Every summer I make lemonade. I enjoy juicing the lemons as it always reminds me of juicing limes with my dad from the tree in the backyard. Let me tell you, I would love to have citrus trees when we finally settle in somewhere – limes are expensive!

But this post isn’t about limes. It’s about lemons! And cherries. And #HotSummerEats – the awesome blogging event going on right now headed up by Camilla of Culinary Adventures with Camilla.

While one of our sponsors, Casabella, offered a citrus reamer to participating bloggers, I opted for their cherry pitter as I already have a reamer in my cabinet. It’s not as awesome as theirs though – I love how the juice flows into a see-through canister with measurements on it! The cherry pitter is equally useful. I was never sure if they were a helpful kitchen gadget or a gimmick. The answer: helpful! My least favorite part about cherries is the pits and that’s part of why I simply never eat them. Now, I can pit some cherries and have an easy to grab snack. It also makes quick work when cherries are needed for a recipe. I did learn two tricks as I worked with this product for the first time: (1) place the cherry in the pitter so it is on it’s short side and (2) don’t be gentle.

I’ve had my cherry pitter in my drawer for months semi-patiently waiting for cherries to be in season. I don’t think I’d ever been so happy to see cherries in the grocery store before! It’s definitely that time of year to start making homemade lemonade and this frozen cherry version is a beautifully, tart way to start your summer off right.

Before I get to the recipe I have a couple of notes: separation is normal and it is recommended to blend the lemonade right before serving. If you don’t use all of the lemonade immediately keep the leftovers in the fridge and re-blend before enjoying. Even after the ice has melted this lemonade is refreshing, you could always add a little more ice if you wanted.

Frozen Cherry Lemonade

Ingredients:

• 1/2 C sugar
• 1 C water
• 36 cherries, pitted
• 7 lemons, juice (approx 1 C of juice)
• 5 C ice

Steps:

1. In a small saucepan over medium heat dissolve sugar in water. Remove from heat and let cool.
2. In a blender combine cherries, lemon juice, simple syrup from step 1, and ice.

*This recipe is adapted from Tina at http://www.justputzing.com/2014/06/thirsty-thursdays-frozen-cherry-lemonade.html*

Don’t forget to enter our giveaway and be sure to check out the other bloggers who posted more summertime recipes today:

Thank you to #HotSummerEats sponsors BenBella Vegan, Caribeque, Casabella, Gourmet Garden, Intensity Academy, Not Ketchup, Out of the Weeds, Pirate Jonny’s, Quirk Books, Spicely Organics, T.Lish , and Voodoo Chef for providing the prizes free of charge. These companies also provided the bloggers with samples and product to use for#HotSummerEats without additional compensation. All opinions are my own.