Strawberry Lemonade

Wow, okay, so these last 3 weeks have been crazy busy!  It started with my mom coming to visit us for a week, which was so much fun being that this was the first time she has been able to come visit us while we have lived out of state. Then while my mom was here, my little sister came and stayed for 16 days!  We had so much fun, shopping, laying by the pool, going to the beach, and last but not least, enjoying WAY TOO many sweets!  

We had so much fun and I was SO SAD to see them both go, but I am ready to get back on schedule. My poor house has definitely gone to the pooper!  Laundry, dishes, groceries, cooking, cleaning, you name it, I have definitely been neglecting it!  My poor Hubs has not had a good cooked meal in weeks and has been surrounded around nothing but giggling girls, chick flicks, countless episodes of Friends, and honestly lots of mood swings! He seriously deserves a medal... or maybe just a cookie:)

So here is a quick recipe for the drink I threw together at our 4th of July get together.  I know, I know the 4th of July was SOOOO last week, but we liked this lemonade so much and it was so easy to put together that I wanted to share the recipe with you.

Recipe:

2 (12 oz) cans of Pink Lemonade(frozen)

4 (12 oz) cans of water (just use the empty juice containers)

1 liter sprite

1-1/2 pint strawberries (hulled & sliced)

3 Lemons (sliced thin)

4-6 cups of ice

Place the first 3 ingredients into a large pitcher and mix well.  Next, slice the strawberries and lemons and reserve 1/2 cup of the strawberries to make a simple syrup.  Once all sliced, place the fruit, ice and strawberry syrup into the pitcher and give it a good stir. ENJOY!

To make the strawberry syrup: Take 1/2 cup to 1 cup of sliced strawberries and mash them up. (I just use my potato masher for this step)  Place the mashed strawberries and 1-2 tsp of sugar into a small saucepan, and stir for just a few minutes over low-med heat, allowing the sugar to dissolve and the strawberries to break down and create a syrup. Let cool completely before adding to the lemonade.