During the warmer months I tend to keep a pitcher of lemonade on hand to quench our thirst. Now that Spring has sprung I am already getting a jump start on it. We have had some warmer days, so that counts right?
My basic lemonade recipe is super simple to make. I use this as a base for all the fruity lemonades I make or for when I just want a refreshing glass of lemonade. With each new fruity lemonade I make, it becomes my favorite. Ok, so I will admit, I LOVE them all. So without further ado, here are 6 irresistible lemonade recipes to make this summer. Enjoy!
We drink a lot of lemonade in the summer so I am always thinking of ways to switch it up to keep it exciting. The addition of blueberries in this Blueberry Lemonade bring lemonade to a whole new level.
I am rebelling and declaring that summer is not over yet. I am going to squeeze every little bit of summer I can out of these last few weeks. To make this blueberry lemonade, I start off by making my trusty lemonade recipe. I always have the makings to smoothies in my fridge and freezer for quick breakfasts so blueberries are always at my fingertips. Frozen berries are frozen at their peak of freshness and were perfect for this blueberry lemonade.
My family goes nuts over blueberries so you can imagine this did not hang out very long in the fridge. This is one of my favorite ways to drink lemonade. (I think I say that about all of them) But seriously, this one is AH-mazing!
Instead of making just any ol' simple syrup for this lemonade, I kicked it up a notch and added blueberries straight into the simple syrup. This infused so much flavor into this blueberry lemonade.
My blueberry loving husband loved every last sip and kept coming back for more. That is usually not the case with him so I knew I had a winner on my hands. I even dropped a few frozen berries into each glass to help keep the blueberry lemonade cold without watering it down. Simply delicious!
Blueberry Lemonade
1 cup lemon juice
3 to 4 cups cold water (to dilute)
1 cup sugar
1 cup water (for the simple syrup)
1 1/2 cup of blueberries(fresh or frozen)
Make simple syrup by heating the sugar and water in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved completely. Add the blueberries, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until blueberries have broken down, about 3-4 minutes. Drain the simple syrup through a fine mesh strainer. Set aside to cool. Use a juicer to extract the juice from 4 to 6 lemons, enough for one cup of juice. Add the juice and the blueberry simple syrup to a pitcher. Add 3 to 4 cups of cold water, more or less to the desired strength. Refrigerate 30 to 40 minutes. If the lemonade is a little sweet for your taste, add a little more straight lemon juice to it. Serve with ice, sliced lemons, blueberries, and mint if desired. Enjoy!
More blueberry recipes:
We have been on a watermelon kick here lately and so I just had to make some Fresh Watermelon Lemonade to quench our thirst in this heat. Y'all this stuff is so good.
The watermelon is undoubtedly the most favorite of the
summer melons. There are four main
varieties of watermelon: all sweet, ice-box, seedless, and yellow flesh. Watermelons vary in taste and color depending
on the variety, the soil and the climate they're grown in. The outside of a watermelon can vary from light to very dark green. It
can be solid to mottled green or striped. The inside flesh can be dark red to
bright red to reddish pink, with many variations, including melons with yellow
flesh. Most watermelons have seeds but there are also seedless varieties. Some
think that seeds are part of the fun of eating a watermelon while others prefer
seedless varieties which are easier to eat. They
also require less prep time when using them in a fruit salad or other recipes.
Choosing a watermelon at the peak of perfection requires some skill. I will be the first to admit, I don't always remember how to pick a ripe one. First, look for one that's firm and free of bruises. A ripe watermelon will feel heavy for its size. Melons are 90% water so the ones that seem heavy for the size are going to be the juiciest watermelons. When a watermelon is ripe, the spot where it laid on the ground while growing will be a creamy yellow color rather than white or pale green. Thumping a ripe watermelon with your finger will produce a rather dull, hollow tone. Thumping an un-ripened melon will create a clear tinging sound. Though watermelons must be chilled before eating for that mouth-watering refreshing taste, if you're short on refrigerator space, whole melons will keep at room temperature for about 7 to 10 days. (I have the smallest refrigerator on the planet) After the watermelon is cut, store it in the refrigerator. They are not freezer friendly because they become mushy and lose their flavor. They are full of vitamin C and they're also a good source of vitamin A, potassium and fiber. Also, they contain high amounts of lycopene, a substance that can prevent heart diseases and some cancers, and that is something we could all be happy about.
So to make this Fresh Watermelon Lemonade I went with my trusty Lemonade recipe as a base and added the watermelon. Cube up the watermelon and pulse it in a blender until smooth. (of course you want to use the seedless watermelon) Then, pour it through a fine mesh strainer to remove any stray seeds or thick pulp. Pour into the lemonade and stir. I did find that the watermelon will separate from the lemonade as it sits. Just stir it up and its good to go. Trust me y'all, this will quench your thirst on a hot summer day!
Watermelon Lemonade
8 cups watermelon, cubed
1 cup sugar
1 cup water (for the simple syrup)
1 cup lemon juice
3 to 4 cups cold water (to dilute)
Make simple syrup by heating the sugar and water in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved completely. Set aside to cool. While the simple syrup is cooling, use a juicer to extract the juice from 4 to 6 lemons, enough for one cup of juice. Add the juice and the simple syrup to a pitcher. Place the cubed watermelon in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour through a fine mesh strainer to remove any seeds or thick pulp. Stir into the pitcher. Add 3 to 4 cups of cold water, more or less to the desired strength. Refrigerate 30 to 40 minutes.
More Lemonade Recipes to love:
There is nothing better than a cool refreshing glass of lemonade on a hot summer day. When you elevate it to the next level by adding in another fruit and oh my goodness. During a heat wave like what we are going through right now I try to keep lemonade on hand to help keep the heat at bay.
I have a love/hate relationship with the heat. I love summer and all that goes along with it but when the heat gets excessive I struggle and have a hard time. So when the temperature soars in the upper 90's you won't see me out and about too much. I am perfectly content to sit right here in my air conditioning and stay cool.
Oh you know how much I adore anything lemon and nothing beats a good old refreshing glass of lemonade, especially on a hot summers day. My kids love it too and when I make it they get super excited, even the 19 year old. Sure those instant drink packets or those brand name canisters are a good option too in a pinch. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact, I have one of those name brand canisters in the cupboard right now. I tend to use it when I need to make it quick but making it homemade is easy and the extra effort is so worth it. Since I usually have lemons on hand almost all the time it is easy for me to whip it up in no time flat.
Did you ever set up a lemonade stand when you were a kid? In our little neighborhood we had a great group of us kids and every so often in the summer we would set up a lemonade stand to have something to do. It was never anything special. Most of the time it was a kids plastic table and chairs set that we would drag out to the edge of the road. We would always make our lemonade using those little drink packets and get super excited as we waited on our first customer. There was a lot of fun and laughter and lots of little sips and tastings along the way and every so often there would be a customer that would feel sorry for us and buy a glass and then it was gone because we drank it all while we were waiting. Then, we would pack it all up and move onto playing something else. In another few weeks we would do it all over again and this happened all summer long.
Oh my goodness is it hot today. Hope you are keeping cool wherever you are today. As for me I am sitting in my air conditioned living room. I would love to be out and about in the river but alas I have a sinus infection and I am trying really hard to beat it. I am not one that sits and does nothing. It is really driving me crazy, but I will say I have been able to catch up on some movies and cooking shows I had recorded. Hubby will cook burgers on the grill in a bit when he gets home. This Moma is taking it easy today. The laundry and the housework will wait until maybe tomorrow. It is not going anywhere unfortunately.
I am a lover of anything lemon, which I am sure you can tell by all the lemon recipes I have posted. My usual go to lemonade recipe just needed a little something extra in it. The more this sits the pinker it becomes from the strawberries, if it lasts that long. My daughter loved this and kept coming back for more. She also loved the fact that she could get it herself by the little spout and so did I. Very refreshing on a really hot day!
Strawberry Lemonade
1 cup sugar
1 cup water (for the simple syrup)
1 cup lemon juice
3 to 4 cups cold water (to dilute)
Pint of
fresh sliced strawberries (more or less depending on your preference)
Make simple syrup by heating the sugar and water in a small
saucepan until the sugar is dissolved completely. While the sugar is dissolving, use a juicer
to extract the juice from 4 to 6 lemons, enough for one cup of juice. Add the juice and the sugar water to a
pitcher. Add 3 to 4 cups of cold water, more or less to the desired strength.
Add fresh sliced strawberries. Refrigerate 30 to 40 minutes. If the lemonade is
a little sweet for your taste, add a little more straight lemon juice to it.
Serve with ice, sliced lemons, and sliced strawberries. I increased the ingredients to fit my drink dispenser.
What are you waiting for?
Making my own popsicles bring back memories of my childhood. When we were kids we would fill ice trays up with kool-aid and have our own little popsicles. They were such a treat for us back then. Both of my kids have been cursed by some kind of allergy to a food, their bodies purge the offender and then they will break out in hives. When our son started with this problem we had him tested. They could not figure out what he was allergic to. We were told it was a preservative or an additive and only trial and error would figure it out. We never really figured his out, thankfully he has pretty much outgrown his. His doctor told us he hopefully would do that. When our daughter started showing the same symptoms as he did it did not take us long to figure out what was wrong. The only thing we could figure out is that maybe it is red foods. We had her tested for red dye and other foods and again no answers. So here we are with her trying to figure that out. We know that ketchup and pepperonis cause her issues. We have been told to change up brands to decipher what it could be. She is not too willing to try these red foods just yet. If you pay attention to most candy, kids drinks, and popsicles you will notice a lot are red. She stays away from these foods. I guess we drilled it in her head for so long she is scared to try them. Her doctor says she may never want to try these foods and that is OK. Hopefully when she is ready she too will have outgrown it. I try to make some fun foods for her that I know she can eat that are red. This
watermelon lemonade being one of them. So I took this a step further and made her popsicles with it. The verdict, she loves them.
Watermelon Lemonade Popsicles
Watermelon Lemonade (
recipe here)
small cups
popsicle sticks
Pour the
watermelon lemonade into the cups and place in a glass baking dish and place in the freezer. Check these in about 30 to an hour, once they are a little frozen add your popsicle stick in the center and continue to freeze until hard. When ready, pull out of the freezer, run warm water around the cup until it releases and enjoy.
My sister and I saw this in a cookbook while we were in line for hours waiting to meet Pioneer Woman. My sister had told me that week she was going to be in Virginia Beach. Virginia Beach is only a couple hours away from us and I knew I had to find a way to go. I didn't know if I would ever get that opportunity again. We set out that morning on our adventure, armed with the GPS and my two cookbooks. We had to stop on the way to find one for my sister because we knew they would be way more expensive at the book signing. We were lucky to find one all by itself at Walmart on the way. We were set, we had no idea what we were getting into. Neither one of us had ever been to a book signing. That is what made it so fun. We found out that tickets were given out the night before and only those people were guaranteed to meet Ree. We waited for hours barely moving, waiting with anticipation, we did not have a ticket. It was so neat to see her even from a distance I could tell she was such a sweetheart. It is a good thing the aisle we were waiting on was not the cookbook aisle. I think I would have gotten myself into trouble. We kept meaning to stop on the way down to grab some lunch but it never seemed to work out of where to stop. As I said, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. After waiting for a while, we decided to check out the little coffee shop in the bookstore to see if they had anything to eat. I kept our spot while my sister went and looked. Luckily they had a couple different sandwiches to choose from. So she ordered us a couple. It was a ham and cheese but the cheese neither one of us had tried so we got them without the cheese. The guy at the counter felt so bad when she went back to pick it up because it had 2 little pieces of ham on it and we had paid so much for them. He told her, mam I think I need to give you some money back. She told him, we drove a long way and we are waiting in line and we are hungry and we didn't have time to stop on the way. While waiting in line a little later, he came and found my sister and said he still felt bad for charging us so much for this sandwich, could he give us a drink or something. We said no we are ok and he insisted to give us something. So we asked for a mocha coffee and he said done I will be right back. Wouldn't you know it, he came back with two mocha's for free. Everyone in line were like, wow how did that happen? We just got it like that! LOL Gotta love my sis, you just never know what you may get into.
On one of the last few aisles we managed to get into the cookbook aisle. I picked up a few and glanced at them. By then my feet were aching some kind of bad so I just wanted to get it over with and didn't really get into the recipes. I guess that was a blessing, like I said it would have been trouble. This recipe was in a Gooseberry Patch cook book, I have no idea which one, but it looked yummy so I snapped a picture so I would have it. I am just now getting around to making it. My daughter loves it. We try to keep her away from red foods as she is allergic to some additive or preservative and the only way we can figure it out is by trial and error. She is scared to eat red foods. So this gives her something red to eat that I know she will be ok with.
I loved meeting Ree and I could have talked with her all day. I told her I also blog and she said "isn't it fun?" Yes it is!
Watermelon Lemonade
4 Cups Watermelon chopped
1 Cup sugar
1 1/2 cup lemon juice
6 Cups of cold water
lemon slices, optional
Place watermelon in blender and process until smooth, set aside. In a large pitcher combine sugar and lemon juice and stir until sugar is dissolved. Stir in water, add watermelon and mix well. Serve very cold, stir well before serving. Makes 8-10 servings *I added lemon slices
Shared at:
Weekend Potluck @ The Country Cook
I want to pay tribute to my very first best friend ever, Katrina Bryant. You see she was taken from us way to early and I have not been the same since. I have a special place in my heart for her and I was blessed to have her part of my life. Her great grandmother lived beside us and we met when she came down to visit. We were 3 or 4 years old at the time we first met and became friends after that. She would visit her Nana quite often through the years. I remember the summers the most. We would be outside all day long playing and would not come in until it was dark. That is of course after we caught lightning bugs! Back in those days we found things to entertain us because we had no choice. There were only cartoons on Saturday morning, Friday night videos, and no video games unless you were lucky to have Atari. We rode bikes, played games, just did whatever we could do. One of the things we used to do every so often was set up a lemonade stand. We would set it up by the road and wait patiently for whoever would come. Most of the time we drank it all and moved on to something else. Boy did we have fun. I have many fond memories of my days with her. Trina was one of a kind, she always had a smile on her face and a laugh in her heart. If there was anything you ever needed she would be right there. I currently live in the same neighborhood that I grew up on, I am so glad I am raising my kids here. They will never know what fun we had but at least I can give them a little piece of it.
Katrina's Junior Prom Picture
The day I heard of her passing was one of the hardest days of my life. I could not believe she was gone. I thought of all the things I wanted to say but it was too late. I know in my heart she knew what she meant to me. Lesson learned, tell the ones you love how much they mean to you, one day you may be too late.
Katrina with her mom and brother Patrick!
A few months ago I started to think an awful lot about her and her mother, Debbie. I think of them often but this was a little different, almost scary. Debbie crossed my mind all day long everyday for about two weeks or so. I also felt that something (or someone) was waking me up at night. One day I happened to be on facebook and I saw a couple of people send her a message that they were praying and thinking about her. I immediately sent her a message and was frantically wondering what was wrong. She did not immediately answer. Well it turns out she had to have open heart surgery. Once I found that out and I knew she was ok the nagging feeling subsided. I know this may sound crazy to some but I do think Trina was trying to reach out to me because of her mom.
The month of June brings her birthday, I have always remembered her special day. I wanted to honor her and let the whole world know what a special person she was. My life would not have been the same without her in it, even if she was taken from us early I know she is one of God's angels watching over us. Happy Birthday Trina!
This pie I saw on
Southern Bite just the other day. I had been struggling with what that special recipe was going to be for this post. Immediately I knew that this was the one! This pie was so simple to throw together. Would be a great addition to a potluck or cookout this summer. I hope you get to try this recipe soon.
Served Up With Love!
Mile High Lemonade Pie
- 24 oz Cool Whip (3 – 8oz containers)
- 2 – 14oz cans sweetened condensed milk
- 1 -12oz can frozen lemonade concentrate (or limeade)
- 2 graham crackers crusts
NOTE: This recipe can be divided in half quite successfully if you’re looking to do only one pie.
Directions
- In a large bowl, stir sweetened condensed milk into Cool Whip. (Do this by hand, DO NOT use a mixer – an electric mixer can cause the Cool Whip to fall which will result in a dense or even runny pie.)
- Next, fold in lemonade concentrate.
- Divide between two pie crusts and chill for at least 3 hours.
Happy Birthday Katrina, we all miss you! Until we meet again........
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