Hand Squeezed Cranberry Lemonade

Now I’ll tell you straight off this recipe is going to be a little work. It’s not hard, it’s just a tad bit time consuming, but it’s worth it; because there is nothing better then fresh homemade hand squeezed lemonade. That bottled store bought stuff just can’t compare. This is also a great way to use those fresh lemons and get all those delicious phytonutrients and antioxidants I talked about in my last Spotlight Food - Lemons and Limes. So without further adieu....

Hand Squeezed Cranberry Lemonade

Juice and Zest of 3-4 Lemons
1C Frozen Cranberries
6-7C Filtered Water
6 packets Stevia

- Using a cheese grater or lemon zester, grate zest off each lemon, and set aside on a plate.

- Place thin metal sieve over a bowl. Slice each lemon in half, hold over the sieve and squeeze the juice out. (I find that with my limited kitchen equipment this is the easiest way to ensure that the seeds do not fall into the juice, if you have a better method by all means use it) If you like you can reserve some of the lemon pulp before discarding the seeds. I did.

- Place your one cup of cranberries into a highspeed blender with one cup of filtered water, and blend on high until totally smooth.

*** Note - This makes far more puree cranberry then you need for 1 pot of lemonade, but it’s so good you’ll want to have more puree cranberry on hand so you can easily make more lemonade.***

- Pour fresh squeezed lemon juice into a tea pot with tea infuser. Add roughly 1/3-1/2C puree cranberry. Then add in five to six cups filtered water (I think I did about five and a half cups) and Stevia or other sweetener to taste. I used 1 packet of Stevia per cup of water, you could use regular sugar, Agave or another sweetener of your choice. Stir to combine.

- Place infuser basket into the teapot and add a few pinches of the reserves lemon zest, and lemon pulp if desired. You don’t have to do this step, but I find it gives the lemonade an even more lemony flavor. I did not use all the zest from all four lemons however, the rest I put into an airtight container in the freezer to use either in another batch of lemonade or for baking.

*** Note - If you are not using the lemon zest and pulp, or don’t have a tea pot with infuser basket simply omit that, and use a juice jug or other drink container instead. Also my tea pot is a bit small, only holding about 7-8 cups of liquid, if you have a larger tea pot or jug by all means double the recipe. ***

Enjoy while sitting outside in the sun, after a good workout. I find lemons particularly refreshing after biking.