Monday, June 17, 2013

Strawberry-Mint Lemonade

It’s hard to believe that it’s Monday already.  The weekend went by way too quickly!  I was lucky enough to enjoy the beautiful sunny weather, and even spent a couple hours roasting in the sun sippin’ on some iced coffee.  So relaxing!  I really hope we get more days like this soon…1^st day of summer is coming up quickly :D. Summer=BBQ’s, cold drinks, friends, relaxing, reading, swimming, sun bathing.  I can’t wait!

Yesterday we hosted a Sunday dinner for father’s day and ended up making a pile of food.  Don’t worry-I plan to shareJ  I made this homemade strawberry-mint lemonade to serve (along with plenty of beer for the fathers) and I think it went over well with everyone.  Gavin and I had enjoyed it earlier with some rum (yum!).  I found it a little tart, but that’s how I like my lemonade.  Feel free to add in a tad more sugar in the pitcher if it’s not sweet enough.  Enjoy your Monday!

Strawberry-Mint Lemonade

Makes 3 quarts

INGREDIENTS

For the strawberry-mint syrup:

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup water

1 pound strawberries, washed, stems removed, and sliced 1/2 inch thick

1/2-3/4 cup mint leaves

For the lemonade:

8 cups cold water

2 cups lemon juice, chilled

Ice

1/2 pound strawberries, washed, stems removed, and sliced 1/2 inch thick, for garnish

Mint leaves, for garnish (optional)

DIRECTIONS

For the strawberry-basil syrup:

In a medium saucepan over high heat, place the sugar and water together.  Stir until the sugar dissolves & the mixture comes to a boil. Add in the strawberries and reduce heat to medium low, simmer for 10 minutes, or until the berries have softened.

Remove from heat, add in the mint leaves and stir to incorporate.  Wait 45 minutes to allow the mixture to come to room temperature. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer and set over a bowl and discard the solids. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use (I placed mine in a jar until I needed it-made just over 1 ½ cups)

For the lemonade:

Pour the water, lemon juice, and all of the strawberry-mint syrup into a 3-quart pitcher and stir to combine. Add ice and garnish with the sliced strawberries and mint leaves.

Source: slightly adapted from Chow