Keeping with the theme of holding on for dear life to the last few weeks of summer, my two boys have always enjoyed having two things growing up, toys sales and lemonade sales. Henry especially will sit out for hours yelling “Come Get Your Lemonade!” while dancing around and being excited for his customers to offer money for his magnificent drink. As early as he was in diapers, he would sit proudly in front of his freshly squeezed lemonade and happily pour a glass for $50 (give or take)… So, when the diagnosis came Henry had Crohn’s disease and we decided to embark on SCD, those memories and sales looked like they would be coming to an end because lemonade would not be lemonade without sugar! Lemon-water without the “ade” does not sell well. Soon after deciding that this disease and diet was not going to run our lives into a doomed and depressing slump, I started looking around for lemonade without sugar. I didn’t have to look far for honey sweetened lemonade!! I was hopeful that it didn’t have that honey after taste and to my grateful surprise, it didn’t! This recipe is just perfect, although often times I add more honey or less lemon depending on the customer ;). I add more honey more times than not, but again adjust yours to your liking. Here we go with ingredients:
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of Honey depending on your liking..start with 1/2, you can always add more.
1 cup of lemon juice- freshly squeezed. I get a work out using my hands, but by all means use an automatic press if you have one! One cup is the equivalent of around 6 or so full size lemons. We use organic lemons when in season, or really organic when I can actually get them to grow on our lemon tree.
4 1/2 cups of water
Easy process from there! Heat your water and honey in a saucepan over low heat just enough to dissolve your honey. Shouldn’t take long, around a minute or two.
Add your freshly squeezed lemon juice to the water/honey mixture. Taste and add more honey if it is not sweet enough for your wonderful customers.
Pour the mixture into a pitcher (glass preferrably) and add around 2 cups of ice, or whatever will fit the pitcher and chill your lemonade.
I love adding mint and orange slices, allowing them to sit in the lemonade. It gives such a great taste and look!
We recently had a lemonade sale and this lemonade became the talk of the neighborhood…in a good way, don’t worry. We were sold out in a half an hour with 3 pitchers full!!!
Enjoy your last warm weeks of summer, cooling off with your freshly squeezed honey lemonade, it will not disappoint!!