Cool Lemonade

                                                           

Ah! It’s been two weeks again. I think the heat has gotten to me. We have had some very hot days and then it’s been busy with back to work as well. It’s important to be drinking lots of water in such heat but it is also nice to have a cool sweet drink every once in awhile as well. I’ve been loving Gerolsteiner. It’s not a sweet drink but a sparkling mineral water that has lots of magnesium in it for my sore and aching body at the end of the day. Plain, it’s kind of boring and like any bubbly water but if you add it to some juice it’s very refreshing on a hot Summer day. Try some of the combinations that I did and relax with the feet up.

I love lemonade on a hot day but it can be a little too sweet so I like to dilute it with the Gerolsteiner. If I don’t make my own I like the Simply Lemonade. I like to add different things to it. Try lemon, lime, or orange slices, sliced strawberries, and frozen or fresh mixed berries.  

I also love the Simple Raspberry Lemonade and adding Gerolsteiner to that is a delicious combination.

Try out this fresh lemonade recipe if you prefer to make your own. Adjust the sweetness accordingly.

                                                         

1 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice

8-10 cups of water

½ cups of sugar

In a large pot, combine the water and sugar. Stir and heat until the sugar just melts.

Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice.

Mix well and then chill.

You can serve this with lemon, lime, or orange slices as a garnish.

Salsa

The kitchen is almost done and I am getting back into the swing of things and creating lots in the kitchen. I’ve been making cookies and bread and today I made some fresh chunky salsa. It’s been so warm out and this is the perfect cool snack with some salty tortilla chips. You can also top it on fish, chicken, and steaks or put it in tacos, wraps, and tortillas.

It’s very simple and quick to make.

You will need...

8 firm tomatoes on the vine

1 cup of cilantro, chopped

The juice of 2 limes

2 jalapeno peppers

1 small or 1/2 large red onion

Salt and pepper to taste

Chop up the tomatoes into small bite sized pieces. You can put some of the juice and seeds in but keep it to a minimum. You can save the juice and seeds to put into a tomato sauce.

Add the finely chopped cilantro.

Next chop the onion into small bites.

Now add in the juice from the limes.

Finally, chop up the jalapeno into tiny pieces add in a bit of salt and pepper and the stir it all up.

It’s best eaten when chilled in the fridge for a bit but you can eat it right away if you choose to.

Single Serve Peach and Raspberry Sangria

Since we are now fully into Summer, we thought it’d be a perfect time to talk about a nice and refreshing drink...the Sangria. Our inspiration is this week’s chosen shade which is called “Sangria Sunset” by Fenty beauty and it’s a metallic magenta shade.

When we were thinking about Sangrias we thought about all the different varieties you can try out. We were used to the typical berry ones so we thought that a peach one might be yummy to try, but then we thought about different ways to make a Sangria as well. You can make a big pitcher of it and serve it to all of your guests, but what if you or only a few of you want some and what if you all want different flavours? So we decided that we would do single serve Sangrias.

For ours, we went with a peach raspberry flavour, but you can even set up a make it yourself single serving Sangria bar too. You can include different fruits, juices, pops, and wines so that each guest can make their own drink unique. The only thing is that you wouldn’t be able to let the Sangria sit in the fridge for hours getting all the flavours worked in.  

First we cut up some fresh juicy peaches and washed up some fresh raspberries. 

Everyone got their own glass and filled it with the fruit. 

To get some more of the flavours going, you can mush up the fruit a bit. Then you can pour in the wine (we used white) along with the bubbly element (7 UP is what we decided on). 

If you want to add some extra sweetness, you can add in some fruit juice (some people will do a simple syrup or just use some sugar). We used peach juice to make it even more peachier.

Here’s our finished Sangrias.

For some more inspiration check out these websites and their Sangria recipes...

https://www.lovebakesgoodcakes.com/non-alcoholic-sangria/ (non-alcoholic, cranberry citrus)

https://www.crazyforcrust.com/single-serve-sangria-for-one/ (single serve, strawberry orange)

https://www.asweetpeachef.com/virgin-sangria/ (non-alcoholic, apple, plum, orange)

https://tasty.co/recipe/raspberry-peach-sangria (peach and raspberry)

https://celebratingsweets.com/peach-sangria/ (peach and raspberry)