To me, lemonade means summer time. The tart & sweet flavors blend to be refreshing and light. It hits the spot after a day of fun in the sun. Now that summer is officially here, bring on the lemonade!

On a visit to upstate NY to see Andrew at RIT during his 3rd year, we took Andrew & his roommate, Lars, out to a wood fired pizza place Eric found out about online. Besides having amazing gourmet pizzas, Napa Wood Fired Pizzeria has an awesome spiked lemonade. They make their own vanilla bean limoncello and put it in their fresh lemonade. I just had to figure out how to make that cocktail at home and now we enjoy it all summer long! I make the lemonade using lemon juice and my own limoncello from a whole bunch of lemons, but feel free to use a mix for the lemonade & purchased limoncello for ease.

Lemonade (from the ReaLemon bottle)  Makes 1 gallon

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups lemon juice
• water

Put the sugar and lemon juice in a gallon size container and fill the container the rest of the way with cold water. Stir or shake the container to dissolve the sugar and refrigerate it until cold.  Stir or shake the lemonade before serving it over ice.

Limoncello (adapted from creative-culinary.com)  Yield: Approximately 9 cups

This takes 3 weeks to make from start to finished product.

• 12 lemons
• 1.75 liter bottle of 100-proof vodka, divided
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups sugar
• juice of 2 lemons (1/3-1/2 cup)

 

Wash the lemons well with soapy water, rinse and dry them. Using a vegetable peeler, remove the yellow part of the lemon peel, avoiding the bitter white pith. If any pith remains on the back of a strip of peel, scrape it off with a sharp knife.

Peeling all the lemons takes some time!

Put the yellow peels in a jar or bottle, add half of the vodka and seal the jar tightly. Leave the bottle to steep until the peels lose their color, at least 2 weeks.

As the oil from the peels infuses the vodka, the peels lose their color and the vodka absorbs it.

Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan and heat on medium high until it comes to a boil, then boil for 1 minute, until all the sugar dissolves. Remove it from the heat and let the mixture completely cool.

Strain the vodka from the peels using a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth in a colander. Add the remaining vodka, the simple syrup and the lemon juice. Seal the jar tightly and store for at least 1 week before using.

Vanilla Limoncello Lemonade (inspired by Napa Wood Fired Pizzeria)               Makes one pint glass serving

• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 ounce limoncello
• 2 ounces vodka
• 8-10 ounces lemonade
• ice

Put the splash of vanilla extract into a pint glass half filled with ice. Add the limoncello and vodka then fill the glass the rest of the way with lemonade. Give it a stir and enjoy!

Ahh, summer!  ~Linda

Lemonade (from the ReaLemon bottle)  Makes 1 gallon

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups lemon juice

Put the sugar and lemon juice in a gallon size container and fill the rest of the way with cold water. Stir or shake to dissolve the sugar and refrigerate until cold.  Stir or shake the lemonade before serving over ice.

Limoncello (adapted from creative-culinary.com)  Yield: Approximately 9 cups       (This takes 3 weeks from start to finished product.)

• 12 lemons
• 1.75 liter bottle of 100-proof vodka, divided
• 2 cups water
• 2 cups sugar
• juice of 2 lemons (1/3-1/2 cup)

Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan and heat on medium high until it comes to a boil, then boil for 1 minute, until all the sugar dissolves. Remove it from the heat and let the mixture completely cool.

Strain the vodka from the peels using a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth in a colander. Add the remaining vodka, the simple syrup and the lemon juice. Seal the jar tightly and store for at least 1 week before using.

Vanilla Limoncello Lemonade (inspired by Napa Wood Fired Pizzeria)               Makes one pint glass serving

• 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 ounce limoncello
• 2 ounces vodka
• 8-10 ounces lemonade
• ice

Put the splash of vanilla extract into a pint glass half filled with ice. Add the limoncello and vodka then fill the glass the rest of the way with lemonade. Give it a stir and enjoy!