Ditch the processed powdered lemonade drink! You can make this quick and easy real homemade lemonade recipe using fresh lemons and a few simple ingredients. It only takes a couple minutes longer but it tastes so much better!
It is unseasonably warm around here.
It feels more like August than April, and so I am hoping to inspire you to make homemade lemonade this summer instead of using a powdered drink mix. Reading through the ingredients of both options should easily show you which of the two is a more natural and frugal choice for your family. There may be over 40 ways to use lemons, but homemade lemonade is the best one!
“Their” ingredients:
Ingredients: SUGAR, FRUCTOSE, CITRIC ACID (PROVIDES TARTNESS), CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF NATURAL FLAVOR, ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), MALTODEXTRIN, SODIUM ACID PYROPHOSPHATE, SODIUM CITRATE (CONTROLS ACIDITY), MAGNESIUM OXIDE (PREVENTS CAKING), CALCIUM FUMARATE, SOY LECITHIN, ARTIFICIAL COLOR, YELLOW 5 LAKE,TOCOPHEROL (PRESERVES FRESHNESS). CONTAINS: SOY.
There is nothing natural or safe about that!
It’s certainly nothing I want to put into my children’s little bodies. You know, I wonder how many times I have given drinks like this to my children and then attributed their behavior to naughtiness when in reality their bodies simply couldn’t handle the chemicals I had served with a smile. Now I always make it a habit when they are out of control, bouncing off the walls, having meltdowns, etc.. to do a quick review of their diets for the last day or so to see if there was something in it that is causing them to struggle with control.
This homemade lemonade recipe is slightly modified (in other words, I added a lime) from a Laura Ingalls Wilder’s recipe that I found in Laura Ingalls Wilder Country: The People and places in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s life and books. When you’re done reading the Little House series to your children, do yourself a favor and see if you can get your hands on a copy of this book. It turns the tales into living history!
Real, homemade lemonade is ridiculously simple to make and the children love to help juice the citrus (though I do a double check to make sure they squeezed it all out.) Be sure to save your rinds from the lemon and lime and use them to make Citrus Vinegar.
Real, Homemade Lemonade
Real Homemade Lemonade
Ditch the processed powdered lemonade drink and make this quick and easy real homemade lemonade recipe using fresh lemons and a few simple ingredients.
Ingredients
- 3 lemons, juiced
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1 cup evaporated cane juice, or sugar (Buy cane juice here.)
- 1 cup water, boiling
- water
Instructions
- Bring the water to a boil.
- Add the the evaporated cane juice (or sugar) and continue boiling for a minute until the sugar is dissolved.
- Stir together the sugar water and juices from the lemons and lime in a pitcher and then fill with water.
- Refrigerate the lemonade until it iscold or add ice to speed things along.
Enjoy!
More homemade lemonade recipes:
Pink Sumac Lemonade
Red Clover Lemonade
Elderberry Lemonade
Canning Lemonade
Bubbly Probiotic Lemonade
Oh, there’s nothing better than homemade Lemonade. Thanks for linking to Tasty Tuesday and I love my Little House cook book for girls. Its so sweet. 🙂
Sounds refreshing… thanks for sharing!
Nothing beats fresh lemonade. Love the idea of adding a lime, I’ll have to try that!
I love the Laura Ingalls Wilder series, I’m checking my library for a copy of that book. 🙂
Sounds great. Thanks for sharing!
lemonade is so refreshing on a hot day I crave it all summer
sounds yummy yummy!!
I love lemonade. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Ginger
I love lemonade made this way with boiling water
my hubby LOVES lemonade… we’ll have to give this recipe a try. I’ve never made it before!
yummy!!!
I’ve got to admit, I usually make the powdered kind, but I’ll definitely have to try this.
Have you ever read the book Little House in the Ozarks: The Rediscovered Writings by Laura Ingalls Wilder (edited by Stephen W. Hines)? It’s a collection of newspaper columns that Laura wrote before she wrote the Little House books — they’re all about being a farm wife, the dignity of work at home, etc. They are outstanding. It’s one of my favorite books. I’d highly recommend it, if you’re a Laura Ingalls Wilder fan 🙂 (which I am).
Lynn,
I asked my son if he read it and he says that we haven’t! So I’m glad you mentioned it. I went through all the stories with him (except Farmer Boy) years ago and now I’m just starting through with my daughter. I’ll be sure not to miss it this time around. Thanks a million.
Hi Quinn,
Just so you know, Little House in the Ozarks is different from Wilder’s novels; it’s non-fiction, and aimed at women (not kids). So I’m not sure if your son would be interested. But depending on your daughter’s age, she might be . . . anyway, I just love the book, and hope you can find a copy and that you love it, too 🙂
Well I’m sure glad you told me that before I planned that for his reading 🙂 Poor fellow would have been stuck reading something not interesting!
I just reserved it from my library, so I should have it by the end of the week. (Which should be incentive for me to get off the computer and read my current book – Marriage to a Difficult Man about Sarah Edwards.)
Thanks again!
nothing beats good old fashioned (no I do not mean the drink mix) lemonade I love lemonade shake ups as well
Lynn and Quinn: I am sitting mouth wide open because I stumbled upon that book at a yard sale this weekend and bought it for $1 !! I had no idea what I had bought. I was thinking it was one of the books for reading to the kids, but you are right. It is definitely a book for wives/mothers. And thanks for clearing up that it is a collection of newspaper articles that she wrote… I have not even read the beginning that would probably tell me that. I was a bit confused because I opened it to the middle and started scanning…. soon realized that I had bought something different than what I was thinking. Cool though… very old-fashioned, practical, virtuous advice and such. I look forward to reading it. God must have sent it my way and you all just reinforced that!!
I love Laura Ingalls Wilder and remember making that lemonade recipe as a kid – thanks for helping bring back wonderful memories!
Oh, this is delightful! LIW is one of my faves–and this delicious lemonade sounds tasty and packed with vitamin C!
Hugs,
G
This sure beats the old lemonade frozen concentrate – now just need a good porch swing and warmer weather!!
Real lemonade is a good thing! BTW, the real Little House on the Prairie is not that far from me.
I will get that book from the library! Thanks for the recommendation!
Happy Cinco de Mayo
~Really Rainey~
Okay, you tweaked my interest in this book and I am going to look for it! I love LIW, too. I live in MN not too far from Walnut Grove! But back to your lemonade comparison – from a dental aspect fresh is better for you believe it or not, because the fakey acids are hard on your enamel. (Think about putting battery acid on your teeth – yuck!) Just remember nothing beats water inbetween! ~ Robyn
Sounds delicious!
xo,
Sheila
This sounds like a great recipe, thanks for sharing it.
Claudia
claudiafranson.blogspot.com
I can almost taste this lemonade!