Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade + A Special Announcement

One of my favorite things to do when the weather warms up is to sit outside on our deck and drink a glass of wine, a beer, or a yummy cocktail.  However, this spring and summer I'll have to settle for a nonalcoholic option... because I'm pregnant!  That's right, Caroline is going to be a big sister!

I am due in September, and Joey and I are over the moon with excitement.  I have to admit that keeping up a variety of new recipes for my blog has been difficult with morning (all day) sickness, but I'm hoping that with the second trimester, things will improve.

So while this isn't a yummy cocktail, it is a pretty delicious mocktail.  With this pregnancy, I have taken to making mocktails quite often.  See, drinking too much water causes me to feel sick, and juice is way too sweet for me, but sparkling water really helps settle my stomach.  So I've made several variations of sparkling water + a splash of juice.  It makes me feel fancy, plus keeps me from getting sick.  Win-win!

This sparkling lemonade takes advantage of all the beautiful Florida strawberries that are starting to flood the markets, and the sweetness of the strawberries are nicely tempered by the tartness from the lemon.  The addition of sparkling water gives the lemonade a fun fizzy finish, and the sugar on the rim really made me feel like I was enjoying a fun drink.

I personally thought the lemon flavor could have come through a bit more (I really love super tart lemonade), so I've given a range for the amount of lemon juice.  And if you don't want to have a fizzy drink, just use regular water instead of sparkling.  I am already excited about trying new variations of this - I think blueberry or raspberry will be especially delicious this summer!

Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade
adapted from Willow Bird Baking, originally from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book
makes 6-7 cups of lemonade


Strawberry Syrup

• 1 heaping cup chopped strawberries
• 2 Tbs sugar
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• pinch salt
• 2 Tbs cold water

Lemonade

• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup very hot water
• 1-1 1/4 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 4 1/2 cups cold sparkling water or seltzer

 To make the strawberry syrup, combine the strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, salt, and water in a food processor or blender.  Puree until smooth.  Pour through a strainer into a medium bowl to remove the seeds, pressing down to extract as much liquid as possible.

To make the lemonade, combine the hot water and sugar in a pitcher and stir to dissolve the sugar.  Add the lemon juice, strawberry syrup, and water.

To serve, rub a lemon wedge around the rim of a glass, then dip in sugar.  Fill with ice, then the lemonade.  Garnish with fresh strawberries or lemon slices.  Serve immediately.