savory sunday // fresh lemonade

Since I was on vacation all week, I'm doing a pretty easy recipe for homemade lemonade. Let me be clear, adding vodka or gin or rum or whiskey to this would be AMAZING. I, however, have been enjoying it as is. Next summer though? It's on.To make the best lemonade of your life, you'll need:• About 8 medium lemons• 1 cup sugar• 1 cup water• Fresh mint• 40-60 oz. sparkling water or club soda (you can use regular water, but sparkling is just more fun)First, you boil 1 cup regular still water with 1 cup sugar (stirring constantly) to make simple syrup. Once the sugar dissolves (almost immediately), set it aside to cool. Why do this? Because then you don't get a bunch of un-dissolved sugar at the bottom of your pitcher.While that's cooling, squeeze 8 lemons into your pitcher (this is a good task to recruit your man, partner or children to help with). Add the sparkling water (I always start with 40 oz and then add more as needed later) and the simple syrup. Stir. Taste it at this point to see if you need more or less sparkling water (some lemons are juicier than others, and you don't want it too sour).Then, get your cups or glasses out and mash 2-3 fresh mint leaves in the bottom of each glass using the handle-end of a wooden spoon. This releases the mint oils and crushes the leaves. Once that's ready, fill the glasses with ice (over the mint) and pour in your lemonade. Garnish with more lemons if you like. Voila!I promise, you will love this. I kept trying to also garnish it with raspberries and blueberries and such, but, um, I kept eating the berries and forgot to try it out. I am certain, however, that it would be divine. Enjoy!