Autie Lisa's Lemonade

Auntie Lisa’s Lemonade was originally published in 1996, since then, I have added the idea of making syrup, instead of just combining the sugar with the water. Times and techniques change and this is considered the better way today. ;-) I also mix it up and do the variation recipe sometimes, and it was not in the 1996 publication either. ;-) Enjoy your yummy Ice Cold lemonade!

Ingredients:

5 lemons

5 limes, 5 oranges

3 Qts water

1 ½ -2 C’s white sugar

Directions:

Optional prep: Thinly slice one lemon, one lime, and one orange and place one slice in an ice-cube tray, filling with water and making ice cubes with the slices in them.

1.       Cook on stove-top the water to a boil, add sugar; making syrup. Stir until sugar is completely melted into the water.

2.       Take off stove and let cool.

The strainer will catch the seeds. 

3.       Meanwhile, squeeze (or juice machine) the juice from four of the lemons, 4 of the limes and 4 of the oranges; pour into a gallon container.

4.       If you did not make the citrus ice cubes, just thinly slice the remaining fruit and set aside for garnish.

5.       Add syrup to juice according to taste. (Some will like it sweeter and use all of the sugar syrup; others will like less of the sweet syrup, choosing a more tart taste).

6.       Serve on ice with the fruit slices froze into its ice cube trays. Or just serve on ice with the fruit slices added as a garnish into the lemonade mixture. Makes 13-16 servings, (about one gallon).

I grow my own citrus. This is an image of some limes (yes, those orange-sized green things are limes) that I waited to long to pick. They are huge, lol. Not sure if they will yield much juice, but we will see. ;-)

Variation: For a pulp-like juice, an option, instead of squeezing out the juice of the citrus, is to puree’ the entire fruit, peel and all; making a less clear juice. The peel adds a thickness that is worth trying to see which way you like your lemonade best. Try a half recipe of each version the first time to see which way you like it. The white part of the peel doesn't seem to make it bitter like we would assume. ;-) Note: Also a dash of salt will take away any possible bitterness to whichever recipe version you choose.

This recipe makes very pretty lemonade with all the colorful peels and fruit! Enjoy! ;0)

This time of year, there is nothing that says Autumn better than Mulled Cider.

Yummy..........................................................................................................................................................................................

Fall, it is now not too hot, and not too cold to enjoy some outdoor family FuN.

Taking a thermos of this hot beverage will add to the atmosphere of your outdoor enjoyment.

Ingredients: 

1/2 Gallon of fresh, unfiltered apple cider (or make homemade apple cider from smooched cooked apples from your local orchard) I grow Granny Smith and Gala trees, so your backyard tree works fine too. ;-)

2 large oranges (one just for decoration)

15 cloves

4 sticks of cinnamon

15 allspice berries

1 teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg

7 pods of cardamon or (whole coriander seed)

1/4 C brown sugar

1 apple (optional)

Directions:

1. Pour the apple cider into a saucepan, cover, turn the stove-top to medium-high heat.

2. Use a vegetable peeler to peel one of the oranges, to also be used for for a garnish later. Insert half of the cloves into the peeled orange. (or just skip the fancy part and throw the cloves and a cut up orange, peel and all into the pot). Add the rest of the ingredients to the orange and pot. Keep covered and heat the mulled cider mixture to a simmer and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 20 minutes on low heat.

3. Use a fine mesh sieve to strain the hot mulled cider to catch the solid pieces of spices and orange.

4. If for adults, you can spike it if you like w: Bourbon, brandy or rum.

5. Serve hot. Add a cinnamon stick, orange peel, apple slice, or an orange wedge w several cloves poked into it for a garnish. (See picture of garnish).