So what do you do when you've got gallons and gallons of water leftover after a non-storm? Well, the same thing you do when life hands you lemons...you make lemonade! (and tea.)
Step one: take a bunch of lemons (and one citrus fruit that can't decide if it's a lemon or a lime, added to the mix by our lovingly open minded 16 month old), wash 'em and cut them in half.
Step two: squeeze the lemon halves into the pitcher of water, then drop the rinds in.
Note: if you can have your 4 year old do it, it adds a spark of magic.
While the big girl is doing the grunt work, cover the Giant stock pot full of water and turn on the burner it's already sitting on.
Try to ignore the awful reflection on your awesome shiny stock pot, and return to lemon squeezing.
Once the lemons are all in, squeeze in some agave nectar under the theory that since its liquid it'll mix better.
Once your stock pot boils, add a whole bunch of teabags, and turn off the heat.
Back to the lemonade: now its time to shake shake shake! You can enlist the little one to help with this job.
We did a similar thing on Friday.
ReplyDeleteAnd here's. Couple tips: if you roll the lemons around for awhile, it'll loosen the insides and, in theory, give you more juice. I can't say for sure, but we did get a lot of juice from the lemons.
A possibly cheaper way to sweeten without agave, is the simple syrup recipe, which you know. Two cups of sugar to every one cup of water (that's how we make our maple syrup, except we use brown sugar instead). And then you just boil it till it's all dissolved and clear.
And finally, try making sumac tea! First you pick sumac, then you soak it in water for... 12 or so hours. Then sweeten it to taste, and maybe add some oranges and lemons. It's GOOD!
Yeah, simple syrup would work great and probably give a much more traditional flavor; but I was being super lazy about the entire process and only using what I had laying around at the ready, and since the agave was languishing in the cupboard and easier to reach than the regular sugar anyhow...this was a Minimal Effort Endeavor.
ReplyDeleteI would try making sumac tea, except, y'know, can't say I've seen much growin' around here, IN MANHATTAN. :-P Bring me some, I'll trade you for...something else share worthy, dunno what.
And oh the lemons...I know this tip...oh the fun we had loosening lemons in Amsterdam...so much pineapple tea, so many lemons loosened...Tip about that tip? playing catch with the lemon prior to use has the same effect. :-) As does using them as stress balls.
(and what it does is burst the little membranes inside, so you don't need to break them with the actual squeezing. Though if you have a citrus juicer, you don't really need to do it...but it's still very fun!)