Category: Summertime

Give a boost to your average lemonade stand: Add freshness from the garden!

7/20/2017

There’s nothing that helps beat the heat of summer better than a glass of fresh ice cold lemonade. Oh wait, there actually is. It’s a fresh ice cold glass of STRAWBERRY MINT LEMONADE made by kids straight from the garden!

Kids today are extremely savvy and smart when it comes to marketing so differentiating their product these days by adding extra surprises to a traditional lemonade recipe helps elevate the “typical” kid’s stand to a great lemonade spectacular!

First ingredient of course is still lemons! The key to helping kids squeeze fresh lemons is let them press down on the lemons and roll them around the table. Yes, we get to play with our food. This loosens up the insides and makes it easier for small hands to twist on the juicer.

Now comes making the lemonade. A lot of times we’ve just thrown sugar, water and lemons into a pitcher to make lemonade. However, when you do that the sugar sinks to the bottom and takes forever to dissolve. (There definitely is a science lesson there in figuring out why- Keep reading for a cool experiment! )

If you have the time, heat the water and sugar together first to make a syrup mixture and then add the lemon juice to the syrup and mix it all together. Here is LISA's LEMONADE RECIPE:

INGREDIENTS
Yield: about 2 quarts

1 ½ cups sugar
1 ½ cups water
1 ½ cups freshly squeezed lemon juice (strained to remove pulp and seeds if you like)
4 cups of cold water

Boil sugar and 1 ½ cups of water to create a sugar/water syrup. Let it cool and then mix in lemon juice. Add cold water and you’re ready!

Now, comes the fun part! Creating different ways to make the traditional lemonade different.

STRAWBERRY SYRUP RECIPE
Basic simple syrup is made by using one part solid and one part water. Begin your recipe by adding 2 cups of water to 2 cups of sugar in to a small pot and give it a stir with a wooden spoon. Show your kids how when they add the "solid" sugar in to the "liquid" water that it doesn't dissolve right away. In science, the liquid is called the 'solvent". Turn the heat on a medium low and begin stirring every minute. (This can also be done in the microwave using a heatproof bowl and using 30 second intervals.)

Let your kids watch as the sugar slowly dissolves until it completely disappears. You have just created a "solution"! Allow your sugar water "solution" to cool completely. Show your kids how the mixture doesn't fall out of suspension, meaning the sugar doesn't separate from the water. Tell them that's because the water and the sugar have similar molecular properties. Pretty cool, huh?

Now for the strawberry part.
Using 6-8 large strawberries, clean and hull them by removing the stems. Placing in a small bowl, and allow your kids to mash them with a fork or a potato masher until they are almost like apple sauce. Add them to the simple syrup and stir to make your lemonade stand add-in syrup.

Place 1-2 tablespoons of strawberry syrup per glass of lemonade to make Strawberry Lemonade and ENJOY!

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Giant Flavored Ice Cubes

7/20/2017

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Having ice cold lemonade on a summer day is incredibly refreshing, and when the kids decide to have a lemonade stand, it's even sweeter.
We used to make our lemonade stronger than the recipe called for because when we poured it over ice it would get diluted or watered down. I loved the day a light bulb popped into my head and said “just make the ice cube stronger!” Wow! These are my favorite to include because they add to the flavor, they look really cool, and they’re fun to make.

Grab a package of disposable round containers.

I prefer GLAD brand because they’re circular and a slice of lemon fits perfectly inside!

Use the containers to create giant ice cubes. Fill them up ¾ of the way with pre-made lemonade. Drop in a slice of fresh lemon. You can add mint leaves as optional flavor. Squeeze the lid on tight and place them in the freezer. Do this the night before and when you make the lemonade for the stand drop in a few of these ice cubes to keep the lemonade cold without losing its sweet flavor!

We prefer GLAD Brand because of the round shape, but any small plastic container will work.

Check out our Tip of the Week for more fun recipes and ways to enjoy your garden!

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Giant Strawberries

7/5/2017

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Growing a Giant Strawberry!

Welcome to my daughter’s strawberry patch. It’s just in a small pot, but it’s still a fun place to hang out.

There are a lot of types of berries to eat in the world, but her favorite is the strawberry, like so many of her friends. It’s sweet, easy to eat and even easier to grow!

Container gardening is a fun way to experiment with your space and give kids ownership of a specific crop!

Experiment Time!

Here’s a great experiment to share with your kids about strawberries:
After only a month of growing, little white flowers will start to pop up on the strawberry plant. Each of these blooms will turn into a strawberry if left alone. However, if you want to have giant strawberries try picking all the flowers off except for 3.

All the water and nutrients that the plant eats should now go to help just these three strawberries grow!

To make the experiment really cool…start with the same size plant in two different pots and then don’t pick the flowers on one. With the other, just leave 3 flowers and see if the strawberries are bigger.

Be sure to take pictures and let me know if it worked. I can’t wait to try my daughter’s super big red plump strawberries!