But nothing beats summertime here with our family. Everyone is a sweaty mess so we just let it slide while we sit around, watching the kids play outside, eating watermelon and sipping lemonade. Lemonade is a must around here – cool, sweet, tart, and refreshing – it’s a welcome treat in the hot summer sun. I decided to make my own refined sugar free version and add some berries for an antioxidant boost! It turned out to be a hit – well received by my daughter, niece, nephew, sister, and, most importantly, my husband – who isn’t a lemonade fan! In his words it was “the perfect amount of tartness”. High words of praise from a lemonade hater!
Zemirah and I had a blast having a tea party (well, technically a lemonade party) outside one hot morning, but because of those dreadful chiggers I put down our gorgeous Karastan rug from Rug Studio, and we drank our lemonade in peace from bugs! You can get my rug here – in different sizes to fit your needs. It adds such a cozy feel to our bedroom, and is luxuriously soft! Plus it makes a great bug protector 😉
However and wherever you choose to have your lemonade party, I hope you make this Berry Lemonade for a refreshing and immune system boosting treat!
Berry Lemonade
Makes 2 quarts.
Ingredients:
- 7-8 cups of water
- 1/2 cup of fresh or thawed (if frozen) berries (I used a blackberry/blueberry/raspberry combo)
- Juice of 4 large lemons
- 1/2-3/4 cup of raw honey
Directions:
- In a blender, combine berries with 2 cups of water
- Blend just a few seconds until combined
- Strain berry juice through a nut milk bag and mesh strainer – squeezing all the juice out into a large pitcher (this is the most time intensive step, but it’s worth it so you don’t have berry seeds stuck in your teeth all day!)
- On the stove in a small pot, combine honey (to taste) and 1 cup of water, whisking until combined
- Add honey water to the pitcher with the berry juice
- Squeeze all four lemons directly into the pitcher
- Add remaining 4-5 cups of water (to taste)
- Chill until cold or serve over ice
- Keep leftovers in the fridge for up to a week
For more “berry” delicious summertime recipes, check out my Berries and Greens Smoothie, Chocolate Covered Strawberry Chia Pudding, and No Bake Cheesecake with Chocolate Crust! For some scrumptious treats to accompany your lemonade, whip up some Chocolate Banana “Nice” Cream, a No Bake Chocolate Date Cake, or a batch of Wholesome Chocolate Chunk Cookies! I sincerely hope your summer is off to a great start – filled with family, healthy food, laughter, and happy movement. Soak up your family this summer…and enjoy your pinch of crazy!
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Question if i opt out of using honey its great but is high on the glycemic index i would like to use stevia or munk fruit but this time e stevia its what i have on had. How much should i use? Thanks
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Great question! I find that stevia has a strong sweet taste for me – so I would say to start with about 1/4 cup and taste and see what you think. Add more if you need! Let me know how it turns out 🙂
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Hi! Its yummy dont have right strainer in my list ao we are rocking those seeds but worth it, so refreshing!! I agree with u stevia is strong i only used 1tbsp of “liquid” stevia diff to me in powdered form maybe use more i think.. but 1 substituted 1 TBSP for honey and added more fruit at 1st did one cup not half.. moving amd clearing out freezer! I also added in one more cup berries as seemed needed to cup the bitterness of the stevia! I did the 1 cup 2 cups water ratio in blender 1st time 2nd time 1 cup to just 1 cup and then mixed in the stevia!
Thanks again will be making again and nice to have something healthy and sweet not loaded with carbs and sugar!
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So glad to hear you like it, and that you made it work with stevia! You could probably try and scrape the seeds off the top of the blender – mine separated after blending and the froth and seeds went to the top. But if you don’t mind then go for it!
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