Happy daylight savings!! I am so excited that we get an extra hour of daylight in the evenings now…it’s going to be light when I get home from work! YAY!!
Today was one of those beautiful days that make you feel like summer is just around the corner. Josh’s mum & I spent a huge part of the day in the garden, putting down some of the mountain of mulch that we have after we had trees cut down, weeding and pretty much getting the garden ready for all our spring planting. I love this time of year!
It was so hot that there was only 1 thing I wanted to drink when I came inside. Homemade lemonade!
I’ve never made lemonade before but we have a tree full of lemons so I figured it couldn’t be too hard. I have thought that about other things before and been seriously wrong, ending up with some weird imitation of what I was trying to make but luckily, this time I was right!
Lemons + sugar + water = a perfectly tangy but sweet and refreshing drink. Exactly what I wanted!
The whole process only takes 20 minutes start to finish, and although you need to wait for the lemonade to cool, if you use a glass full of ice and cold water (read: if you are super impatient like me) you don’t even need to wait!
To start with, you make a sugar syrup. Usually sugar syrup is equal parts water to sugar but I find that too sweet. And I want to drink this lemonade allthetime so I figure, the less sugar, the better! I used 3 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar. I also added the zest of 3 lemons, just to add a little extra lemon flavour. And it makes it yellow! Bring to the boil so that the sugar dissolves and simmer for 5 minutes before adding the lemon juice and allowing to cool.
And that’s it! Keep the lemonade syrup in the fridge and when you are ready to make it, add 1 part of lemonade to 3 parts water, or adjust to your taste. I used sparkling water which I think made it extra fancy but plain old tap water would be just as good. And I won’t tell if you don’t but I’m pretty sure a nip of vodka would make this a great summery cocktail…shhh adults only!
It’s the perfect drink for a hot summer (or spring) afternoon!
A super refreshing drink perfect for a hot summer day - homemade lemonade!
- 3 cups boiling water
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 cup lemon juice about 10 lemons
- Zest of 3 lemons
- Ice
- Soda/sparkling/regular water
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Add boiling water, sugar and lemon zest to a medium sized pot.
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Bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar, and simmer for 5 minutes.
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Remove from the heat and stir in lemon juice.
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Allow to cool and store in the fridge for a couple of weeks.
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To make lemonade mix 1 part lemonade to 3 parts water (regular, soda or sparkling)
I didn’t realise how easy it was to make your own lemonade! I really wish we had a lemon tree in our yard 🙁 Thanks for linking up with us for Fabulous Foodie Fridays, have a great week 🙂
It is the best thing…plant one!! It’s like having lemonade on tap 🙂
This looks great. We’ve got a lemon tree too, which gets a bit neglected sometimes, so this will be great in the summer. Visiting from Fabulous Foodie Friday.
Great to have you here! I am definitely guilty of neglecting our tree too so I love it when I use a bunch of lemons in one go!
Laura our Mr 10 is always talking about making homemade lemonade, the closest he’s got is squeezing a lemon into sparkling mineral water. I know he’ll be super excited when I show him your recipe! Thanks for the inspiration! xx
Aw bless, kids are great! Well this is definitely kid friendly so I hope he likes it! xx
Nothing beats homemade lemonade – love it!
I agree! It’s so refreshing and summery!
Looks delicious! Beautiful photos! Have a fun week!
xo, Bry
Food.and.Fashion.Naughty&Nice
Thanks, you too! 🙂