Day 5- Lavender Lemonade

I promised that all of my creative activities wouldn't be fiber related and here is the first non-fiber entry. About a month ago a friend invited me to join a local book group. This is something I've wanted to do for quite awhile, but I haven't been able to find one that fits and I am way too lazy to start my own. Anyway, the next book they were reading was The Hunger Games, which I completely devoured last fall (as well as the two sequels) so I was totally in. The meeting was today, picnic-style in a local park so I had to bring something and since no one was down for a beverage I decided to bring lavender lemonade.

I haven't always been a fan of lavender lemonade, in fact the first time Sarah made it for me I didn't like it at all, but after a few more interactions with this lovely substance I grew to love it. There are a million recipes for it online, but basically you just need to find the ratio of lavender to lemon that works for you. Here is my recipe which utilizes dried hibiscus to give it a little (or in today's case, a lot) extra color, a trick I learned from my former sister-in-law who truly understood the fabulousness of pink lemonade. Without the hibiscus, the flavor will be the same and the color will be a really pale pink. Either way this is the perfect beverage for a lazy summer day.

Pink Lavender Lemonade

1/4 cup dried organic lavender
1/4 teaspoon dried hibiscus
1/2 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
3/4 cup sugar
water, both solid and liquid

Put the lavender and hibiscus in a small bowl, pour 3 cups of boiling water over top, cover and let steep for 15-20 minutes. Strain with a fine mesh strainer to remove all of the lavender flower and hibiscus leaves.

In a small saucepan, combine the sugar with 3/4 cup water and heat to create a simple syrup.

Fill a 2 quart pitcher with ice. Add the lemon juice, simple syrup, and lavender tea and fill the rest of the way with water. Refrigerate and serve with a lemon slice.