Fresh Peach Lemonade

   

Author: Divas Can Cook

Recipe type: Drinks, Beverages,

Serves: 5

Ingredients

• 3 cups fresh peaches, diced (about 6 peaches)
• Zest of 3 lemons
• 1½ cups sugar
• 6 cups cold water or sparkling water, divided
• 1 cup fresh lemon juice (juice of about 7 lemons)
• Garnish (peach slices, lemon slices, mint)

Instructions

1. In a large saucepan over medium heat, add diced peaches, lemon zest, sugar and 2 cups of water.
2. Stir to dissolve sugar and let mixture simmer. (do not boil, reduce heat if needed)
3. When peaches are very soft, mash them with a potato masher or fork to break them up.
4. Let mixture simmer until it thickens slightly.
5. Remove from heat and let cool.
6. Strain the peach syrup mixture into a bowl and discard the solids.
7. Add the lemon juice to the peach mixture.
8. Pour into a pitcher along with 4 cups of water or sparkling water.
9. Refrigerate until cold if desired.
10. Fill glasses with ice.
11. Fill with peach lemonade.
12. Garnish with fresh peach slices, fresh lemon slices and mint.
13. Serve immediately/

3.1.09

Lemon Iced Tea

Ingredients:

2 large lemons

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 cups fresh mint leaves, plus more for garnish

6 black tea bags

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

Directions: Using a vegetable peeler, remove bright yellow peel from lemons.

Combine lemon peel and sugar in a medium saucepan with 1/2 cup water and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Lower heat and simmer 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in mint. Cool to room temperature; strain.

Steep the tea bags in 4 cups of boiling water, covered, for 5 minutes. Then remove tea bags. Stir in syrup, lemon juice, 4 cups cold water, and ice cubes. Serve in tall glasses filled with ice and a few mint leaves.

Yield: Makes 8 servings (serving size: 8 ounces)

Refreshing Iced Tea

Prep: 5 min., Cook: 5 min., Steep: 5 min. To make this version sweet, stir 1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar into the hot tea, stirring until dissolved.

Ingredients
3 cups water

2 family-size tea bags

Ice cubes

Garnish: halved lemon and lime slices

Preparation:

Bring 3 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan; add 2 family-size tea bags, and remove mixture from heat. Steep 5 minutes. Remove and discard tea bags.

Pour tea into a 1/2-gal. heatproof container, and add ice cubes to fill; stir. Serve over additional ice, and garnish, if desired.

Yield
Makes 2 qt.

Priscilla Kendrick, Hendersonville, North Carolina

Orange Julius

Marge, I thought this might be refreshing for you. Didn't you buy these when you were first married?


Ingredients:

6 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar or use sugar substitute
1 tsp. vanilla extract
8-9 ice cubes

Directions: Combine all ingredients except ice cubes in blender.

Blend for about 1-2 minutes, adding ice cubes one at a time.

Iced Coffee

Thanks to Donna, I have discovered iced coffee this summer. I am hooked! Whether you want to make it special or just have some leftover from breakfast, iced coffee can be a refreshing afternoon treat.

Directions: Brew a pot of fresh coffee using 2 tablespoons of dark-roasted ground coffee per cup.

Transfer the hot coffee to a carafe or pitcher.

Let the coffee stand at room temperature for 3 to 5 hours, or refrigerate it until cold, about 1 1/2 to 3 hours.

Fill a tall glass with ice cubes.

Pour the chilled coffee into the glass.

Stir the coffee to equalize its temperature. Add milk if you like.

TIPS: *Iced coffee is best with darker-roast coffee blends. Experiment to find the one you like best. *Make ice cubes out of room-temperature coffee. Store them in the freezer and make undiluted iced coffee any time.

*For a decadent version of iced coffee, stir sweetened condensed milk into warm coffee before pouring it over ice.

*Never put a pot of hot coffee directly in the refrigerator. The rapid change in temperature can crack the glass.

Nantucket Iced Tea

Summer wouldn’t be quite right without sweetened iced tea, but making iced tea can be easier said than done. It’s all too easy to turn the tea unpalatably bitter through oversteeping. How do you make perfectly smooth sweet iced tea?

Skip the heat. Steep a large quantity of tea bags in room temperature water for a strong-flavored brew without the bitterness.

Sweeten the tea with simple syrup instead of granulated sugar to ensure that the sugar fully dissolves into the tea. Simple syrup is just equal parts water and sugar heated long enough to dissolve the sugar. Flavor the syrup with lime zest and add cranberry juice for a unique iced tea.

10 tea bags
4 cups water, at room temperature
2 cups cranberry juice
6 – 9 tablespoons recipe for Lime Syrup (see related recipe)

Submerge tea bags in water in serving pitcher. Steep for 45 minutes. Remove and discard tea bags.

Stir juice and Lime Syrup (adjust amount depending on desired sweetness) into tea. Serve over ice.

Lime Simple Syrup

Simple syrup is the best way to sweetened beverages, everything from lemonade to iced tea. Unlike granulated sugar, which won’t dissolve readily in beverages, simple syrup is liquid so it won’t make cold beverages gritty.

Simple syrup is just equal parts water and sugar heated long enough to dissolve the sugar.
The syrup can be flavored with citrus zest or spices like a cinnamon stick. Simple syrup can be refrigerated for up to one week. - Cook's Illustrated

Perfect Brewed Iced Tea

4 regular tea bags (orange pekoe or green tea or a combination)*
2 cups fresh cold water
Water
Ice cubes
Granulated sugar or other sweetener such as Simple Syrup
Lemon slices (optional)

Unwrap (if necessary) and carefully slide off any paper attached to the strings of the tea bags; tie the strings together and place the bags in a heat-proof 2-quart pitcher.

Bring 2 cups cold water (always start with fresh cold water) to a rapid boil. Remove from heat and immediately pour over the tea bags. Allow tea to steep for 20 minutes or more. (This process simply forms the "concentrate". You can store the mixture in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.)

Remove tea bags, squeeze out excess liquid (being careful to not break open the bags) and discard. Fill the pitcher with enough water to equal 2-quarts. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled before serving. Or to serve iced tea immediately, add a dozen or so ice cubes to tea concentrate then fill with water to the 2-quart level.

To serve, pour tea over a generous amount of ice cubes in a tall glass, stirring in desired sweetening and a squeeze of lemon, as desired.
Makes 8 servings.

Variation: Add 1 flavored tea bag such as Ginger Peach, Blackberry Sage, Vanilla Almond, etc., with the orange pekoe or green tea for a decidedly refreshing change in flavor.
Makes 2 quarts. Copyright Hope Pryor

Strawberry Yogurt Smoothie

Here's a super simple recipe for a basic strawberry smoothie.

1 pint fresh strawberries

1 cup milk

2 cups strawberry frozen yogurt

6 to 8 ice cubes

Preparation - Wash and hull the strawberries. Place the berries in the blender jar, along with a small amount of the milk. Process and puree the berries with the milk. Add the frozen yogurt, the remaining milk, and the ice cubes and process until smooth and creamy. Serve immediately. Makes two servings

Iced Coffee

Thanks to Donna, I have discovered iced coffee this summer. I am hooked! 

Whether you want to make it special or just have some leftover from breakfast, iced coffee can be a refreshing afternoon treat. 

 

 

 

 

Directions: Brew a pot of fresh coffee using 2 tablespoons of dark-roasted ground coffee per cup.

Transfer the hot coffee to a carafe or pitcher.

Let the coffee stand at room temperature for 3 to 5 hours, or refrigerate it until cold, about 1 1/2 to 3 hours. Fill a tall glass with ice cubes. Pour the chilled coffee into the glass.
Stir the coffee to equalize its temperature. Add milk if you like. 

TIPS: 

*Iced coffee is best with darker-roast coffee blends. Experiment to find the one you like best. 

*Make ice cubes out of room-temperature coffee. Store them in the freezer and make undiluted iced coffee any time. 

*For a decadent version of iced coffee, stir sweetened condensed milk into warm coffee before pouring it over ice.

*Never put a pot of hot coffee directly in the refrigerator. The rapid change in temperature can crack the glass.

Refreshing Raspberry Iced Tea

2 cups red raspberries, fresh or frozen
4-5 tea bags (can use decaf)
5 cups boiling water
ice cubes
additional raspberries for garnish (optional)
orange wedges or lime wedges or lemon wedges, for garnish (good) (optional)

Place the raspberries and tea bags in a large glass bowl. Pour the boiling water over the berries and tea bags; cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Remove the tea bags; strain the berries from the mixture, then discard them. Cool for a few hours. If desired, chill the tea. Serve in tall glasses, with ice cubes, a few more berries, and a wedge or slice of orange, lemon, or lime, if desired.

Old-Fashioned Lemonade

Juice of 6 lemons (1 cup)
3/4 cup sugar or to taste
4 cups cold water
1 lemon, sliced
Ice cubes

In a large pitcher, combine lemon juice and sugar; stir to dissolve sugar. Add water, lemon slices, and ice cubes; stir until well blended. Serve in tall glasses over ice.
Variation: To make limeade, substitute fresh lime juice for lemon juice. Yields approximately 6 cups.