Thirsty Thursday: Strawberry Lemonade

 I think one of the BEST parts about living in Southern California is the strawberry season.  You can start getting (semi) local strawberries by the end of January, and you can milk that season through when everyone else in the country eats them.

It seems as though the local stands sell them for about 8 straight months.

Consequently, I can't always make the same strawberry shortcakes, strawberry jams, and strawberries with cream every day.  Even though I would love to eat strawberries every day of my life, my husband doesn't quite align with my sentiment.

So?  I found a recipe for a lemonade concentrate.  So "easy," and simple, plus you don't have to worry about any added preservatives or gross-ness.

Ingredients:
6 cups of strawberry puree (about 2-3lbs whole fruit)
4 cups of fresh lemon juice (about 3-4lbs whole fruit)
1/4 cup of sugar - 6 cups of sugar depending on the sweetness.  Original recipe called for 6, I used 1/4 cup.  You're call, obviously.
5+ freezable containers.
Liquid to un-concentrate later (Sprite, Ginger Ale, Water, Seltzer Water, or whatever you'd like).

Directions:
1. Stem and hull strawberries.  Throw into your food processor and blend until smooth.
2. Juice a lot of lemons.  Add to strawberry puree.
3. Add sugar to taste.
4.  Place into freezable containers.  After the concentrate freezes, you can pop the cubes out and place them in a zip-lock bag.
5. When you're ready to enjoy the beverage, thaw your concentrate and use an equal proportion (or more) of the liquid (I used about 3/4 C Diet Sprite to 1/2 C concentrate, and loved it).

* You can also process the concentrate through a water boil method for canning, but I didn't want to waste the jars on something so easily frozen.
** These would also make a good smoothie base.

Thirsty Thursday: Sherbet Punch

I think at one point, everyone has had a sherbet punch.

Or at least anyone from the Midwest.

Or anyone who went to bridal or baby showers in the 80's/90's that were located in a church hall or basement.

Or maybe it's just me...

Keeping this in mind, I did an old fashioned Google search.  Somewhere online, I found a recipe that included the following ingredients:

4 liters of ginger ale
1 qt. lime sherbet
1 lemonade concentrate
1 lime concentrate

There was more to it, but these were the ingredients I had on my shopping list.  I honestly don't remember the rest, and I forgot to pin it to my boards, but it's sherbet punch.  How hard could it be?

 So, I started by serving up the sherbet into the pitchers I was planning on using.  Then I threw them back into the freezer to stay fairly firm.

Then I just threw the two concentrates (thawed) and all of the ginger ale in a large bowl (pot).  When it came time to serve it, I just poured the liquid over the sherbet.

Simple as punch, and for those wanting an alcoholic based punch, I served the old standby, my Sarasota Lemonade with Moscato.

This punch would also be great with a rum.  Parrot Bay, perhaps?