Mix up these cool drinks on hot summer days. Mandy Merriman from Baking with Blondie shares a new lineup of lemonades made with fresh, fruity flavors.
Toasted Coconut Vanilla Limeade
1 cup lime juice (about 10 limes), fresh squeezed
1 cup sweet coconut flakes, packed
2 1/2 cups hot water
1 1/2 cups coconut water (optional, just use regular water if you prefer)
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 T vanilla
*sugar to taste
Makes 4 servings
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly toast the coconut on a baking sheet, thinly spread out, for about 5-7 minutes, stirring once halfway through.
2. Juice the limes and put all of the used halves into a bowl, along with the coconut and vanilla, and cover with 2 cups of hot water. Let it sit for about 10 minutes. The hot water pulls all of the natural oils out of the lime skins and adds so much flavor.
3. Strain into a bowl and add the coconut water, lime juice, and agave nectar. Blend until just incorporated.
4. Taste it – add sugar to your liking. Pour into a pitcher and chill in the fridge until ready to serve.
Melonberry Lemonade
6 cups chopped fresh watermelon, seedless
2 cups chopped fresh strawberries
4 large lemons, juiced
1 cup sugar
2 cups water OR 7up! (We wished we had some 7up when we were sipping on these)
Chill watermelon and strawberries overnight. This drink tastes better very cold (or you could freeze the chopped watermelon and strawberry – making more of a slushy drink).
Add all ingredients into blender. Garnish with sliced pieces of strawberry or watermelon. I decided to put my flower cutter to good use.
Fresh Cherry Limeade
Juice squeezed from 3 limes (strain out any little seeds)
1 C pitted fresh cherries, stems removed as well
1.25 liter of sprite (or any other lemon-lime soda)
1 C simple syrup*
1. *Prepare simple syrup (first): In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup sugar with 1 c water. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Place in freezer while preparing the rest of this recipe.
2. Pit and remove stems from your strawberries (if you haven’t already). Place in a blender with 1/2 of Sprite bottle. Mix until cherries are finely pureed.
3. With a fine-mesh strainer, strain cherries from mixture (if you don’t want cherry chunks – skip this step if you don’t mind the cherry chunks) and catch juice in a small pitcher.
4. Mix in lime juice and the rest of your Sprite bottle.
5. Add in simple syrup according to taste. We like it sugary, so we added the whole cup. But you can probably get by with just 1/2 cup or so.
6. Refridgerate for an hour, and serve with a slice of lime and pebble ice if so desired.
Recipe inspired by: Sonic’s Cherry Limeade
Dreami Kiwi Lemonade
2 cups ice cubes
8 kiwis, coarsely chopped, plus 1 kiwi, sliced, for garnish
1 1/4 cups fresh lemon juice (about 6 lemons)
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
Using a blender, mix the ice cubes, kiwis, lemon juice, sugar and 1 cup water until smooth. Pour into glasses.
Bam. Deliciousness just set up camp in your taste buds.
recipe adapted from Rachel Ray Mag
Lava Flows
46 oz pineapple juice
40 oz coco lopez – (coconut milk. can be found at your local latino food market)
1 pint half and half
ice
frozen strawberries in syrup (or fresh strawberries sweetened with sugar)
2 tablespoons water
1. Mix one can pineapple juice and 3 cans coco loco (amounts should be roughly equal).
2. Add half and half to this mixture, until it turns white (approx half a pint).
3. In a blender, puree strawberries in syrup with a bit of water.
4. Pour 1 inch worth of pureed strawberries in each cup.
5. Pour the pineapple/coco loco mixture in the blender with some ice and blend.
6. Fill the remainder of the plastic cup with the coconut mixture.”
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