Lemonade

[deborahjross]

Even here in California's Central Coast, it's been a bit toasty. Not nearly as bad as many other areas of the country, so I'm not complaining. But I am aware of the importance of drinking enough fluids when it's warm. And there's only so much tea, iced and otherwise, I can drink before I'm jittering on the ceiling. Water here is good, although not as soft as it is in the winter (summer = well water = higher mineral content; winter = rain runoff/surface water = softer). So as I was staring at a packet of Crystal Lite lemonade - artificial everything - I got a sudden longing for real lemonade. Or some approximation.

Real lemonade is made with real lemons. Freshly squeezed. Alas, not in the larder nor on the tree (we have a ginormous grapefruit tree, but no lemons). However, I do have bottled lemon juice, a halfway measure that has the advantage of being available.

Lemonade: In a quart-sized leftover pasta sauce jar, put 1/4 c juice. Fill with water. Shake. Add sweetening of your choice, starting with 1 T and tasting before adding more. Shake again.

That's all. That's it. Took about as long as mixing up the powdered artificial-everything. Way cheaper than bottled stuff. Refreshing and exactly the right sweetness. Screw the jar lid back on and you can carry it around - I drink it right from the bottle. On a hot day, I'll go through 1 or 2 of these, which is why not being overly sweetened is a good thing.

Comments

[deborahjross.livejournal.com]

That's an idea - we have a juicer and we certainly have plenty of grapefruit. They won't be ripe until winter, so that's not much use at the moment. Would not be too hard to freeze it or can it in jars. My hesitation is the bitterness, which would require more sweetening, and I don't like to drink really sweet things when it's so hot.