Vanilla Bean Lemonade

Days are getting warmer and longer. You know what that means don't you?

Barbecues, picnics, and lemonade.

Lots and lots of lemonade.

I have two favorite lemonades.

First is Strawberry Lemonade. 

Next, well I am sure you can guess...

Yup.

Vanilla Bean Lemonade.

Oh gracious. Lemons and vanilla beans. I think they must be soul mates. I am so glad they found each other.

I first had Vanilla Bean Lemonade when we lived in Ohio. The Hubs had come across it at a Market in Cleveland. He bought a few bottles to bring home. After trying some, I had to force myself not to drink it all down.

The lemonade was perfectly sweet and tart. Then it finished with the best vanilla flavor. I know it will sound cheesy, but it was like drinking a summer breeze and a summer sunset all in one.

We haven't lived in Ohio for almost three years now (which is crazy people, CRAZY) and I haven't had Vanilla Bean Lemonade since then. I have been missing it. I mean, seriously almost three years without my favorite lemonade. Well that is just craziness.

So I figured I should probably whip up my own Vanilla Bean Lemonade.

Oh my favoritest lemonade I am so glad you are back in my life. I look forward to many long summer days, relaxing on the back patio with the warm breeze blowing across my bare feet drinking down glassfuls of this lemonade.

Happy Summer.

Vanilla Bean Lemonade

4 large lemons, juiced (about 4 cups)
2 quarts of water
2/3 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, scrapped
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

First, scrap the vanilla bean to get all the seeds out. If you have never scraped a vanilla bean, here is a great video by the Martha Stewart on How to Scrape a Vanilla Bean.

Put the sugar into a small bowl and add in the vanilla beans seeds. Mix until the seeds are evenly combined in the sugar. This makes vanilla sugar.

Combine the vanilla sugar, lemon juice, water, and vanilla extract in a pitcher.  Stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Pour into glasses. Add ice. Drink it down.

Follow along with Just Another Day in Paradise

Instagram        Facebook        Pinterest        Twitter

Strawberry Lemonade Cookies

Oh guys, we are pretty much in the season of lemons. Eek. I am so excited. I have shared my 2014 lemon excitement already when I shared a recipe for Lemon Cheesecake Pie a few weeks ago.

Now with the sun shinning, the freshly mowed grass smell, later days, and school almost out for the Summer bring on the lemons. Bring it.

Just after my love of all things lemon, is my love of all thing Strawberry Lemonade. How can a person not love something that combines strawberries and lemons?!
 
So I kind of had to make up a cookie recipe for Strawberry Lemonade Cookies. Then I kind of had to eat half a dozen cookies.

They were that yummy.

Pretty and yummy.
 

These cookies make me happy. They are perfectly chewy with the right hints of strawberry and lemon. They are Summer in cookie form.

In fact, when I baked these up the Little Men were playing outside in the sunshine. Birds were chirping. Lawn mowers were running. My yard was full of bicycles, balls, and shoes. There was laughter and shouting.

The sounds of summer.

When the boys were done playing, the cookies were waiting for them.  They happily devoured these Strawberry Lemonade Cookies. They were a hit.

Give a try.

Strawberry Lemonade Cookies
makes about 2 dozen
 
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 3.4oz strawberry Jello pudding mix, dry
zest of one lemon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet.

In the bowl of a mixer, cream together the butter and the sugar until fluffy. Add in the eggs and the vanilla. Then mix in the lemon juice.

In another smaller bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and strawberry pudding mix. Add in the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix until well incorporated. Then add in the lemon zest.

Using a cookie scoop, drop scoops about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool on a cookie rack.

Follow along with Just Another Day in Paradise

Instagram        Facebook        Pinterest        Twitter

Lemonade Chex Mix

We just had a lemonade stand over here. It was lemontastic.

 To see more of our Lemonade Stand go HERE.

On top of making two kinds of lemonade, we also made some lemony treats that they could sell as well.

The most popular treat that we sold was the Lemonade Chex Mix. This is a super yummy and super easy treat to make. You owe to it to Summer to make yourself some.

   
Lemonade Chex Mix
my chocolate therapy 

9 cups rice Chex
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
1/4 cup unsalted butter
4 tsp lemon zest
2 TBS lemon juice
2 cups powdered sugar

Pour cereal into a large bowl and then set aside. Melt the chocolate, butter, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a microwave safe container. Melt for  minute. Stir. Melt for additional 30 second intervals until smooth when stirred. Pour melted mixture over cereal and gently stir until the cereal is evenly coated.

Transfer the cereal into a gallon ziploc bag. Add the powdered sugar and shake, shake, shake your money maker. Serve it up.

Hope your Summer is going splendidly. Thanks for reading!

Lemonade Stand

My boys' didn't have a lot on their lists of things to do this Summer. Most of the things were Summer normals, like camping, swimming, riding bikes, and staying up late.

There was one special request.

They really wanted a lemonade stand.

Really, really.


So for at least a month and a half, I have been gathering ideas and supplies, spray painting, sewing, and making a "menu" to make them one killer, very special lemonade stand.

I really wanted a super cute stand that they could use year after year. I also wanted a cute stand because well, I am insane like that and I like making things much harder and  more complicated than they need to be...hahaha.

So a day before the lemonade stand we hung this flier up through out the neighborhood.

Then the time rolled around and Hubby and Middle walked the stand (it folds up) over to the spot we chose. The rest of us drove over with all of the goods.

Then we set everything up.

The boys were looking like just about the most handsome lemonade sellers EVER.

We found these simple aprons at Target. They are wearing kelly green shorts...LOVE. I got those at Children's Place. The bow ties I made.

I painted some old frames green. Then I used spray chalkboard paint to paint inserts for the frames. PS...I used cardboard...it totally worked. I hung them onto the lemonade stand with some simple hooks.

I decorated with fresh lemons and limes and some baked goods.

I told the boys I would make some baked goodies for them to sell in addition to the lemonade.

I made:

lemon truffles (recipe coming later)
lemon supreme cookies
lemonade Chex mix (sharing on Somewhat Simple)

The truffles were my boys' favorite. The Chex mix was the crowd's favorite.

I also sewed up a really simple fabric pennant banner.

I used scrap material and cut it into different sized flags. Then I simply ran it through my machine one piece at a time a sewed it all together.

We served two kinds of lemonade. The first kind was good old traditional Country Time. We also made a special kind of lemonade. The recipe was a pin from my Recipe Pinboard on Pinterest.

I even threw in Oldest's favorite candy, lemon heads. They served as a great treat to eat up during the slow selling times.

My boys did an awesome job. They stayed out there for 3 hours. They waved nicely at cars as they drove by. They said "thank you". Oldest was a mean adding machine. They poured. They served. They worked hard.

They sold a lot of lemonade and almost every single treat.

Much to their relief there were two things of lemon truffles left. Whew. They were really stressed for the last 10 minutes that they were going to sell out of them. They were really happy to be able to take them home and eat them.

They really enjoyed themselves, AND they were able to make a little bit of money to put in their banks.

I am so grateful for all my friends, family, neighbors, and the strangers who supported my boys in their little lemonade stand. It meant the world to them that people stopped to buy their lemonade.

I love that they got to have this experience.

Today I am over at Somewhat Simple sharing this recipe for Lemonade Chex Mix. Like I said, this was a crowd pleaser. This mix was SUPER yummy.

Thanks for letting me show off my Little Lemonade Entreprenuers.

Sharing my stand here-

Party Time: The 36th Ave
Friday Flair: Whipperberry
Linky Party: Somewhat Simple

Life Gave Me Lemonade

At the beginning of the Summer, Oldest approached us about having a lemonade stand. He is quite the money minded Little Man.

He still has birthday money from two years ago. He just saves it up waiting for a big purchase. 

In fact, a couple of weeks ago he asked me if we could go to The Mart. When I asked him why, he replied and I quote...

"I want to go to Walmart so I can price iPads."

Oh well, yeah sure, what 8 year-old doesn't want to go to The Mart for that purpose. 

I unfortunately had to inform him that he was still quite a ways off from having the money to purchase said iPad, so a trip to The Mart was off.

Back to selling lemonade.

He really wanted to sell lemonade. So hubby and I promised him and Middle that we would help them put together a little lemonade stand.

We were lucky enough to have the previous owners of our house leave us a portable lemonade stand that the husband had made. 

Now I know Hubby was totally prepared to roll out the stand, mix up some country time, and let the boys sell till their hearts content.

Me on the other hand...

Well my brain went a little overboard right away.

I know hide your shock please.

I will have you know I have held back a lot. I just got so excited with how excited they were and I wanted them to have just a wonderful summertime lemonade stand memory.

I won't give all the details away now...post to follow.

However, I thought I would share the little flier I made for them to put up around the neighborhood.

I was so excited when I was done. I love the bow tie. I love the apron. I love how legit it looks. Gotta love Picmonkey.

Hopefully everything will come together and most importantly, my Little Men will have a great time and make a little spare change for themselves.

Happy Saturday!