Lemonade & Other Summer Drink Recipe Ideas

Summer and lemonade go hand-in-hand. With summer upon us it’s more important than ever to have plenty of fluids on hand. Here’s a few drink recipes you might enjoy.

Homemade Lemonade Mix

This mix takes just minutes to make, keeps well for a week or more in the refrigerator, and best of all tastes both fresh and old-fashioned. The recipe makes about 1 litre of lemonade.

1 cup water

2 cups white sugar

juice of 6 large lemons, strained (approx. 1 1/2 cups)

Combine water and sugar in a medium-sized saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, just until the sugar dissolves. Then cool to room temperature.

Pour the lemon juice into a 1-litre preserving jar. Add the cooled syrup and screw the lid down tight. Shake gently several times to mix and store tightly-covered in your refrigerator. Shake well before using.

For a 10-ounce glass of lemonade: pour 1/4 cup homemade lemonade mix into glass, add ice cubes, then fill with cold water (about 1/3 cup water) and stir it up. Add a fresh lemon wedge and sprig of mint if company’s coming (you wouldn’t go to all that trouble just for yourself, would you?) – and enjoy!

For naturally pink lemonade: make a 10-ounce glass of lemonade as above, then stir in 1 tbsp. grape or cranberry juice.

Peanut Butter Banana Whip

2 ripe bananas

1 1/4 cups milk

1 cup ice cubes

3 tbsp. peanut butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

Cut bananas into chunks. Combine chopped bananas, milk, ice cubes, peanut butter and brown sugar in a blender and puree until creamy. Serve in chilled glasses. Makes four servings.

Sun Tea

Sun tea is not only an energy-saver (yours, and your electric bill) it tastes better too, and can be made with any kind of tea.

Put the appropriate number of tea bags (about the same number of bags for the amount of water as for hot tea) into a glass container (a litre or more).

Fill with fresh, cool water and put the container on a sunny patio or doorstep where it will be safe from curious pets and children. Depending upon the weather, you’ll have tea by noon or certainly 3 p.m. tea time.

Pour over ice and add your flavoring of choice.

Alternative: If you’re in a hurry you can make “sun tea” in your microwave by boiling water in a glass jar or pitcher, then tossing in the appropriate number of tea bags and letting the tea steep on the kitchen counter for a couple of hours until it reaches the right strength. Take care not to add the tea bags immediately upon removing the cup from the microwave oven, as the water is likely to bubble over due to continued microwave action in the cup. Wait 20 to 30 seconds, then add tea bags.

Iced Coffee

If you detest the thought of reheating leftover coffee in the microwave, make yourself a glass of iced coffee from your morning leftovers for a cool, tasty coffee break during the day. Try adding a dash of cinnamon or nutmeg.

Coffee/Tea Cubes

Use leftover hot tea for iced tea or freeze “tea cubes” to cool your next cup of hot tea or glass of iced tea.

Cloudy iced tea? If you make a pitcher of iced tea and the tea becomes cloudy, add a small amount of boiling water and stir. The tea will clear up. Teas sold expressly for iced tea are less likely to become cloudy.