make freshly squeezed lemonade when spring arrives

I tried writing my entry on this earlier, but I suppose the bots were against that.

I made the lemonade recipe I posted, and it was delicious!

I think it should be made regardless of season.

I’m cooking dinner for my family using recipes from Vegetarian magazine. I’m not a vegetarian, but their recipes sound really good.

Pesto Potatoes and Polenta Lasagna with Creamy Mushroom Sauce

Oh yeah…

So, I think I’ll add the fresh lemonade to the menu. =D

(Oh, and it stormed yesterday. Yikes. Spring weather still hasn’t arrived, eh?)

That was good. I think I’ll make this a yearly thing. Perhaps even make another kind of drink for the autumn equinox.

I hope everyone enjoys their lemonade!

The lemonade is made and chilling in my fridge. It’s kind of cold today but everything is so green after the rain and I keep seeing squirrels running to and fro in the backyard so I decided today would a good time after all.

I used the recipe I posted except I added three slices of lemon to the pitcher after I mixed everything together. I didn’t purposefully leave pulp, either, I just poured in whatever was able to get through the strainer on my juicer. (Did I ever mention I had to go to three stores before I found a juicer? How crazy is that?)
Anyway, I’ll give an update later as to how it tastes and will mark this as done once I have my first glass.

It rained over the weekend here in Southern California, but today is nice and sunny. Cold, but still Spring-like.

So I’m still makin’ the leh-moh-nah-duh.

It’s supposed to be raining tomorrow, probably all day, and it’s only going to get up to 50 degrees. While that’s not very surprising for early spring in Tennessee, it still doesn’t feel very spring like. I may or may not postpone making the lemonade until the next warm, sunshiney day. I’ll wait for tomorrow, see if it’s gloomy or not, and then decide.

You wouldn’t believe it today though, it’s gotten cold again. Sigh.

I bought the lemons yesterday. :)
I need to get the blender frmo the cabinet and rinse any dust from the big pitcher.

I can hear tree frogs! I saw buttercrups/daffodils blooming today! It was almost 70 degrees!

I need to decide on which recipe I’ll use and I think I’ll get out my really nice glass pitcher.

from Rachel Ray at the foodnetwork.com

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 cups water, plus more as needed
• 1 vanilla bean
• 2 1/2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice (from about 24 lemons)
• Lemon wheels or wedges, for garnish

In a large saucepan, combine the sugar, honey, and 2 cups water and place over medium-high heat. Cut the vanilla bean in 1/2 lengthwise, then, using the back of the knife, scrape the vanilla seeds from the pod and add to the saucepan, along with the pod. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook for 4 or 5 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Put the lemon juice into a gallon jug or pitcher. Pour the sugar syrup through a strainer into the pitcher and discard the pod. Add water to equal 1 gallon and stir well.

Serve over ice with lemon wheels or wedges.

I found out that the first day of Spring for 2006 is Monday, March 20th. So get ready…

We have 21 days left!