Counting my Blessings: Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade

Wow, I haven't had time to Blog lately with Brody's surgery and recovery. It's definitely had its ups and Downs but I think were past the hard times! WHEW! I am so thankful everything went okay and hes on the road to being healthy again.

The up side of all the commotion is we have been spending lots of time as a family. Tonight Devin and I tried a new strawberry lemonade recipe and he helped out a ton in the kitchen! I love nights like these when there isn't much going on and there is no hurry to get out the door to baseball or some other activity. I was truly thankful for the time with him tonight. He was so funny/bossy though.. I heard him say three times to Ted that he wasn't allowed in the kitchen before dinner was done.. I think he likes the feeling of being in charge! Despite the huge mess he makes when hes preparing food everything went wonderful and tasted amazing! Here is the recipe we used. We got it off of pinterest.

Sparkling Strawberry Lemonademakes 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.