New Culinary Direction

So over the last two weeks, Dana and I have set out to cook more than we have. Well, by that I mean cook at all. A couple of my friends suggested that we blog about what we're making. We've started with some really simple recipes, but hopefully we'll branch out soon enough.

Tonight we gathered some ingredients for raspberry sorbet, but then soon realized our biggest obstacle: I don't have a blender or an ice cream maker. So, we ended up with raspberries, sugar, and three pounds of lemons. So, in a stroke of brilliance, we decided to make some raspberry lemonade!

Needs:

Some large bowls

Citrus juicer

Mesh strainer

Pitcher

3-4 medium-sized lemons

One cup sugar

A dozen raspberries

A medium sized (8-10 cup) saucepan

First, put about six cups of water into the saucepan and mix in the cup of sugar. Heat until it boils for about two minutes, then remove from heat to let it cool. After it's reasonably close to room temperature, pour the sugar-water into a large bowl and put it into the fridge to cool it further.

While you're waiting for the water to cool off, cut 3-4 lemons in half and squeeze the juice out of them with your juicer. Place the mesh strainer inside a bowl and pour the pulp-and-seed-filled lemon juice into the strainer to separate out the juice. Place your dozen or so raspberries in another bowl and mash them up - I used a spreader, but a spoon would probably do in a pinch.

Once the water is nice and cool, pour it into the pitcher and combine it with the lemon juice and raspberries pulp. Stir it up nicely and repeat the process you did with the lemon juice - pour it through the strainer into another bowl. Return the newly seedless mixture back into the pitcher. Add about half a dozen ice cubes and return it to the fridge to cool off.

To serve, we poured about two and a half cups of the stuff into each of two mason jars. We added a couple more ice cubes to each mason jar and a splash of vodka in each just to make things interesting. Anyway, it turned out a nice, pretty pink color:

Voila! It could have used a little more lemon juice (it had a much stronger raspberry flavor than lemon), but it was pretty great. Tomorrow, we're aiming to make some US Senate Bean Soup. Wish us luck!