Summer Mocktails

It's summer. It's hot. It's Friday and you would like drink. What's a pregnant girl to do? While you may have friends and family who tell you "It's perfectly ok to have just one", the verdict is still out. The Center for Disease Control still insists on the following:

* There is no known amount of alcohol that is safe to drink while pregnant. All drinks with alcohol can hurt an unborn baby. A 12-ounce can of beer has as much alcohol as a 5-ounce glass of wine or a 1-ounce shot of liquor.

* There is no safe time to drink during pregnancy. Alcohol can harm a baby at any time during pregnancy. It can cause problems in the early weeks of pregnancy, before a woman even knows she is pregnant.

* About 1 in 12 pregnant women in the United States reports alcohol use. And about 1 in 30 pregnant women in the United States reports binge drinking (having five or more drinks at one time).

*FASDs are 100% preventable. FASDs are 100% preventable. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders are 100% preventable—if a woman does not drink alcohol while she is pregnant.

Meanwhile, there are a slew of those who argue that drinking during pregnancy is perfectly safe. Check out this article for several sources.

If you can't decide or choose to abstain there are several good recipes for some tasty mock-cocktails you can have instead.

Temperance Tantrum - 3 oz. cranberry juice, 2 oz. orange juice, squeeze of lemon, ginger ale. Blend the juices with ice until smooth, then top up with the ginger ale.

Acapulco Gold- 2 shots freshly pressed pineapple juice, 1 shot freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, 1 shot coconut milk, 1 shot fresh cream. Shake all of the ingredients together with ice and then strain into a cocktail glass to serve.

Tornado Twist- 12 fluid ounces cranberry-raspberry juice, 1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle lemon-lime flavored carbonated beverage. In a pitcher, mix cranberry-raspberry juice with lemon-lime soda. Pour over ice and serve.

Raining Men- Put 1/2 glass of ice, 4 oz. orange juice, 4 strawberries, 1 banana into a blender.
Blend until smooth. Garnish with fresh fruit as appropriate.

Coconut Cooler- 4 parts coconut milk, 4 parts fresh lime juice, Sparkling water, Sprig of mint. Combine the coconut milk and lime juice in a cocktail shaker and shake well. Pour over ice cubes into a Collins glass. Top up with sparkling water and stir gently, garnish wth the mint sprig.

More recipes here and here and finally here.