of fresh lime.
Author:
Recipe type: Drinks
Cuisine: Vegan
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • 1.5 ounces GTs Synergy Gingerberry Kombucha
  • 1.5 ounces Tito's Vodka
  • 1.5 ounces 100% cranberry juice
  • splash of pomegranate juice
  • spritz fresh lime
  • cranberries for garnish
Instructions
  1. Combine ingredients, serve on rocks or chilled. Add a slice of lime, frozen cranberries and enjoy!

Kombucha Cosmo, made with GTs Gingerberry Kombucha, Tito's Vodka, cranberry juice, a splash of pomegranate juice and spritz of fresh lime.

chia kombucha fizz

Wahoo…it’s friday!  Watch out, things are going to get a little crazy with this kombucha cocktail…

chia kombucha fizz

Kombucha, or fermented tea has been the drink of choice for health conscious “hippies” for years.  Maybe you’ve seen it recently in your local grocery store selling for upwards of $3.00 per bottle.  Is it worth all the hype?  Maybe, and here’s why…

Kombucha is made when live organisms also known as the SCOBY (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast) or “The Mother”, feast on sugar and produce a fermented fuzzy tea.  To me, it tastes like a cross between apple cider vinegar and seltzer water.  Doesn’t sound that appetizing, does it?  It can be flavored with fruit juice, in this case, cranberry juice.  Although it is fermented, the alcohol content is very, very minimal.  I have to admit, I wasn’t head over heels in love the first time I drank it.  In fact, it triggered a migraine.  However, over time my body decided it was beneficial and now I can drink it without problems.

I’ve heard many make claims that kombucha does everything from cure cancer to prevent gray hair.  None of these have been proven and not many studies have been done on the benefits of kombucha.  However, it does contain live bacteria or probiotics and probiotics HAVE been proven to strengthen immunity and digestion.  So, long story short…if you like it, drink up!

Many ferment kombucha at home using a kit or by passing on SCOBY babies…I know, this is getting stranger and stranger, but stick with me and give it a chance!  Don’t know anyone to adopt a baby SCOBY from?  Don’t worry, just buy it from the store like I did!

chia kombucha fizz

To make this drink I re-hydrated chia seeds by soaking 1 tablespoon of chia seeds in 4 tablespoons of warm water.  After a gel was formed, I mixed it into kombucha.

chia kombucha fizz

 I’ve talked about the benefits of chia seeds here and encourage everyone to add them into their diet!  Two superfoods in one delicious, bubbly drink, yes please!

Cheers!

probiotics for weight loss

13-400-species-probiotics

Probiotics or the “healthy” bugs found in our stomachs are well known for being the main players in keeping our digestive and immune systems running strong.  However, new research is showing that these little buggas are responsible for whole-body health including our ability to lose weight.  They are even responsible for keeping the weight off of our mid-sections, which is one of the most dangerous places for holding excess weight.

All this from teeny tiny bugs?  

How do they do it?  

By keeping our hormones in check.  

The hormones ghrelin and leptin send signals to our mind when we feel hungry and full.  When these hormones are out of line, we tend to overeat leading to weight gain.  When our gut has a healthy “microflora” or when the healthy bacteria are doing their job our hormones function properly.  Unfortunately, many people do not have a healthy microflora due to eating processed foods, taking antibiotics, eating dairy and meat products raised on hormones and antibiotics, and drinking carbonated beverages.  To sum it all up, the Standard American Diet is detrimental to our microflora!  

The probiotics lactobacillus fermentum and lactobacillus amylovorus have been found to interfere with the absorption of calories meaning less calories are being stored as abdominal fat.

Hello bikini season, bring on the bugs!  

Not only do probiotics boost our immunity, fuel our digestive health, aid in weight reglulation, they also give us energy!  When we have a healthy microflora, our digestion is running at top speed leaving more energy for us to burn doing the things we love!  Sounds to good to be true, right?  It’s not!  It’s a beautiful symbiotic system that was designed to keep us healthy, happy and radiantly energized!

Where do I find these healthy bugs?

You can build up a healthy microflora by taking a probiotic supplement or consuming fermented foods such as yogurt, kefir, tempeh, miso and kombucha.

~Add kefir to your morning smoothies, make overnight oats with yogurt, add tempeh to salads, enjoy a tall glass of kombucha or eat miso soup daily~

yogurt

www.beginwithinnutrition.com