Mondays can be hard. Coming off a weekend of sunshine and great weather and hanging with friends, sitting in your office (or wherever you work!) might not seem as…well, free. This weekend I worked on some wedding stuff for my friends A and E, and I also spent some time in my kitchen whipping some new items up for you.
Now that Monday has rolled around, I wish I was back outside in the sunshine, spray painting things gold…but a glass of strawberry lemonade someone makes the world seems a little brighter, like I am still sitting outside making my Pinterest dreams come true.
I don’t often drink sweet drinks, but something about strawberries makes me want to sip ice cold glasses of lemonade and dream of long summer evenings.
This recipe is pretty similar to my Rosemary Blueberry Lemonade, but you know, with strawberries and basil. The point is this: get an herb you like, and a berry you like, and you’re on your way to a drink that’ll make Mondays seem like the new Thursday (even I can’t make Monday a Friday.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
1 cup lemon juice (about 8 lemons, see below)
8-10 leaves basil
1 cup strawberries
water, to taste
Directions:
1. Mix the sugar with one cup of water over medium heat. Once all the sugar is dissolved, add your basil leaves and turn off heat.
2. While your basil simple syrup is melding, prepare a pitcher with a handful or two of berries, and lots of ice.
3. Freshly squeeze lemons to get about one cup of lemon juice. I used about eight lemons, but honestly this can vary depending on the size and juiciness of your lemons. The good news is you can never have too many lemons, so just grab a bag and you’ll be OK.
4. Put your lemon juice in the pitcher. Remove the basil leaves and add your simple syrup to your pitcher. Now, add water to taste – keep in mind that the ice will dilute the drink, too!
Happy Monday, y’all. Let us know what you do on Mondays to make them a little shinier – we’re all in this together, after all.
[addtoany] Yum