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12 Stir It Up! recipes to beat the heat wave

It's the time of year for salads and smoothies. Stir It Up! has simple ideas to beat the dog days of summer cooking.

8. Freshly minted lemonade

The Runaway Spoon
Use fresh mint in your lemonade to add flavor and color.

  • By Laura Edwins Contributer

Makes a nice big pitcher, about 9 cups

6 – 7 large lemons
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
1 cup sugar
8 cup water

Chop the mint finely, and set aside about a tablespoon full. Scrub the lemons clean, and with a vegetable peeler, shave off thin slivers of the peel from one lemon. In a saucepan, stir together the sugar and one cup of the water. Stir well, then drop in the lemon peel and chopped mint and stir again. Bring to a boil, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Take the syrup off the heat and set aside to cool and infuse.

Meanwhile, juice the lemons. I like to zap them in the microwave for about 15 seconds, two at a time, to help release as much juice as possible. You want about 1 cup of juice. Pour the juice into a large pitcher. When the syrup has cooled, strain it through a fine sieve into the pitcher, pressing on the solids to extract as much syrup as you can. Stir the juice and syrup together. Add the remaining water – start with 6 cups, taste, and see if you want to dilute it a bit more.

Remember, you will serve this over ice which will dilute it a little as well. Stir in the remaining chopped mint. Keep the pitcher chilled in the fridge. Serve in tall glasses over lots of ice.

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Mark Sappenfield
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