Aloe Vera Cocktail

Back in January, Kyle dropped a log on his foot. About a week later his foot was red, swollen and extremely painful because of an internal infection. Three rounds of antibiotics later, his foot was on the mend but his stomach was a complete mess. Even with daily probiotics, yogurt and some of my home-brew Kombucha, he's still suffering. We were discussing this with my mother-in-law last weekend and she mentioned an Aloe Vera drink she'd read about. My "I don't want any of your hippie medicine" husband was up for anything.

Well...even without the healing properties of the Aloe, I recommend this as a delicious, refreshing summer drink. (We drank ours while snuggled under a blanket on the couch. Will it ever warm up around here?) I was a little skeptical – we've all put Aloe on our sunburn, but drink the stuff? Heck yes! It's delightful!

Now, to be completely honest, it was really good the first time we made it. The second time we both added a shot of coconut rum. That might negate the benefits of the soothing Aloe, but the result was a light, frothy piná colada-ish slushy. Bring on the hot summer nights!

Ingredients
8 oz. coconut water
3 tablespoons of Lilly of the Desert Aloe Vera Gel (DO NOT USE THE SUNBURN STUFF YOU HAVE IN YOUR BATHROOM CLOSET. Visit your local health food store and buy dietary supplement variety.)
2 packets of Stevia (or a squirt or two of Agave Nectar)
Juice of one lemon
Juice of two limes
Ice

Directions
Dump everything into a blender and spin it up with enough ice to make it thick and frothy.

This speculum-looking tool is an antique juicer
my Grandma Payne gave me. I use it weekly - a treasure!

(Of course, I do recommend the coconut rum version if you're over 21!)

 Now...what to call it?

You can read the original recipe post about
the benefits of Aloe Vera Gel here.