I couldn’t believe it. I posted this month’s create a gluten-free beverage challenge and then realized my husband had mowed down all my mint! Usually he only mows part of it so I still have mint to use while the other grows back. Not this time. It’s all gone!
For me, summertime beverages have to include mint. So, I’ll either be begging some from neighbors or buying it at the store if it doesn’t grow quickly.
In the meantime, I thought I would post this easy lemonade recipe. If you don’t have the time or the lemons to squeeze fresh lemon juice, this recipe uses bottled juice. It’s still much better than going the powdered route. If you keep bottled lemon juice on hand, you can mix up tasty lemonade for your kids and their friends with very little effort.
You can use other sweeteners if you like and vary the amounts of each of the ingredients according to taste. I have used 1/2 c. sugar and 1/2 tsp. powdered stevia or 1/2 c. xylitol. Liquid sweeteners such as honey and agave work well, but their flavor will influence the lemonade.
Easy Lemonade

Ingredients
- 1 cup bottled lemon juice
- 1 cup sugar or other sweetener
- 4 cups water
Instructions
- Heat 1 cup of water until boiling.
- Add the sugar and stir to dissolve.
- Combine all the ingredients in a pitcher, stir and chill or serve immediately over ice.
I almost posted this same recipe on my blog! It is a great food storage recipe, and one we make often. We buy bottled lemon juice in large bottles at Costco in 2 pack packages. So when the kids want something other than water, this is my go to.
we like to use organic products so being able to be sure that the lemonade was organic helped. This recipe is realy good. And the fact that you can use any bottled lemon juice you want can be helpful. And everything is better home made. If we have our lemonade stand in the summer I was planing on using this recipe. It only makes a little bit of lemonade but it is worth it because it is so good.
I halved the this recipe and instead of 1/2 cup of sugar, which is what you should have used, I used 1/4 cup of sugar and it is fine. I think 1/2 cup to 2 cups of water, would have been too sweet, in my opinion.