When I shared my favorite sangria recipe with you guys a few weeks back, it was a definite hit, and it got me thinking that maybe I should share another staple or two that Corey and I love to keep in the house.
Strawberry lemonade is definitely one of our favorite drinks of all time, and we make it pretty much every chance we get. It requires a bit of work (it’s not quite as throw-it-together easy as the sangria is!), but it’s the perfect summery, so-good-you-don’t-want-to-stop drink and I can’t get enough of it!
All you need is…
- A pint of strawberries (this time I bought the larger package because I was doubling the recipe)
- 1 1/2 cups of sugar
- 4 cups of water
- 1 tablespoon of lemon zest
- 1 cup of lemon juice (generally takes 8-10 small lemons or 4-5 large ones)
Here’s the recipe (Originally from Better Homes & Gardens):
Add 1 cup of the sugar and 1 cup of the water to a small saucepan and heat it up over about medium heat until the sugar dissolves, making a simple syrup.
While the simple syrup is going, toss the rest of the water and sugar into your blender, cut the tops off of the strawberries, and add them in too. Blend it all up until it’s nice and smooth (I use the “liquefy” setting on my blender).
I usually add in an extra step for myself here and run the strawberry mixture through a strainer to keep all of the seeds/pulpy stuff out of the drink. You don’t have to do this step, but Corey and I like how it makes the end result much smoother.
Add in your lemon juice and lemon zest, then toss in the simple syrup.
You can squeeze the lemons by hand (Corey and I used to) but we started using an electric citrus juicer, which makes life a LOT easier. Normally I would add this all into a pitcher, but since I was making a double batch and I wanted to use my cute pitcher (which can’t hold two full batches), I put it into a large bowl first and then transferred it to a couple of different pitchers.
Toss it in the fridge long enough to get nice and cold and you’re good to go! This is hands down my favorite summertime drink, and it’s more than worth the little bit of extra effort!
What’s your favorite summer drink?
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Comments on this post
That looks so yummy!!! I’m definitely going to try that before summer is over.
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31. July - 6:24 amYUM! I have never made homemade lemonade before. And I actually don’t own a blender (I like my margaritas on the rocks and couldn’t figure out why else I would need one, lol). But maybe if I ever get one I’ll try this! Also, I didn’t know that is how you make simple syrup! Does it work well as a sweetener in other cold drinks? I make iced coffee rather than hot for my morning drink in the summer and the sugar never melts into it which is kind of a bummer.
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Amanda Reply:
July 31st, 2012 at 8:02 am
Yes – that’s all there is to it! Just heat up equal parts sugar and water until the sugar dissolves, and you’ve got simple syrup. It’s great for sweetening anything you want!
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Looks so good! I’m a big fan of Strawberry lemonade and normally order it when we eat out.
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31. July - 8:38 amThis sounds soooo good!
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31. July - 10:08 amSo I have a question about the sangria recipe lol. I bought all the stuff to make it, and now I’m worried about making it because I don’t think we have any pitchers or serving things large enough to make it in! How much sangria does it make, and can you split it into batches easily?
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Amanda Reply:
July 31st, 2012 at 12:04 pm
It makes pretty much exactly a gallon. We usually just use an old milk gallon (rinsed out, of course) or something like that. It would also be totally easy to make in a bowl, like I did with this one, and separate it out if you’d rather.
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NOMNOMNOM, looks SO refreshing!
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31. July - 12:41 pmI need to make this. Looks soo refreshing. I’d add some vodka to mine
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Amanda Reply:
July 31st, 2012 at 6:22 pm
Let me know how it is if you do! I’ve always wanted to try that haha
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