August 9: Real Lemonade

One of the "to-do" items on our summer check list was to make "real" lemonade.  I know the powdered kind is easier to keep on hand and less time-consuming to mix up, but it isn't nearly as healthy for us.  I've actually been making lemonade this summer with bottled lemon juice to get away from fake ingredients, and that hasn't taken too much more of an effort. 

We made some "real" lemonade last summer, too, but this summer we used a different recipe:  Perfect Lemonade.  It claims its title by using a homemade sugar syrup rather than just sugar so the sugar disperses rather than sinks to the bottom of the pitcher. 

I purchased an inexpensive juicer so getting the lemon juice wouldn't be quite as difficult as last time, and it did seem to help the kids!  They also had fun tasting the lemons! :)   Brielle couldn't get enough!

Perfect Lemonade

• 1 cup sugar (can reduce to 3/4 cup...we did)
• 1 cup water - for the sugar syrup
• 1 cup squeezed lemon juice
• 3-4 cups of cold water

1. Make the sugar syrup by heating the water and sugar in a small sauce pan until the sugar dissolves completely.
2. Use a juice to extract the juice from 4-6 lemons, enough for one cup of juice (our lemons were smaller and it took 7 to get one cup).
3. Add the juice and sugar water to the pitcher. 
4. Add 3-4 cups of cold water, depending on how strong you like your lemonade.
5. Refrigerate 30-40 minutes before serving.

Yield:  6 servings

September 4: "Real" Lemonade

We enjoy drinking lemonade at our house, but I know that the low calorie powdered mixes we use are not particularly healthy with all the fake ingredients.  I decided that we should try making lemonade from scratch so we could enjoy this drink in a healthier fashion. 

Both boys tried to help make the "real lemomade" (that's what Koen calls it).  I don't think either Koen or Tysen had tasted a lemon before so I wanted them to experience that.  Koen tried it, winced and then continued to lick more throughout the process.  Ty smelled it, but would not lick it.  Maybe next time! :) 

It was difficult to squeeze the lemons, though, so they both gave up on that pretty quickly.  In fact, Ty got bored with the whole process and ran off to play, but Koen helped out til the end.  We had to squeeze them by hand since we don't own any kind of hand juicer.  We squeezed seven small lemons to get our one cup of juice...though we may not have needed that many if we had an efficient juicer!?!  Anyway, the boys were so excited about mixing it all together.  Koen loved the end result, and while Ty sipped his, I found his unfinished portion later so I don't think he enjoyed it as much.  We shared tastes of it with Daddy, Grandpa Smits, Grandma Smits, Aunt Lori, and my Aunt Linda who were over to celebrate my mom's birthday.  They all gave us the thumbs up so I would dare say we'll be making this again.  Unfortunately, it didn't make very much, so maybe we'll have to invest in a hand juicer and larger lemons.

Koen adds the sugar...his favorite ingredient!

For your enjoyment (courtesy of Food.com -- formerly Recipezaar.com)
4 cups cold water
ice cubes
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup lemon juice

Squeeze lemons into a bowl to measure one cup (we strained the seeds out).  Mix lemon juice with cold water and ice cubes in a pitcher.  Add in sugar and mix til dissolved.  Enjoy!