Homemade Pink Strawberry Lemonade - Laura Vitale - Laura in the Kitchen

Hi guys, I'm Laura Vitale and on this episode of Laura in the Kitchen, I want to share with you, this is not an elaborate recipe but it's something I think everyone should know how to make and I get requests for this so often, especially on my lemonade video, how to make pink lemonade. Now, a lot of times pink lemonade is just like coloring, you know, artificial coloring. Not in this case. The way I make it is really good, really delicious. You could call it strawberry lemonade but you don't really taste the strawberry that much. That's why I like to call it just pink lemonade. It is so good. You have got to have a glass of something cold on your barbecue or throughout the summer. This is fantastic. Here's what you're going to need. You're going to start off with some granulated sugar, frozen strawberries, not in a syrup, just frozen strawberries that have been thawed, lots of freshly squeezed lemon juice and then you need ice and water. That is it and it makes for the best lemonade ever. Okay, so in this little saucepan I already have some water, I'm going to make a simple syrup and to the water I'm going to add the sugar and I'm just going to cook this on medium heat until the sugar dissolves. You don't want this to turn into caramel or anything, you just want the sugar to dissolve and then you have a simple syrup on your hands. Now that we have that done, in my big pitcher, get yourself a big pitcher, add some ice to the water, add some on the counter too, why don't you? And then you're going to add your lemon juice and have that ready. Once the simple syrup has come to a boil, well we don't want it to boil too much, but the sugar has dissolved, let it cool for a little bit, not much and then we're going to add this straight to here and then make our strawberry mixture and our lemonade is almost done. And I promise you, once you have homemade lemonade like this, you'll never want to store bought again. Not that there's anything wrong with store bought lemonade, I've done it and I do it from time to time, but when you have the time and some juicy lemons on hand, I'm telling you nothing beats it. You can even take this mixture and pour it in an ice cube tip, summer tip, pour this mixture in an ice cube tray and then add it to water or punch or whatever and instantly add such freshness and deliciousness. But I'm going to stop jibber jabbering, I'm going to wait for this to cook down and then we'll proceed. My simple syrup mixture is done and I have let this cool for about ten minutes and it's not completely cooled but that's fine, it'll work out just fine. Remember you have ice in here, lots of cold water and you should stick this in the fridge for a little bit before you serve it anyway. Okay, give everything a good stir. Now, I could drink this just like this, this is my basic lemonade recipe, if you've never tried it, just do yourself a favor and do it because it's the best. I'm not saying, I'm just saying. Okay, now I'm going to bring over my blender, now I'm going to tell you why I think frozen strawberries or even raspberries really are really, is really the key using frozen because if you were to use fresh, you just wouldn't get that same syrupy sort of runny consistency that you get from using frozen, so that's why I prefer to use frozen, but if you want to use fresh strawberries, by all means go ahead and do so, but I just prefer to frozen, I think it works so much better. And I'm going to put this, the content of the whole bag and everything, now remember this was not in a syrup, nothing like that, it's just some frozen strawberries and a little bit of our lemonade mixture just to get it going. Pop the lid on and pop it on my blender. Okay, look at that! You could add the entire thing in here if you wanted to, which I'm going to do, if you don't want the seeds, just strain them out, up to you, I don't think it makes any difference at all. Add some in there, give everything a stir. Like I said, if you want to, you could strain it, but really, no time. Nor do I really care to. This is really nice and cold, so I'm not even going to worry about chilling it before I serve myself some. Look at that color! I just love it! I have some more strawberry mixture here, you could add it all in if you want to, or you can take this mixture and freeze it in an ice cube tray. I'm telling you, the freezer is like my third person in my house. If you go in my freezer, you'll find everything under the sun, because it really helps me! Let's give it a taste. Mmm! Oh! Mmm! You know something's good when you close your eyes and then you eyeball it and roll it in the back of your head. Mmm! It's not too sweet. Definitely tastes of lemon. You don't get a taste of strawberry, like strawberry overpowering everything, you just taste a beautiful lemonade with just a subtle, subtle hint of something sweet in the background, besides the sugar. It's fabulous! Mmm! Serve this in some cool glasses at your next barbecue, and honey, you have got the drink of the summer! You can also put a little booze in there for the adults, but to me, this is perfect just as it. Go to LauraintheKitchen.com to get the written recipe, I hope you've enjoyed spending time with me, I'll see you next time! Bye!