Friday, July 8, 2011

Homemade Borage Flavored Lemonade

This is the perfect weather for good old-fashioned homemade lemonade. To get it not too sweet or not too sour but just right is a little tricky. After an internet search I found that one of the secrets to making great tasting lemonade is making sugar syrup first to get the sugar completely dissolved. It's easy and really does help making delicious lemonade. Sugar syrup can be used for other dishes too. The Borage came from my garden.


With some experimenting I came up with this recipe:


Homemade Borage-Flavored Lemonade

Ingredients - flavored sugar syrup:
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 cup lemon juice (juice of about 4 to 6 lemons, 5-10 lemons for 2 cups juice)
3 to 4 medium-sized fresh, washed borage leaves (other flavoring ingredients can also be used: Lavender, Basil, Mint, Vanilla, Nasturtium or other herbs, each at different times)

Directions:
In a small saucepan heat the sugar and water to boiling and until the sugar is dissolved completely. Boil it for a couple of minutes more to thicken. Remove from heat and add flavoring ingredient, in my recipe I used fresh borage leaves from my garden and allow to steep about 10 minutes until sugar syrup is cool, then strain out the borage leaves.

While sugar syrup is cooling, use a juicer to extract the juice from 4 to 6 lemons or enough for one cup of fresh juice. Add the juice and the sugar syrup to a pitcher. Add 3 to 4 cups of cold water, more or less to the desired strength and taste. Refrigerate 30 to 40 minutes. Serve with ice, sliced lemons, and if desired, garnish with Borage leaf. Too sweet or too sour can be adjust to taste by adding more sugar syrup or water.
Serves 6

Caution: Sugar syrup gets extremely hot and can cause terrible burns!

Some information about sugar syrup.

4 comments:

  1. Hello, DeeJae - thanks so much for visiting and commenting on my blog. I was really blessed by your comments. It is great to meet a kindred spirit on here. Who knew that there were other homeschooling moms out there that did altered books! : ) Of course, I think you must be infatuated with books to homeschool. I think that is a prerequisite ; ) My last daughter graduates in 2012, so I am already starting to transition into the new phase of non-homeschooling. Feels weird! I so enjoy altering books and making art journals. I've done much more than I've posted, since posting time seems to come at a premium. I will be following you and looking forward to being online buds. We are on vacation this week, so I've really enjoyed having some down time. As a matter of fact - will be "arting" today, which is interesting since we are on a boat! Ha! Thanks for following me!
    Blessings,
    Tricia

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  2. Thanks so much for peeking in and commenting. It's so nice to meet another home educator who enjoys altered art as well. Yes, books are a treasure in our home, so much that I look for them at used book stores, garage sales, library sales and we have our own home library now. I even sell them on ebay and at another blog. My transition to non-homeschooling is bittersweet. I'm so proud all the girls have done and accomplished but I have enjoyed it so much it's a bit difficult realizing that it's over and so quickly too. I've started thinking more of my art and that will help. :-)

    Your "arting" on a boat sounds wonderful! I would love to hear more about it and hope to read about it at your blog. We're on vacation this week and next but it's at home vacation, trying to get caught up with things around the house and yard. It's been a rough year this year with my husband's mother passing away and getting her estate settled.

    Your welcome for the follow and thank you, too, for following me. I look forward to seeing more of your art and hearing more about Michigan. We love Michigan and especially Lake Michigan! Have a great vacation!

    Blessings! :-)

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  3. It is funny that I have always been so drawn to homeschooling yet have always been in the public school. I guess I have always thought that I taught at home and they were taught at school! LOL! We do so much at home....cooking....tending the chickens....and have a theraputic riding program for challenged people housed right here on our farm. Thanks so much for visiting my southern Indiana blog....I love it that we are both in Indiana. By the way...just made homemade lemonade last night.....too funny! Also...working on altered book!
    XO~Hope

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  4. Thanks for visiting my blog! :-) Learning goes on all the time, in many different ways/places so there are lots of options. I've never been a person to think everyone has to learn/educate the same way our family does. I think each family knows the best fit for their family/children. I have family/friends who have children in public school, private schools, church schools, online schools, and homeschools -- each works the best for their family/children. All the 90 degree weather has made the Lemonade so much more delicious hasn't it. So nice to "meet" you!

    Blessings!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting my blog. Your thoughts are really appreciated and do make my day! :-)

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