Just Chillin', Little Bit o' Illin'

Today we spent ALL day in the garden - I only came inside as far as the kitchen to sort out meals. I bunged some bits in the slow-cooker mid-morning so that we could eat a dinner of Beef with Cider & Lemon this evening, avoiding too much time spent stovebound. I took bread, cheese and tomatoes outside for lunch and we took turns in the hammock (though my go was, in general, punctuated by the children jumping on me!)

The only other 'non-essential' thing I went inside for was to keep topping up the lemonade jug. This lemonade base is a fantastic way of having fresh lemonade all weekend, with very little work - and it makes a fab mixer too.


Lemonade Base

2 lemons, roughly chunked up
5 tbsp sugar (or to taste, we like it quite sharp)

Whizz these in the blender with 250ml water. Stir in a further 250ml water and chill the mixture in the fridge.

When you want some lemonade to take outside, strain the liquid from the pulp into a serving jug and top it up with 500-750ml more water.

This is the good bit; return the strained pulp to its container and stir in 500ml water. When you're ready for another jugful, proceed as before with the straining and topping up . Chill it, and let's go round again...You may find, after a few goes, that you need to add another tablespoonful of sugar with the water. I've been regenerating our batch of base all weekend, and little James has a new favourite - fresh, homemade lemonade.