FROZEN MINT LEMONADE

Lemon and mint lemonade is one of the things we miss most about the Middle East.

I don’t care if you take me to a land known for it’s lemons, NO ONE does mint lemonade like the Middle East does. First of all, it’s super sour and it’s completely LOADED with fresh mint… you can’t really ask for anything more perfect as far as lemonades. Every summer that we were in Jordan, we obsessively ordered this cocktail over and over again, so you could say that this recipe is long overdue. We call it ‘Laymoon o nana’ or ‘limonada’ back home, and they serve it EVERY WHERE. THINK: lemon water with tons of mint. It’s pretty much healthy, right?

So here’s the thing with me, I HATE sweet lemonades. Seriously, all the sugar they put in it completely ruins it for me. Because I think it’s almost impossible to make it as perfectly as they do back home, I will say that this is pretttttty darn close. The entire pitcher should yield about 4ish drinks, or you can just drink the whole thing in one sitting like I did (no shame), but once you make this it’ll be hard to drink just the average grocery store stuff. It’s perfect as a mixer or to show off in front of your girlfriends on Labor Day. But seriously though. It’s amazing.

4 lemons, juiced

1/2 or about 25 fresh mint leaves

1.5 cup sugar

1 cup water

4 cups ice

+ Directions: In a small pot, make a mint based simple syrup by combining 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water on medium heat. When it starts to boil, add about 4-5 mint leaves. Reduce to simmer and let mixture cool and thicken into syrup. Set aside.

+ In a blender, add the juice of 4 lemons & the rind of 1/2 of one lemon. Add half a cup of water and blend until smooth. Add syrup to taste (I used about half) and add ice. Blend & enjoy.