Homemade Lemonade with Ginger

 ’This post is an entry into the Nuffnang ‘Fresh Recipe’ Network Competition, thanks to BRITA. Check out betterwithbrita.com for inspiration and exclusive recipes by Gary Mehigan’.

After nearly 2 years of TLC, our 25 year old lemon tree is back in action. 

Although tiny, the lemons are just as sweet and tangy as they have always been....so it's time for homemade lemonade. 

But this time I'm adding a spicy twist. Ginger!

Our lovely old lemon tree has tried so hard to recover from the wasp damage and I feel I owe it to her to use as many lemons as possible this season. 

My 3 little pickles love the occasional sweet drink but I'd much prefer to give them something that is fresh and I'm fully aware of the ingredients...it's why we like to cook from scratch as often as possible. 

I also love the idea of using filtered water in this recipe because I feel secure in knowing that the water I'm using is also fresh and clean. It's often the one ingredient we forget about, yet water would have to be essential in just about every recipe when you think about it.

Ingredients 

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup plus 6 cups of filtered water
• 1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

Method:

1. Place the white sugar and 1 cup of the filtered water in a large saucepan. 
2. Stir on low heat until sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil, continue for 2 minutes. 
3. Turn off heat.
4. Add one cup of freshly squeezed and strained lemon juice and some freshly grated ginger, stir. 
5. Put lid on saucepan and leave to rest for 20 minutes. This step makes a huge difference to the finished taste.
6. Add 6 cups of filtered water and stir. Fill a jug with ice, throw in some bruised mint leaves, pour lemonade over ice. Enjoy.

x Marnie

Garden in Winter

I've spent a fair bit of time around home these past few weeks, tending to sick kids (big and small). The Melbourne weather has kept us indoors a lot too. So just this week I ventured out into the wild jungle which is also known as my garden...to get close to nature. Thought I'd share a few pics with you.

This seed pod was sitting on my kitchen window sill and I've been starring at it for a week.

I've been googling lemon recipes left, right and centre. Got any good ones?

Would you like some lemons? This tree is bursting with lemons and it's hard to keep up. I've made so much lemonade lately (recipe here), but now I need to start freezing the juice as the lemons are just dropping off the tree.

My first little strawberry plant. It's a Nellie Kelly. I haven't planted it out yet, poor little thing is just patiently waiting in the cold frame for me to get to it.

We planted spring onions years ago and they just keep on a comin'. I love when they start to go to seed and you can see all the little seeds beneath the surface.

I'm not the only one who loves these little guys.

These camellias are my neighbours, they hang over our fence. We had to remove our beautiful camellia tree so we could start the extension. You can read about that here.

When I use my Macro filters, the rocks look a bit like Uluru. well, kinda, sorta, if you squint a little....OK squint a lot.

These are those little Mexican doll flowers that have also gone into hibernation.

My parents gave us this garden bench about a million years ago. We've stained it a few times, but it is very exposed to the elements. I like it's patina...what do you think?

I know the Dandelion is considered a weed, but I've always been a fan of the underdog.......

The wattle just keeps kickin' on

These little flowers grow on a hedge in the front yard. They're about the size of a M&M.

The smell great too!

The bark from this Eucalyptus tree is like soft, thick, paper. It freaks me out to touch it...it's a childhood spider experience I once had.

I don't know what kind of berries these are, but I'm pretty sure they're not edible. Did you ever see the movie "Blue Lagoon"? , whenever I see these berries I think of that movie where they refer to them as "Never wake up berries". Funny the little things that stay in our heads.

We've been getting a little more work done on the extension. I'll blog about it tomorrow.
See ya.

linking to

Kirsty Girl

{recipe} Lemonade

If you have a lemon tree and you live in Australia, it's probably going nuts right about now. Our tree would have to be at least 25 years old, maybe more and produces sweet lemons in abundance. There must be 200 lemons on that tree at the moment. So here is my lemonade recipe.

In a large saucepan, place 1 cup of white sugar and 1 cup of water. Stir on low heat until sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil and  boil for 2 minutes. Turn off heat.

Add one cup of freshly squeezed and strained lemon juice, stir. Put lid on saucepan and leave to rest for 20 minutes.

Add 6 cups of water and stir. Fill a jug with ice, throw in some bruised mint leaves, pour lemonade over ice. Enjoy.

Variations:
Instead of 6 cups of water, you could use sparkling water or soda water.
Instead of sugar you can substitute with spoon for spoon sweetener, like Equal.
For a bit of zing, finely grate some fresh ginger into the jug before serving.

Linking to: A Beach Cottage -Good Life Wednesday