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It is too easy to get stuck in a rut of cooking the same meals over and over. I often get requests for my recipes and people ask where I get all my ideas. I thought it was time I compile my recipes, ideas, and suggestions into one place to share with others. In this blog, you will find tips I have for success in the kitchen, kitchen gadgets that I recommend, and recipes. Recipes are tagged with the main ingredients along with cooking style to make searching easier. Enjoy!

Saturday, May 8, 2010

Hand-Squeezed Lemonade

A lot of people don't actually know the correct way to make Lemonade from scratch. I'll even admit, I didn't find out until just a few years ago myself. But it really is simple, and the tiny bit of extra work is well worth it. I made a huge pitcher of it last night and it is delicious. Now, if only it would warm back up outside so I could enjoy a nice cold glass of it while relaxing in my hammock.

A Tip on Picking Lemons: Smell them! You want them to give off a light lemony smell. Believe it or not, some lemons just don't smell very lemony. If if doesn't smell wonderful, it isn't going to taste wonderful.

Here is what you will need to begin:

5-6 lemons
1 c. Water
1 c. Sugar (you can use a little less if you would like)

Hand squeeze (or use a citrus juicer if you have one) the lemons until you have 1 cup of lemon juice. Set aside. Mix water in sugar in a small saucepan and heat until the sugar is dissolved, creating a simple syrup.

In a large pitcher, combine syrup and lemon juice (reserve a small amount of each, set aside). Add 3-4 cups of cold water, stir together. At this point taste your lemonade, keeping in mind that it does taste just slightly different when warm. If it is too sweet for your taste, add some of your reserved lemon juice. If it is too sour, add some of the reserved syrup.

Refrigerate. Serve with ice and fresh lemon slices.


Note: Personally, I love hand squeezing the lemons and think it tastes better. However, if you don't have the time or energy, you can use purchase pure lemon juice from the store.

This recipe also works very well for Limeade.

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