Lemonade During a Hurricane

We have been stuck in the house since the city has pretty much shut down in preparation for Hurricane Irene, so I decided to make some lemonade to brighten our day.  I started making lemonade this summer because I had thought it would be a great thing to do with my three year old son.  As it turns out, it's not such a great pre-schooler activity for two reasons.  First because it takes too much elbow grease for little ones and second because my son can't stop trying to stuff handfuls of sugar into his mouth when I'm not looking.  Even so, we have become pretty addicted to it.  I have also made limeade too, which I may like even more then regular lemonade.  The thing I like best about homemade lemonade is that you can control the tartness and sweetness to make the perfect juice for your taste.  I also love it in our icepop molds.  Here is the recipe I follow, but you will most likely want to tweak it to your own taste.

Ingredients:

3/4 cups of sugar

7 - 8 cups of water

6 - 8 medium lemons (~10 oz of lemon juice)

Directions:

1) Combine 3/4 cups of sugar and one cup of water in a small sauce pan.  Bring to a boil to make a simple sugar and then refrigerate to cool.

2) Squeeze the juice from 6 - 8 medium lemons (you should get about 10 ounces of juice and I like to include some pulp too).

3) Add about three quarters of the lemon juice and three quarters of the simple syrup to your pitcher.  

4) Add 6 cups of water to your juice and sugar mixture.  Add the remaining sugar, lemon juice, and water to taste.

5)  I also love my lemonade with fresh mint.  It adds a very clean taste.  The lemon juice turns the mint leaves browns so I leave them in for about 12 hours and then fish them out with a small strainer.

Enjoy!