Dry January 2021: No alcohol Mocktail Recipe Winners!

Virginia Cancer Specialists Practice Blog

February 23, 2021
Virginia Cancer Specialists » VCS Practice News » Dietitians » Dry January 2021: No alcohol Mocktail Recipe Winners!

In honor of “Dry January” and following The American Institute for Cancer Research’s 2021 Cancer Prevention recommendation to limit alcohol consumption (for cancer prevention, it’s best not to drink alcohol), Virginia Cancer Specialists employees were invited to participate in a mocktail competition!

The winning entries are below!

Dry January is a month when people voluntarily refrain from consuming alcohol after the excesses of December (or if there’s a pandemic, potentially longer!) and start the New Year on a healthier note. Mocktails are non-alcoholic drinks, often designed to imitate regular cocktails – just minus the booze.  But they can still pack a lot of calories from sugar (i.e. Virgin Pina Colada).  For this competition, employees were encouraged to create drinks with health-promoting ingredients, like fresh herbs, fruit, citrus zest, teas, etc.  Recipes were rated on taste, overall nutritional quality, and keeping it low cal.

Staff’s creativity did not disappoint, so we thought we would share the winning recipe and runner up far and wide!

Raspberry Gem  

Submitted by Lisa Kalet

Ingredients

  • 6 fresh raspberries
  • 4 fresh mint leaves
  • 1/2 ounce simple syrup
  • 1/2 fresh lime, juiced
  • soda water
  • ice
  • Muddle fresh raspberries and mint in a glass. Add remaining ingredients, stir and enjoy!

Honey Blackberry Mint Mocktail 

Submitted by Samantha Kordalski

Ingredients

  • 8 fresh blackberries plus more for garnish
  • ¼ c. honey
  • A hand full of mint leaves… about 10, plus more for garnish
  • Juice from 1 lemon
  • ½ c. water
  • 2 c. seltzer
  • In a cocktail shaker, muddle together the blackberries, honey and mint until very well blended. Add the lemon juice and water, cover and shake to mix. Strain the mixture into two glasses with ice. Top each glass of with 1 cup of seltzer. Garnish with blackberries and mint leaves. Cheers!

Virginia Cancer Specialists Nutrition Team