Strawberry Lemonade

We recently bought 4 pounds of strawberries from Costco for just the two of us!!  Crazy, I know, but it is strawberry season.  I'm a sucker for sweet smelling and beautiful strawberries.  As we were driving home, I realized I should do some fun stuff with all these strawberries.  Several strawberry recipes came to mind, as well as strawberry lemonade.  Off the top of my head I didn't have a recipe for it, so I had to do a little online searching.  I came across the recipe below from Life's Ambrosia.  I had everything on hand except for the sparkling water.  I didn't want to go out, so I just used regular water.  I think it turned out well!  The strawberry lemonade had a very pure, berry flavor, probably because I was a little short on the lemon juice.  It was very yummy nonetheless. 

As I mentioned, there are several other strawberry recipes that will be posted in the near future.  Try to control your excitement, but they will be berry good!  :-)

Strawberry Lemonade

6 Lemons (I used 4)
1 to 1 1/2 cups simple syrup (recipe below)
1 (16 ounce) container strawberries, hulled and halved
1 quart sparkling water (I used plain water)
Ice cubes

Roll the lemons back and forth a couple of times on the counter to release the juices.  Cut the lemons in half and juice into a bowl.  Remove any seeds that may have fallen into the juice.  You should get about 1 cup of lemon juice.

Using an immersion blender or regular blender, blend the strawberries with 1/2 cup simple syrup, until smooth. 

Pour lemon juice, strawberry puree, 1/2 cup simple syrup and sparkling water into a pitcher.  Add more simple syrup if you want a little more sweetness.  Add ice cubes.  Chill until ready to drink. 

 Simple Syrup

1 part water
1 part sugar

Combine sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat.

Bring to a boil.  Stir until sugar has dissolved.

Cool completely.

Hat Tip - Life's Ambrosia