#FoodieExtravaganza: Lemonade

August 3, 2016August 3, 2016 ~ lk529 ~ 15 Comments

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Happy August, everyone! August is a great month, although there aren’t any legal holidays to get you a day or two off of work. August is the final month of summer, the month when most people are taking family vacations, and the month that holds my birthday!

August also has some of the best foodie holidays. It’s National Brownies At Brunch Month (say, whaaat?!), National S’mores Day is the 10th, and the last day of the month is Eat Outdoors Day (what a fun family tradition to start!). Two years ago #FoodieExtravaganza celebrated waffles and last year potatoes.

The Foodie Extravaganza is a monthly party hosted by bloggers who love food! Each month we incorporate one main ingredient or theme into recipes to share with you. We take turns hosting and this month, it’s my turn! I decided on Lemonade Day, which falls on the 20th. Why? Because lemonade is one of my favorite summertime treats. I make a minimum of 2 homemade lemonades once summer hits. (You can read more about my citrus juicing love here.)

I decided to take a different approach with this year’s new lemonade. No sugar! Instead, this lemonade gets its sweetness from honey. You can alter how cloyingly sweet you want your beverage to be by playing around with different honey varieties. (About.com has a great resource for describing the different flavor profiles of each type of honey.)

Honey Mint Lemonade Sew You Think You Can Cook

Honey Mint Lemonade

Ingredients:

2 C freshly squeezed lemon juice (from 3 lb lemons)
9 C water, divided use
1/4 C honey (any variety of your choosing)
3 sprigs fresh mint
sparkling water for serving (optional)

Steps:

Microwave 1 C water for 1 minute, or until hot but not boiling. Stir honey into hot water until dissolved. Add mint and steep 5 minutes. Remove mint and discard.
Combine honey mixture, lemon juice, and remaining 8 C water in a pitcher.
Option to add a splash of sparkling water to serve.

*This recipe was inspired by SkinnyMs at http://skinnyms.com/homemade-honey-lemonade-with-fresh-mint-recipe/*

Honey Mint Lemonade for #FoodieExtravaganza from Sew You Think You Can Cook

Be sure to check out these other lemonades:

Dairy-Free Frosted Lemonade by Cookaholic Wife

Frosty Raw Strawberry Lemonade by Fearlessly Creative Mammas

Lemony White Sangria by Hardly A Goddess

Papaya Lemonade (or cocktail!) by Caroline’s Cooking

Passion Tea Lemonade by Making Miracles

Peachy Lemonade by A Day in the Life on the Farm

Pineapple Pink Lemonade Shaved Ice by Food Lust People Love

Shikanji (Indian Lemonade) by Tara’s Multicultural Table

Sparkling Apple and Watermelon Lemonade Spritzers by Sneha’s Recipe

Sparkling Blue Basil Lemonade by Culinary Adventures with Camilla

Sparkling Milk Lemonade by Our Good Life

If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you’re a spectator looking for delicious tid-bits check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board! Looking for our previous parties? Check them out HERE.

CIC: Pineapple and Rosemary

June 20, 2015June 17, 2015 ~ lk529 ~ 14 Comments

I was so happy when the votes were in for this month’s Crazy Ingredient Challenge. It was a close battle but pineapple edged out zucchini.

I know I already made a lemonade this year, but can you really have too many flavor options for summer’s perfect beverage!? I decided to make a simple syrup with the rosemary, puree some fresh pineapple, and add in freshly squeezed lemon juice.

I actually didn’t make the simple syrup strong enough which is why you see 2-4 sprigs listed in my ingredients; I used 2 sprigs but would venture to say you could double that amount. To get more rosemary flavor in my lemonade I served fresh sprigs in the glasses, because if you smell the rosemary while you drink it you still get that flavor. I then threw in a few more sprigs in the pitcher in the fridge and after just a few hours the rosemary flavor was there.

Pineapple Rosemary Lemonade

Ingredients:

1/2 C sugar
4 C water, divided use
2-4 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 – 2 1/2 C fresh cubed pineapple
1 C fresh lemon juice (from 7-8 lemons)

Steps:

In a small saucepan over medium heat dissolve sugar in 1 C water with the fresh rosemary sprigs. Remove from heat once sugar is dissolved and let cool. Remove rosemary.
Place pineapple in a blender and blend until smooth. Strain the pineapple puree (this takes time). You should get 3/4 C pineapple juice (measure from the liquid line, not the foam line).
Return pineapple juice to the blender along with the simple syrup, lemon juice, and 3 C water. Blend just to combine. Serve cold with additional rosemary sprigs for garnish.

To see the other bloggers who participated in this month’s Crazy Ingredient Challenge click on the link below.

#HotSummerEats: Frozen Cherry Lemonade

June 4, 2015June 3, 2015 ~ lk529 ~ 9 Comments

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:

In a small saucepan over medium heat dissolve sugar in water. Remove from heat and let cool.
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.