July 1 -- Summer's Freshing Drink

Summer has finally arrived. It's hot and getting more humid.  I'm not really a fan of all that moisture in the air.  But I do enjoy a nice thirst-quenching glass of icy goodness.  I wanted to share this simple but delicious recipe for making Lemonade.

What You Will Need:

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
5 cups water, divided
6 to 8 lemons (about 1 cup of lemon juice)
Ice

Instructions

1. You need to make a simple syrup. Combine the sugar and 1 cup of the water in a small saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer over low heat to dissolve sugar. Once the sugar is completely dissolved, remove from heat to cool.
2. Then it's time to squeeze those lemons. Roll each lemon over your cutting board, pressing down as you do. This will help them to release their juice. Cut in half and squeeze. Repeat until you have one cup. Depending on the size of your lemons you might not need to squeeze all of them but on the other hand you might need more.
3. Add the cooled syrup to your pitcher, followed by the lemon juice and remaining 4 cups of water. Stir, taste, and adjust; add a few tablespoons of sugar if it needs to be sweeter or the juice of 1/2 lemon if it needs more tartness.
4. Add ice to pitcher if you think you will drink the whole pitcher right away. Otherwise add ice to each glass.

And it's Summer... and for me Summer means to party so garnish your drink with strawberries, a slice of pineapple or get some of those drink umbrellas.