Homemade Lemonade

The sun is out and the BBQ season begins. Wahoooo!. I can not wait for dinner tonight, Japanese marinated pork kebabs, Corn on the cob, potato salad and homemade bread with homemade ricotta (Deeeeelish!!!)

At the moment I am into making everything from scratch ranging from mayonnaise to bread to cheese. Today when I was browsing through the garage sales I saw two glass jars which would be perfect for homemade lemonade. On returning home I went straight into action making the best lemonade ever. The recipe follows.....

Homemade Lemonade

1 cup water
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 quarters of a cup of sugar

4-5 cups of plain or carbonated water (depending if you want a fizzy lemonade or a still lemonade)

In a small pan add the 1 cup of water with the sugar. Heat the the water until the sugar has dissolved. Take the pan off the heat and add the lemon juice. (I also added the lemon peals and let them infuse until the sugar syrup cooled.) Once cooled, remove the lemon peals and add the the remaining cups of water until you are happy with the concentration. Decant into bottles and refrigerate. Serve over ice.

Cherry Overload....Scones and Iced tea

Last week I bought half a pound of cherries from the farmers market and they seam to have lasted forever. They have been on several picnics with us and we have often been snacking on them so why so many left? Today that answer didn't matter.... they came into their own, making a wonderful drink and a sweet snack. Originally I had just planned to make scones with them but once stoned and chopped there were even more, so cherry iced tea came into play and I am so glad it did. Currently I'm sipping on a nice cool glass of the iced tea, mmm mmm.

I was surprised at how easy both recipes were. In total it took me half an hour to make both and that included baking times etc.

Cherry Scones

1/4 Cup of stoned chopped cherries

2 Cups of Self Raising Flour

30 grams Butter

1/2 Cup Milk

1/3 Cup Water

1 Egg

1/4 Cup Sugar

Brown sugar for sprinkling

Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and sugar, then make a well in the middle of the flour and pour in the water and milk. Using a knife, cut through the mixture until combined. Flour the work surface and kneed the dough until smooth (This should only take a few minutes.). Using your finger poke holes into the dough and add cherry pieces, turn the dough over and repeat. Roll the dough to a 2 cm thickness and cut into medium size pieces or use a cookie cutter (5 cm in diameter). Whisk the egg in a small bowl with a tablespoon of water. Dip the top of the scones into the egg wash and sprinkle liberally with brown sugar. In a preheated oven at 400 degrees bake the scones on a parchment lined tray for 10-12 minutes until the tops are golden brown. Et voila!!!

Cherry Iced Tea

1/2 Cup of Chopped Cherries

6 Regular Tea bags

3/4 Cups of Granulated Sugar

3 Cups Boiling Water

5 Cups Cold water.

In a large measuring jug add the cherries and tea bags. Pour in 3 cups of boiling water cover with clingfilm and allow to steep for 20 minutes. Once steeped, strain through a sift and discard the tea bags and cherries reserving the liquid. Add the sugar to the liquid and stir until dissolved. Once dissolved add the cold water and stir. Pour into jugs and allow to chill in the fridge for 2 hours. Serve over ice.