Ooops it’s Saturday already, how did that happen? I’ve been having way too much summer fun with my little munchkin pies out of school that I’m a titch late with my recipe inspiration for you but… this recipe may be perfect timing this weekend. If you can get your self to a strawberry patch or a local market for some summer berries, you can whip up this simple, refreshing lemonade.
With strawberry season in full swing we’ve been gorging ourselves daily on the shiny, sweet, juicy berries and can’t quite get enough of them. As lucky as we are to be able to have berries all year round if we choose, with California producing a bounty of organics, they just don’t quite measure up. Warmed by the summer sun, dripping from the vine, fresh picked, is the best way to enjoy them. Have you picked any berries yet this summer? One for me….one for the bowl….one for… We plan to go next week, and the cherries will be ready too!! Yay! I love summer for this reason and so do my kids!
Fresh Pressed Strawberry Lemonade
Yield: 4 1/2 cups
6 lemons
2 apples
3 cups filtered water
3 cups fresh strawberries, washed and hulled
3-4 tbsp agave syrup
Method
Peel the lemons and then juice lemons in a juicer (on low setting if you have that option), yielding approx 2/3 cup fresh juice. Next, juice apples whole. Pour lemon/apple juice into blender, add filtered water, strawberries and 3 tbsp agave syrup. Blend well, adjust sweetness with last tablespoon of agave if needed. Pour into small mason jars, garnish with mint, lemon or strawberry and enjoy:)
Note: If you don’t have juicer, you could certainly make a smoothie with all these ingredients instead and just hand squeeze the lemons and then blend in the berries and the apple.
This makes a creamy kinda frothy drink that would be a tad thicker if your fresh picked berries were frozen but I just used fresh and it was nice. You can add an ice cube or a couple frozen strawberries as ice cubes if you like. The apple juice is meant to be the nutritious sweetener instead of adding a whole lot of sugar or too much agave syrup to balance out the tart of the lemon. You should only taste a subtle apple flavour. The apple makes this recipe so much healthier especially for kids who are looking for juice in the summer. My kids loved this recipe. You could even freeze this and make popsicles for them too!
The lemon juice is quite alkalizing and tart, balanced with the sweetness of the apples and berries but it can be overwhelming on the tummy if you over do it so enjoy a small glass of lemonade and drink lots of water before or after and thru the day to hydrate. With the summer heat our bodies lose constant volumes of water thru our skin, our largest organ, and most of us don’t replenish nearly enough each day to allow us to flush toxins out. This can be why one ends up with a summer cold or flu bug since there is very little assisting the body to remove ingested toxins from summer indulgences or just environmental toxins because it is being used differently to hydrate the body in the heat. If you notice infrequent use of the ladies room, you need to increase your water intake especially if you have a glass of wine or a special alcoholic summer beverage as it take 8 glasses of water to re-alkalize the body after just one alcoholic drink. For more on water and how much you should drink daily see this previous post here. It’s okay to zig and zag now and then but your body loves you more when you are conscious about your choices and you do your best to compensate. The top priority though….. is to find a cool shady place to put your feet up and sip this refreshing beverage with someone you love!
Summer to me is sooo about the wild flowers that dance along the roadside and mingle in pastures. I am forever pulling the car over -much to my children’s dismay some days- camera in hand, and often a pair of scissors to snip a few blossoms like I did with these gorgeous white sweet peas above. They are plentiful in bright or soft pinks right now but rare in white, especially the wild growing varieties. Unfortunately, they don’t have the fragrance of the garden variety–that intoxicating scent makes me lose my mind! I have yet to find my posy of fragrant mixed pastel sweet peas but when I do, you’ll surely know!
I’m keeping this summer post short and sweet since I’m sure you have some fun and exciting activities planned for the weekend too! Be sure to soak up the sun, get your fix of vitamin D while it’s here, but not too much–slather on some natural sunscreen. If you have lots of sun where you live, send a little this way as ours is hiding some days and we could use a little more!
Happy summer:)
Style Props
Flower Pitcher: Provence Rose Jug by Kath Kidston
Tea Towel: cute shop in Ketchikan, Alaska, sorry no link at this time.
Paper Straws: Sidney BC, Thursday night market Stall- link to come soon.
Mason Jars: 250ml Jam canning jars from grocery or hardware store
Alkaline Green Smoothie
Carrot, Jicama & Sweet Pepper Slaw
Roasted Root Wrap
{ 11 comments }
Beautiful pictures as always 🙂
We’re missing picking strawberries this year as our biggest you-pick farm in town lost a lot of their plants last winter. But it’s still nice to have super fresh and local berries where we can get them 🙂 They are so delicious. We’re going to go to the market to see if we can get some this morning.
I love how you collect wild flowers, I should start doing that! They’re so pretty and a lot of them smell so good too.
This sounds so refreshing, exactly what we need in this heat. I love how you always include flowers in your photos, beautiful.
Absolutely gorgeous! makes me want to clear a spot in my cupboards for a juicer!
Great recipe, Julie! Unfortunatelly strawberry season is in May and June in Hungary so I’ll be able to do this delicious healthy juice next year. Of course you can buy fresh foreign strawberry now but I prefer to support the Hungarian farmers. Anyway I saved the recipe! 🙂
So beautiful (love those retro straws) and right on time! I’ve been consciously trying to stay more hydrated these days. I’m mostly surviving on watermelon!
Hi Julie.
This is a hit in our family. It has become a staple now and today we tried something new I wanted to share. I used frozen strawberries and when the quantity in the jug gets to about one third full, I add water and some coconut water and throw in a bunch of ice cubes and turn this into a slushie. It is more pink that red, and watered down somewhat, but still a delightlfully mild version of this wonderful recipe. I have just found this treasure of your site. I am nourished every day by the photos and recipes. Since last week, we have tried about 6 of the recipes here. The Cashew Cream from the recipe for the apple and nut tart is a big hit with my 10 year old, he had them on his spelt vanilla pancakes this morning. It does feel wonderful to nourish our bodies and adding the pleasure of a visual presentation, as we are doing now too, just takes these recipes to whole new level of self love, doesn’t it?
Valerie, Good for you for offering such a better option for a summer beverage to the family. Thank you for you kind comments, I’m sooo glad you are inspired-it makes it all so much more enjoyable for me. And yes that cashew cream is one of my faves too!! I think our food should be pretty AND healthy! Thanks for stopping by!
So great! Thanks for sharing. I love it.
Just made this tonight Julie and the whole family loved it. The strawberries from Saanich are still in peak flavour and so perfect with the lemons and the hint of apple for sweetness.
Even the colour shouts “drink and be merry”!
Thanks for another wonderful way to enjoy our beautiful bounty!
I found this recipe on Pinterest and I wanted to stop by and tell you how yummy it sounds….but even more I wanted to tell you how awesome your photographs are! Absolutely stunning!!
Marie, thank you so very much for your kind words:) Pinterest always fascinates me, such a cool way to end up on blogs. Thanks for making the trekk!
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