When life gives you limes...

Ok, so that’s not how the saying goes, but we’re going to make limeade.  Mint limeade to be exact.  Mint and lime might sound like a strange combination, but it’s sweet yet tart, refreshing, and fabulous.  For me, it’s like summer in a glass.  It’s quick and easy, and you’ll have a whole pitcher in the fridge to get you through these miserably hot days. 

It reqires only four ingredients:

5 or 6 limes
1 cup sugar
2 sprigs of mint
8 cups water

The first thing we’re going to start on is the syrup.  Pour your sugar and 2 cups of the water into a saucepan.  Turn the heat to medium-high and stir frequently until the sugar has dissolved.  Continue to heat until it comes just comes to a boil. 

 

In the meantime, make sure you wash your mint well.  Leafy herbs like this tend to get little critters down in the leaves, and personally, I prefer my limeade to be bug free. 

When the syrup has just reached a boil, turn off the heat and throw in the mint.  Just throw it in, stems and all, and stir it into the syrup.  Allow it to steep for 5 minutes. 

While that’s steeping, time to juice the limes.  I have to show off the nifty press juicer Hubby just bought for me.  Isn’t it purdy? 

If you don’t have one of those, you can use any sort of citrus reamer, or even just your brute strungth.  You need 1 cup of freshly squeezed lime juice.  I was able to get that out of 5 limes, but just use however many it takes to get a cup and pour that into a glass pitcher. 

Next, measure two cups of ice and pour in just enough water to fill the crevices.  (that’s how we know it’s really 2 cups of water)

Pour that into the pitcher, remove the mint sprig, and pour in the hot syrup. 

Stir until the ice has melted completely.  Add the remaining 4 cups of cold water and voila!  You have mint limeade.   

Pour over ice, drink half of it, and refill your glass before putting the pitcher in the fridge.  If you have guests or want to feel like you’re treating yourself, garnish the pitcher and your glass with lime slices and sprigs of mint.  Relax, and enjoy!   

 

Update:

For those of you following my cross country journey, I have an exciting update.  We found a house!!  Only a handful of days left before we get to move in, and finally have a place to call home!  Here's where I'll soon be making a proper home cooked meal, something I haven't done in almost two months.

 

Pancakes with Homemade Blueberry Syrup - No Mayhem?

That’s right, pancakes.  I know, it seems like something so basic, but you wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve seen thin, rubbery discs served with maple flavored corn syrup.  Pancakes should be soft and fluffy, and nothing beats homemade fruit syrup. 

Let’s start with the syrup.  I like to make it the night before so that it has plenty of time to cool.  It is so simple to make your own syrup, I don’t know why no one does it.  It takes only three ingredients and probably 20 minutes or less. 

So, here’s what you need. 

1 heaping cup blueberries
¾ cup sugar
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon butter (optional)

Yes, I know I said three ingredients, and there are four listed, but the butter is not strictly necessary.  Its only purpose is to prevent foam.  Either fresh or frozen blueberries will work just fine for this.  I had a big bag of frozen ones, so that’s what I used.  If you use frozen, you’ll need time for them to thaw before making the syrup.  Once you have a heaping cup of thawed blueberries, throw them into the blender with 1 tablespoon of fresh squeezed lemon juice.  Blend until smooth. 

Pour the puree into a sauce pan and add the sugar. 

You’ll notice my sugar always looks a bit off white.  That’s because I always use organic sugar, and it’s less refined.  Anyway, stir in the sugar and add the butter. 

Turn the burner to medium heat and stir constantly until it comes to a boil.  Allow it to boil for about 2 minutes.  The bubbles will start to kind of stack up on top of each other like this:

That’s it.  You’ve successfully made blueberry syrup!  Just pour it into a glass container and allow it to cool.  Be careful, though, mixtures like this are VERY hot. 

Now onto the pancakes. 

Ingredients:

2 large eggs
1 ¼ cups buttermilk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups flour
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons sugar

I know your first question will be do I have to use buttermilk?  Yes, you do.  Regular milk will not produce the same results.  You can apparently add vinegar to regular milk to simulate buttermilk, but the idea squicks me out a bit, so if you want to do that, you’ll have to google it yourself. 

Ok, pancakes.  In a mixing bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl (or measuring cup) whisk together the wet ingredients.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk briefly.  You just want to get everything thoroughly combined.  A few remaining lumps will be fine. 

I like to use a griddle so that I can make several pancakes at once, but a pan will work just fine.  Using a paper towel, butter the griddle. 

Wipe most of the butter off so you can just barely see it on the surface. 

When the griddle reaches 350° you’re ready to cook.  If you're using a pan, you can test the temperature with a drop of water.  It should start to sizzle as soon as it touches the pan.  If it just sits there, the pan isn’t hot enough.  If it skips right off the surface, it’s too hot.  Pour your batter for whatever size pancakes you want. 

I think I used about ⅓ cup of batter for each one.

Allow them to cook until you see bubbles on top and the edges start to look dry. 

Now’s the time to flip.  Cook them for a couple more minutes.  They should be golden brown on both sides and should spring back if you press lightly on the surface. 

Stack them up and drizzle them with your fabulous blueberry syrup. 

Fluffy, tender, delicious.