Recipe of Week: Perfect Strawberry Lemonade

It's strawberry season! The kids and I went picking again this year, but instead of experimenting with a bunch of new strawberry recipes like I did last year, I decided just to freeze the lot of 'em. Well, except for a big bowl I saved to eat fresh. If you've never eaten a fresh strawberry, I'd highly recommend it!

Here's another thing I'd highly recommend trying: homemade lemonade! It's ridiculously easy, and the kids can help. Buy a big bag of lemons, and show the kids how to roll them back and forth on the counter with their palms to release the juices before you halve and squeeze them. This will keep them occupied while you make the simple syrup. You can certainly drink this straight up, but our youngest daughter had the brilliant suggestion of adding strawberry juice to make it pink. It just so happened we had some leftover strawberries in the fridge from a picnic. They were slightly mushy, not much good for anything anymore. Except this...

Perfect Strawberry Lemonade

1 c. water (for the simple syrup)
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. fresh-squeezed lemon juice (I don't have a juicer so this meant 10 lemons for us. If you have a juicer, you may be able to get away with less.)
1/4 c. fresh strawberry juice (use very ripe strawberries)
4 c. water (to dilute)

Add the sugar and 1 cup water to a small saucepan. Bring to a slow boil, stirring constantly until the sugar has completely dissolved. Remove from heat.
Halve and squeeze enough lemons for 3/4 cup juice. (I squeezed them over a strainer so the seeds wouldn't fall into the juice.)Pour the lemon juice into a pitcher
Next place a fine-meshed sieve over a measuring cup and put the strawberries in the sieve. Using a potato masher, mash them until you have 1/4 juice. Pour the strawberry juice into the pitcher with the lemon juice.
Add the simple syrup and 4 cups water. Stir and refrigerate for at least a half hour.

I can't begin to tell you how good this is...you'll just have to try it!