Cucumber Serrano Pepper Gimlet

For Christmas, we got this excellent book from my mother-in-law.  It's filled with delicious juice recipes...and each juice can be turned into a cocktail!  I was worried when we registered for a juicer that we would end up using it once a year, but B and I have used it at least once a week since we got it last August.  It's an easy way to use left-over produce in our refrigerator on the weekends, and we both enjoy feeling like we're being healthy once a week.  :)

The above recipe is adapted from the book.  We used serrano peppers because they pack more heat, but the book calls for jalapenos.  At first, we didn't think it was spicy enough, so we added more peppers.  Oh boy! by the end of that drink, some clothes had come off--because we were sweating.  Hence, my recommendation that you allow the peppers to infuse the drink for about five minutes before sipping.  Then you'll get the mouth punch from the beginning.  

Naturally, a cucumber gimlet sounds like the ultimate summer cocktail, but the peppers in this drink helped make the snow melt outside our apartment--it was all gone the next day!