Monday, June 2, 2014

American Style Single Serve Lemonade

A classic and refreshing summer drink downsized to make a single serving!
Make this perfect homemade lemonade for one when you need a quick, refreshing drink! From Anyonita Nibbles

Yield: 1 4 to 6 ounce glass
Prep time:

American Style Single Serve Lemonade

Ah, lemonade. That classic American drink; synonymous with summertime and enterprise. I personally never got the chance to run a lemonade stand growing up, but I did have my fair share of homemade lemonade. You can't beat a glass of refreshing lemonade. With just three ingredients, it's economical and quick to prepare. And if you moderate the sugar, you could even call it healthy!


Close up of single serve American style lemonade from Anyonita Nibbles

Growing up, my mother would always make lemonade--big glass jugs of lemonade with floating wedges of ice were perpetually at home in our fridge, next to an equally-large jug of sweet iced tea. Go in any southern kitchen between the months of May and September and you're certain to find at least one of these drinks. By the gallon. When my mother wasn't whipping up pitchers of the tart and sweet nectar, she'd make single servings of it in restaurants. She'd simply order glasses of ice water and a bowl of lemon slices and with the complimentary sugar packets on restaurant tables, she'd produce glass after glass of the sweetest lemonade.

In the UK, this type of lemonade, American style is called "Cloudy Lemonade" because, well, it's a bit cloudy, isn't it. Bizarrely, Brits call Sprite and 7Up "Fizzy Lemonade" or just "Lemonade" for short. On my first trip to London, I ordered a glass of lemonade, my first in the UK. When the waitress brought the drinks to the table, I stared at all of the carbonated bubbles floating in the glass. "I asked for lemonade," I said. She stared at me as if I'd had six heads. "That is lemonade," she said flatly. We (myself and a group of American friends) were puzzled. I tentatively took a sip and a few seconds later realized that it was just Sprite. So, that's why this is American style. Because it contains no carbonation. It's not fizzy; it's dead cloudy and completely delicious.
I'm up for the challenge! Kick the caffeine and the sugar and #juiceme


Today is Day 2 of a personal initiative I've set: no sodas for the month of June. It's easy to just grab a Coke and knock it back, especially when it's ice cold and especially on a hot day. I was realizing, that I was getting to the point where I was becoming a slave to soft drinks! I struggled to go a day without it, often getting those stupid caffeine headaches when I hadn't had any.

Usually, that's always been my cue to ease up on the soft drinks and swap in more fruit juices and water. Over the last few months, though, while learning to deal with and adjusting to life without gluten, I've been over-indulging on the Cokes. Probably as comfort and in an attempt to keep the number of big life changes I was making at bay. But I noticed  that I was starting to become desensitized to caffeine. Where a can of Coke would wake me up, I was finding this wasn't the case. I've been wanting to eliminate sodas for a while and there's no time like the present, right? Right.

My personal challenge guidelines:
  • No dark sodas of any kind; caffeine free "fizzy lemonades" okay every now & then (I'm thinking no more than twice a week)
  • All teas, smoothies and juices welcome
  • Experiment with making my own fruit and vegetable juices at home
  • My challenge runs from June 1 to June 30 2014
If you're feeling up to it, why not join me on the challenge? It's never too late to make some changes! Feel free to save my challenge image to your computer and use it on your blog, too.Use my guidelines or personalize them to reflect your lifestyle. I'll be using the #juiceme hashtag for motivation and to hopefully find other people who are on the challenge, too! Use the hashtag on G+, Twitter and Pinterest to connect with me. To help get you started, here's my recipe for American Style Single Serve Lemonade.

This refreshing and healhty lemonade is made with just three ingredients. From Anyonita Nibbles

Ingredients:

For the lemonade
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 whole lemon, juiced
**Notes**

  • The measurements for this drink, aren't necessarily cups in the usual sense. I just used the glass pictured to get crude measurements and relied mostly on tasting and stirring to make adjustments.

Instructions:


American Style Single Serve Lemonade



  1. Fill a cup with water, leaving just a bit of space.
  2. Juice a whole lemon into the water.
  3. Stir in the sugar.
  4. Taste and adjust the flavor: too tart? Add more sugar. Too sweet? Add a bit more lemon juice or more water.
  5. Serve ice cold
For when you need a little, healthy pick me up! From Anyonita Nibbles

11 comments:

  1. Interesting post Anyonita. I wasn't allowed fizzy drinks when I was little, which is great. As an adult I don't have the taste for them so luckily it's one thing I don't have to give up. The other plus side is that we had homemade lemonade (which is what we Brits call the real stuff)! These days I just have water with lemon and forget the sugar all together. Yours looks lovely and refreshing and will hopefully help you keep off the sodas. Good Luck.

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  2. Good luck with challenge. I gave up soda over 15 years ago, it was not easy, but I have not looked back! I now start every day with a glass of water. And, I have found I don't like the carbonated drinks at all. It's such a wonderful and healthy change. You can do it!!!

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  3. I love lemonade a great way to refresh in the warmer weather. Blessings, Catherine

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  4. If you ask me, homemade fresh lemonade is the only way to go. That concentrated stuff in a can just doesn't fit the bill....and too funny about lemonade being sprite over in UK! I'm not much of a soda drinker. The most soda I have usually has a little captain morgan in it also...so for the most part, soda is not an issue with me!

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  5. Love homemade lemonade! It is so refreshing and hits the spot on a hot day.

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  6. Great idea to let up on the soda! We have done the same thing and after a while we just didn't even miss it anymore. Now we only have soda on special occasions. This lemonade looks delicious! I never knew that in the UK you guys mean Sprite when you say lemonade. Neat info! Thanks for sharing!

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  7. What a great challenge! I am sure you are going to come up with so many delicious smoothies and drinks! Your lemonade looks deliciously refreshing. I'm excited to see what else you post!

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  8. This looks fantastic! Good luck on your challenge! I would surely join you, but it would be cheating as I don't drink soft drinks! Now if you were doing no sweets, that would be another story all together :)

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  9. Yum, I love lemonade. And I have been looking for a fresh lemonade recipe! Thanks for sharing this!

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  10. If you want the sweetness but not the sugar use Truvia but do read how much to use when replacing sugar. I find about 1/2 the recommended amount of Truvia suits me Great recipe thanks.

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