Frozen Strawberry Basil Lemonade
Summer in a Glass
How many of you grew up on those frozen juice concentrate cans and thought that was as good as juice or lemonade or punch got!? Then, one day, you tried fresh squeezed lemonade made with real ingredients and your life changed – right!?
Ok, so maybe we don’t make fresh-squeezed lemon juice every day and we still buy juice from the store (only 100% juice for me). When you do have those fresh ingredients in your food, you can tell!
All summer long you are going to be craving cooling, fresh, refreshing drinks. Don’t just dive right into an iced coffee or fatty milkshake – instead, you can have all the cool refreshing fruitiness in this frozen lemonade! The lemonade is the perfect blend of sweet and tang and cool and refreshing and even a little something extra to make you go “hmm” and reach for another!
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 cup frozen strawberries (hulled & halved before freezing)
- 1/4 cup fresh basil
- 1/2 cup lemon juice (fresh squeezed when possible)
- 1-2 cups ice cubes (as needed)
- Freeze your strawberries (this should be done the night before OR just used the already frozen ones that you can find in the store)!
- Combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan over high heat. Stir to dissolve the sugar and let come to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes and then remove from heat. Let the simple syrup cool.
- Put your basil in a measuring cup and lightly pack. Add the lemon juice to the already slightly compacted basil leaves and it should all measure about 3/4 cup together. Remember that lemonade is largely to taste as well though too, so you can add more or less based on your flavor needs!
- Place the frozen strawberries, lemon juice, basil, and cooled simple syrup in a high quality blender and process for a minute or so until you have a nice slush. If you need it thicker, add a bit of ice or if its too strong/thick – add some water.
- Pour into your cups, garnish with berries/lemon/basil – serve with a straw and enjoy.
Inspired by Use Real Butter
Two Years Ago – Strawberry Yogurt Pops – farm fresh strawberries frozen with some yogurt for a refreshing treat at the drop of a hat (or the rise of the heat)
And I leave you with this, Today’s Question of the Day… What is your favorite summer beverage?