I love iced drinks all year long, but especially in the summer! Any good recipes ya' all???

We've been enjoying a lot of mojitos here but for a non-alcoholic beverage try adding sliced cucumbers to a pitcher of water and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours. It's so delicious and refreshing.

Agua Fresca de Pepino (Blended Cucumber and Lime Drink)

Makes 4 servings

3 quarts water
3 cucumbers, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1/4 cup sugar
crushed ice (optional)
slice of lime for garnish (optional)

Pour 1/2 cup of the water and 1 cup of the cucumbers in blender. Blend until cucumbers are pureed then add more cucumbers and water until all cucumbers are pureed.

Using a fine-mesh sieve, strain cucumbers into a pitcher to remove seeds and pulp. Stir in remaining water, lime juice and sugar.

Chill before serving over crushed ice garnished with a slice of lime.

Other versions:
Instead of cucumbers, use tropical fruits like papayas, guava, pineapple or traditional fruits like orange, pink grapefruit, cantaloupe, watermelon or a combination of 2 or more.

Apricot Tea Sparkler

1 1/3 cups Tea Concentrate (made from Stash Tea Premium Green tea)
1 1/3 cups apricot nectar
1 1/3 cups sparkling water
Ice cubes

Combine concentrate, apricot nectar and sparkling water. Pour into ice-filled glasses.

BLACKBERRY ICED TEA

Bring 1 c. water, ½ c. sugar and 2 c. fresh black berries to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer until berries start to break down. Strain and press through sieve. Discard seeds.

Lay syrup aside.

Bring 1 qt. water to a boil; remove from heat and steep 6 black tea bags for 1 minute. Remove bags.

Add 1 qt. ice water.

When tea is cool, transfer to pitcher and pour in syrup. Serve over ice.