Simply Perfect Lemonade

My precious baby Cole fishing his baseball out of the fountain. It was a hot day so I let him play in the water, but soon regreted that decision when he came over and shook right where I was sitting. Stinky dog quickly became wet stinky dog. Boys will be boys I guess. Speaking of boys, I had no idea how crazy happy Jim would be the day I made lemonade. It was one of those hot Texas days and I needed a sweet and tart beverage to quinch my thirst. Luckily, Elise had a post about perfect lemonade that I found online.

The secret to perfect lemonade is to start by making sugar syrup, also known as "simple syrup". Dissolving the sugar in hot water effectively disperses the sugar in the lemonade, instead of having the sugar sink to the bottom. This is also a great way to sweeten iced tea by the way.

1 1/2 c water
1 c sugar
1 c lemon juice

Make simple syrup by heating the sugar and water in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved completely. Add the lemon juice and the simple syrup to a pitcher. Add 3 to 4 cups of cold water, more or less to the desired strength. Refrigerate 30 to 40 minutes. If the lemonade is a little sweet for your taste, add a little more straight lemon juice to it. Serve with ice, sliced lemons. Serves 6.

I boiled 1 1/2 cups water and added one cup of granulated sugar. When sugar disolved, I removed from the burner and added one cup of lemon juice.

Then I poured this concentrated lemonade into a glass container and stored in the fridge.

To make the perfect glass of lemonade I added 1/2 cup of the concentrate, topped with ice and water. Voila, simply perfect lemonade. You would have thought I created cold fusion the way Jim flipped over this lemonade. It's the simple things in life!!

You know what could make this perfect glass of lemonade even better? Titos Vodka! Jenna, have you come up with a name for that concoction yet?

Here is another alternative! Make an Arnold Parmer, a great non-alcoholic cocktail. 50% lemonade and 50% iced tea.

Or better yet, freeze the lemonade in your ice cream maker or on a sheet pan like you were making a granita. Then, make iced tea and serve a scoop of lemonade on top.