Adult Blueberry Lemonade

 

I just returned from vacation in Maine. It was lovely, lovely, lovely. We left Texas temperatures of 100 and above and spent 10 days in a cool, lush climate. The warmest days were around 80 but it was mostly in the 70's with lows in the 40's.

 

Up in Northern Maine, there is a network of trails that span hundreds of miles. The trails are beautifully groomed and are designed to accommodate ATV's, bicycles, snowmobiles, etc. My mom's friend took us out on his ATV's for half the day, enjoying the scenery and the fresh air. It was so refreshing. At the end of our ride, he took us off the trail and up some logging roads and into this great clearing where we found hundreds and hundreds of blueberry bushes! We picked blueberries for a half hour or so and made away with two quarts of the tiny delectable sapphire colored gems.

 

Since I wasn't in my own home and didn't have the desire to bake a blueberry pie or muffins, I decided to try a little mixology. Remember the previous post entitled Why I Love Saturdays ? I told you about this fabulous juice that I get at the market. Since I didn't have the divine pleasure of being able to load up on the amazing juice, I took it upon myself to make some myself. I also took it upon myself to find a locally made, wheat free vodka to mix it with. Oh, yeah.

 

I filled a Magic Bullet cup to the fill line with fresh blueberries and added enough water to cover and gave it a whir. I left it on for a couple of minutes because I didn't have access to a strainer and wanted it as smooth as possible. Then I juiced three lemons into a pitcher (I'd say it was a 1.5 quart pitcher) and sliced another lemon and threw it in, too. I made a simple syrup with 1 c sugar and 1/2 c water (over med heat till syrup-y). I added the blueberry juice to the lemon juice in the pitcher, filled almost to the top with water, and stirred in some simple syrup, a little at a time, till it was pleasing to my taste buds*. I then filled a tall glass with ice, poured in some vodka, and topped off with the fresh juice.

 

*The sweetness level will be different for everyone, so I won't give you an exact measure on the syrup. I'm not a stickler on following recipes to a T, and I am all about using what you have on hand and what tastes good to you. You could make this with strawberries or raspberries, lemons or limes, even oranges! You get the point. Use what you have and use what you like. Be creative, be happy, be joyful when you prepare your food and drink.

 

Salud!