Berry-Lemonade

Hello, my name is Eileen and I have a drinking problem.  The problem being that I cannot drink for a minimum of another 6 months since I am carrying a new little person around with me.  Which is a common predicament for a whole lot of my friends the past few years, and I suspect the trend will continue for another few years, and if they're not pregnant they still have a little person dependent upon them so while they may be at a point in their lives where they can have a class of wine with dinner, no glass in the world is going to carry you through a 6 hour dinner party.

It's a little warm in most areas this year, and Nebraska is not exempt.  I have become a strawberry lemonade junkie!  So much so that I fear for my budget.  Being a lemonade junkie is not any cheaper than being a latte junkie, and when you live in your kitchen there is really no excuse to pay $3 for a 12 oz glass of lemonade.

So being me I had to develop a recipe.  So far I have made Strawberry-lemonade, and Raspberry-lemonade, and the one you're looking at is the best one so far which is Strawberry-raspberry-lemonade.  However, I think you could switch it to either all strawberries or all raspberries with no problems.

Berry-Lemonade
Eileen's Kitchen

Ingredients

2 cups sugar (I'm going to cut this back a little next time but I would start here and adjust to your taste)
1 cup boiling water
2 cups fresh lemon juice (I think this took about 7 lemons)
12 oz. berries, I used 6oz raspberries, 6oz. strawberries this time
cold water, add to the stuff you've already added to make 1 gallon.
lemon slices, for garnish or to throw into the mix at the end for extra zing

Directions

In a  heat proof container (I used a pyrex measuring cup) place sugar.  Add 1 cup of boiling water and stir until sugar dissolves.  Add lemon juice to your drink container.  I strained mine through fine mesh because I don't like a whole lot of pulp and such in my drinks.  Add sugar and water mixture to your lemon juice.  Take your berries and place in blender.  Add about a cup of your lemon, water, sugar mixture to the blender.  Puree.  Pour through a fine mesh strainer, or just dump in if you like the fruit puree in your drinks.  I don't, and the seeds bug me so next time I'm putting it through cheesecloth, I just happened to be out this time.  Add cold water to bring your drink to a total volume of 1 gallon.  Pour over ice and garnish as desired.

For those that are still allowed to drink my husband assures me this taste fantastic with a little vodka.