Strawberry Lemonade

    My kids are always hungry or thirsty.  We go through so much milk that I think we would be smart to just buy a cow for the back yard (is it considered animal abuse to make a cow live in a small tin shed).   It's expensive having this many kids.  I try to cut corners financially where I can, but try not to substitute substance over frugality.  I have discovered a great compromise, strawberry lemonade (oh who am I fooling, that only solves the 'I'm thirsty').  I am not going to sit here and try to tell you how healthy this drink is, it does have some health benefits to it, but it also has sugar in it and honestly I am o.k. with that.  It's better for them than the frozen cans of juice and it costs about the same or less, so I'm in.
  
    The first part of my strawberry lemonade is making the strawberry syrup.  I buy up bags of frozen fruit when it goes on sale.  I have made this lemonade with both strawberries and raspberries (my next experimentation will be cherries) our family's favourite is the raspberries.  I take a bag of frozen strawberries and put them into a large pot.  I then pour in a cup of sugar and fill water up 3/4 of the way up the pot.  I let this simmer away for an hour or so, or honestly whenever I remember it's there.  I just put it on a low heat to compensate for my forgetful factor.  When I finally remember the strawberries, I turn them off and let them cool.  When they are cool enough to not cause third degree burns I put them into my blender.

    After the blender I put a piece of paper towel into a strainer, put a bowl underneath, and strain away.  It takes a while.  This is a project that you can do at any time.  I have a bottle of strawberry / raspberry syrup in my fridge as we speak.  It really amps up the lemonade.
  
   Here is my lemonade recipe....

    1 cup of white sugar
    1 cup of hot water
    8 cups of cold water
    1 1/2 cups of lemon juice
    1 cup of the fruit syrup (the stuff we made by boiling sugar and berries)

    I mix 1 cup of sugar with 1 cup of hot water and give it a good stir.  The hot water melts the sugar so there are no bits of grainy sugar in the lemonade.  I then add the 1 1/2 cups of lemonade and the cup of berry syrup.  I stir it all up, then add the cold water.

    When I make this lemonade for company I like to scrub a lemon with hot soapy water, then slice it up and put it in my juice jug, and add some whole berries.  As the day goes on you will want to add water to the mixture because the longer the lemons sit in the mix, the stronger the lemon taste gets.
Lately I have been freezing batches of lemonade in large yogurt tubs.  I put out my gorgeous juice jug, drop the ice block into the top and I can leave it on my kitchen counter all afternoon.  Freezing the lemonade keeps it icy cold but not watered down.  It takes up no valuable fridge space and the kids can help themselves and most importantly I do not have to hear "I'm thirsty, what can I drink?"