Mojitos

A special thank you to close friends of ours for sharing their recipe with us!

8 oz. of freshly squeezed lime juice (about 5-6 limes)

1 cup fresh mint leaves (2 plastic containers at Kroger)

16 oz. of white rum

20 oz. club soda

8 oz. of simple syrup*

*What is simple syrup?  Regular simple syrup is equal parts sugar and water, but 1.5 parts sugar to 1 part water is probably the happy medium for us.  We boiled 2 cups of water on the stove, added 3 cups of sugar.  Stirred and reduced heat a bit and continued stirring until sugar dissolved.  Mixture must completely cool and extra can be stored in fridge.  Our concoction made enough for 3 pitchers.

In pitcher, add lime juice and mint leaves and muddle.  A muddler is very handy for this.

Then add remaining ingredients and stir.

Pour into glass over ice. 

*This pitcher from Rubbermaid is awesome because it has an "ice guard" spout which for this keeps the mint leaves from tumbling out all over your glass. I found mine at Kroger for about $10.