Strawberry Mint Lemonade

With the weather in the high nineties and above all I want to do all day long is lay in my dark air conditioned apartment (new apartment :) can I get a woo woo for moving into a new place?!) and sip on something cold. Something like strawberry mint lemonade. And sip on strawberry mint lemonade I did. One particularly warm afternoon I gave homemade lemonade a try, and oh my it was delicious. It was so tangy and sweet but then the mint steps in and is like "Oh hi! I'm incredibly refreshing!" and I'm like "Yes, yes mint, you are". My family gulped this gone in about an hour. No leftovers for us. It was fabulous! Try it!

Strawberry Mint Lemonade

1 pint strawberries, hulled
2 c. water, divided
1 c. sugar
2 c. freshly squeezed lemon juice
large bunch of fresh mint

4-5 c. sparkling or still water
1/2 lemon sliced thin

Using an electric or handheld juicer juice about 12 lemons into a measuring cup until you get two cups, set aside. In a blender, blend strawberries with 1 cup of water until smooth, using a fine mesh strainer pour strawberry puree into a large bowl, make sure to clean out seeds or large strawberry pieces from strainer, use a spoon or spatula if you need to, to help force puree through, set aside.

In a small sauce pan combine sugar and remaining one cup of water. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved and mixture turns to a syrup, set aside to cool. In a pitcher combine strawberry puree, lemon juice and cooled sugar syrup. Add enough sparkling or stilled water as needed to achieve desired constancy and taste. (the more water the less tart a taste) Add fresh chopped mint and lemon slices to the pitcher and using a wooden spoon, stir to combine. Serve chilled in glasses filled with ice and fresh mint. Enjoy!