Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade

What? Memorial Day weekend? Where did you come from?! I only just remembered you were coming yesterday. I am not prepared for grilling out goodness and fun in the sun.

Although summer doesn’t officially start for a few more weeks, I think Memorial Day weekend marks the start of summer for most people. Summer means grilling out, hanging with friends and family, and yummy summer drinks.

Lemonade screams summer to me. I remember having lemonade stands when I was younger. When I was little, we lived on a small cul-de-sac and so I think I only got like 3 customers. But, whatever, I took that 50 cents I made and probably bought some candy. Put that money to good use!

This sparkling strawberry lemonade is refreshing and is a nice twist to plain ol’ lemonade. The only thing I might do different next time is add more strawberry as the flavor was pretty subtle. But, still delicious! You can sweeten this lemonade in two ways. The first way is to use some simple syrup which is made with water and sugar. The other way is to use agave nectar. If you want to make this more grown-up, swap the water for some sparkling wine! Yay summer!

Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade

Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade
Yield: 6 servings

Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade

Prep Time 20 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes

Fresh strawberry lemonade is the ultimate summer drink!

Ingredients

  • 1 pint strawberries, rinsed and hulled
  • 1 cup fresh lemon juice (about 6 lemons)
  • simple syrup or agave nectar syrup to taste
  • 5 cups sparkling water or wine (you can also use plain water)

Instructions

  1. Place the hulled strawberries in a blender and puree until smooth. To remove the seeds, place a fine mesh strainer over a pitcher and pour the mixture into the strainer. I poured mine though in a few batches and stirred each batch with a spoon to speed up the process. Discard the seeds.
  2. Add the lemon juice to the pitcher.
  3. Stir in the sweetener of your choice.*
  4. Pour in the sparkling water or wine and stir. Serve over ice and garnish with lemon slices and strawberries.

For the sweeteners:

  1. To make simple syrup, combine equal parts water and sugar in a sauce pan. Heat until the sugar is completely dissolved in the water. For the lemonade, you probably won’t need more than a 1/2 cup sugar unless you want the lemonade to be really sweet.
  2. To make the agave nectar syrup, combine about 1/2 cup with about 1/4 cup water in a sauce pan. Heat until the agave nectar dissolves in the water. Remove from the heat and add as much as you’d like.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 185Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 12mgCarbohydrates: 44gFiber: 1gSugar: 35gProtein: 1g

Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade