Mint Limeade

Mint Limeade is about to become your favorite summer drink. Herby, tart, and sweet, it's well-balanced and refreshing. It's also easy to make at home with fresh ingredients. Homemade is awesome.

It doesn't take much for me to slip into laziness. My style has always been to get everything done as quickly as possible so that I can have maximum time to do what I want. Quite often, what I most want to do is daydream, read, cook, or watch a movie. Cerebral things that involve me sitting still. Basically, nothing.

If my brain gets the slightest signal that I can take it easy, like a day off, or a Sunday, I lose all focus and struggle the entire day to settle into work. Does anybody have some motivation secrets they want to share? If you could magically make those tips appear right this minute as I'm typing, that'd be pretty awesome. I love you, and this recipe is good, but I just want to take a nap.

Now that I think about it, though, this Mint Limeade would probably be the perfect antidote to a languid summer Sunday. Mint is so refreshing. The scent really perks you up and is often used in aromatherapy to bring a little extra energy.

And I always think lime is a little more interesting than lemon. The lime and mint really compliment each other. You can also easily control the amount of sweetness in this drink by simply adding more or less water as you like. If you want to make this bubbly, simply add some sparkling water or a splash of soda water. A shot of gin wouldn't go amiss, either, if you're wanting to make this into a cocktail later in the evening.

How to make Mint Limeade

This recipe of from Nigella Summer by Nigella Lawson, and it's a cinch to make. Honestly, the hardest part is peeling the limes. Try to remove the zest of two limes without getting too much of the white part. I use a vegetable peeler for this. Add the lime zest strips, along with a big handful of fresh mint to a small sauce pan, then add some sugar and water, and simmer it down to make a syrup. You can let the lime zest and mint hang out as it cools before straining to infuse the syrup a little bit more.

Squeeze about four limes, including the two you removed the zest from, into a measuring cup. If it doesn't give you quite enough lime juice, I certainly won't judge you if you use bottled lime juice. Hell, I've seen Nigella do it on her TV shows all the time. Add this to a pitcher, along with the syrup, then top it up with water to taste. Leave it a little bit stronger than you might like because you're going to pour it over plenty of ice. That's it.

Whether you're a busy bee or a lazy bones, it'll all work out in the end. Do what you need to do to make your summer awesome. Start by making Mint Limeade. It makes everything better.

Looking for more homemade summer drinks? Try this Vanilla Lemonade. Or if you want something with a little more spirit, here are 20 Awesome Summer Cocktails for you to enjoy.

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