National Lemonade Day!

I love me some lemonade! I have a friend, Jessica, who makes hands-down the best freshly squeezed lemonade ever! For parties, she brings over a canister full of it, and it's sucked down pretty quickly! Everyone always looks forward to it!

Without even knowing there was an actual lemonade day (I should've known since there is a day for everything, right?), the girls had to make lemonade already on their bucket list. 

Last month's curriculum included a tasty recipe for mint watermelon lemonade, and they saved it in hopes I'd get the ingredients. This morning we headed to our local Publix and gathered all the ingredients.

We cheated and used the Country Time mix lemonade, but then we added watermelon juice and chopped mint leaves. It was delicious!

Not lemonade-related, but if you love watermelon, there's a great appetizer you can make with watermelon chunks and a mint leaf topped with either feta or goat cheese. When I first saw the concoction, I thought, "ew no way," and now it is one of my very favorites! There are lots of images on Pinterest if you're curious!

Back to the lemonade, though. This quick and easy recipe was delish! The girls refreshed themselves with it as they hung out in their floaty in the pool. The good life, indeed...

Another sweet lemonade treat I wanted to share with you that many don't know about is a Baltimore tradition called Lemonade Peppermint Sippers!

Much like blue crabs, Old Bay, and Domino Sugars, the peppermint stick shoved into a lemon is one of Baltimore's signature treats!

Rumor is that the tradition began more than a century ago at Baltimore's annual FlowerMart and has become a right of passage every summer. "Members of the Women's Civic League, which operated the annual festival from 1911 to 1999, would claim it is an invention of the FlowerMart, in the way the ice cream cone was introduced at the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition of 1904."

The truth is the origination of the Charm City treat is not clear, but as a self-appointed Baltimore Hon, I'm going to believe the hype.

For more information on the story of the Lemonade Peppermint Sippers, check out this article. 

Meanwhile, at Publix, I snagged a few fresh lemons and, luckily, already had the peppermint sticks at home. We love peppermint at Christmas time in our hot cocoa! I especially love the soft peppermint. I have a bulk bag in my cupboard as after-dinner mints. 

There is a trick to this working, and that is you must have soft peppermint sticks...not hard like a candy cane. 

Start by massaging your lemon. Get those juices flowing! Then, cut about a 1/4 off the top of the lemon off, tuck the peppermint stick inside, and wa-la! The peppermint sticks are porous, allowing the juices to flow through it like a straw! It might take a few minutes, but you'll pucker up pretty quick once the lemon finds its way through. They are a perfect pair of sweet and sour.

It's definitely an outdoor treat! Messy and sticky, and you might need a hose to wash off :) I kid! You'll need some wet wipes, though!

Try it out & report back to let me know your thoughts! 

© Denecia Lee Lagundo 2021