This weekends recipe: Basil lemonade

I was on vacation for the last 2 weeks so that is my excuse for not posting my weekend recipe's. I have made some really good stuff lately so I'm glad that I'm finally home and able to post some of these delicious recipe's.

This recipe comes from Giada (the Italian cook on the Food Network) and I was excited to try it because we are growing basil in our garden for the first time this summer and I've been excited to use it. We planted two plants which ends up producing quite a bit of basil that I have to now find something to do with. The only thing I knew how to make that had basil as the main ingredient was pesto and honestly, how much pesto does one family need? So now the question will be, how much basil lemonade does one family need? Quite a bit actually, this stuff is fabulous!! I personally never would have thought to add basil to my lemonade, but thank goodness for the adventurous person who did. The flavors go together perfectly (in my opinion) and it is the perfect drink for summer. We have already been through several pitcher fulls in this house and I brought some to a BBQ we went to while we were on vacation and it got rave reviews there as well. So go try this out. You'll love it.

Basil lemonade

2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 12-15 lemons)

2 cups basil syrup (recipe for basil syrup below)

3 qts sparkling water (I thought this was too much since I like my lemonade a bit tarter, so I only used 1.5 qts. I would just keep tasting the lemonade while adding the water until it gets to where you want it)

Mix everything together in a pitcher and put in the fridge until cool (or just add ice so you can drink it right away :)

Basil syrup

1 large bunch of basil (I wasn't sure how much a bunch of basil consisted of so I added about 15 leaves which I thought was perfect)

1 cup water

2 cups sugar

bring all the ingredients to a boil and let boil until sugar is completely dissolved. Spoon out basil leaves before adding to lemon juice.

Tracy