When the weather warms up and the kids clamor for lemonade, we have come up with a way of fixing lemonade that is fun for them!

Requirements:

• Mason jar with tight-fitting lid, quart size is good. If we run out of these, we use old pasta sauce jars, just so long as that lid fits well!!
  

• Citrus fruit, any kinds, cut into quarters. Our favorite mix is: one half of a lemon, one half of a lime, and one quarter of a tangerine. You can use whatever you have lying around, however.
• Sugar, appx 1/2 cup. Demerara or turbinado is excellent because of the larger crystals, they cut the fruit better and taste amazing!
• Ice
• Water!

Start by putting the citrus and the sugar, dry, into the Mason jar. Works best if you kinda squeeze the citrus just a little first, but you don't really have to. Screw the lid down tight and let your kids take turns shaking the heck outta that jar. The harder they shake, the better tasting the drink will be!



When the sugar looks saturated, run some warm water, about a cup's worth, into the jar and let the kids shake again. My three year-old can handle it even at this weight, I just have her stand on the kitchen sink rug in case it slips out of her grip.

When the sugar is dissolved, run some cold water in that jar, and shake it just a bit more. You now have somewhat concentrated citrus-ade! Pour it over ice and enjoy!!

Try adding interesting things, like mint, fresh lavendar, a sprig of thyme, or whatever you can think up.

This method makes the tastiest drink not only because it is fun (and fun always tastes better) but because the sharp edges of the sugar crystals gently pierce the actual rind of the citrus skin, adding a finite amount of citrus oil to your drink. We all know how lovely lemon zest tastes- adding that in tiny increments to your standard lemonade is utterly divine!

Labels: citrus, demerara sugar, drink, fresh, fun, ice, jar, kids, lemonade, lime, motherhood, parenting, recipe, recipes, shake, sugar, summer, tangerine, turbinado sugar, water

Hi! I just finished the most divine cake and wanted to share the recipe with you. It has been adapted from a 'Hummingbird Cake' recipe that I've made for a couple of years now:

Fruit Smoothie Cake

1 mashed very ripe banana
1 1/2 cups mashed cooked fruit of some sort (I used strawberry applesauce- tangy!)
1 cup, with juice, crushed pineapple
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened nearly to melting
2 eggs
1 cup dark brown sugar (less if your cooked fruit is already sweetened)
2 cups plain unbleached flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350˚ and line an 11" x 7" cake pan (or equivalent size) with parchment paper.
Make sure fruit is room temperature!
Whip all three fruits with soft butter. Beat in eggs & vanilla. Mixture should now look like a fruit smoothie.
Sift all dry ingredients together, fold into liquid until just moistened, pour into prepared pan. Bake for appx 35-45 mins, or until center cracks a bit across top and feels springy to the touch.

Cool on rack, upend onto serving plate, frost with:

Cream Cheese Frosting

4 oz softened cream cheese
1/4 cup softened unsalted butter
between 1 and 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, depending on your preference for sweet and sticky.

Beat on high, until frosting has a faint shine to it.

Frost cake, cover with crushed walnuts (optional) and serve with caffeinated and/or dairy beverage of your choice. It is very, very moist and dense because of all the fruit, and eats well as a breakfast cake!

Labels: cake, cream cheese, dense, fruit, moist, recipe, sugar, yummy