Watermelon Lemonade

I’m going to be honest with you: I’m pretty irritable today. My three-year-old woke me up for good at 4:00 this morning (after waking me up numerous times throughout the night), and the second I walked out of my house and the wall of heat and mugginess hit me, I knew there was no hope for the rest of the day. Eighty-four degrees at 7 AM is just WRONG, people. And 100+ degrees at any time of day is even more wrong – which is what the weather has been like here all week. So even though I already shared one watermelon recipe this week, I’m still sharing this lemonade today. I’m hoping that by talking about this cold, refreshing, delicious summer drink, my mood will improve and I won’t mind the heat so much when I have to go back out into it later today. Hey, I can dream.

Essentially, this lemonade is summer in a glass. It’s like drinking a sweet summer afternoon in liquid form, if that make sense. The watermelon and lemon flavors blend together so perfectly to make a drink that is both sweet and tart, and completely refreshing. My family went through a pitcher of this (which is what the recipe below makes) in no time, and we all just loved it. I could even be persuaded to add a shot of vodka to my glass next time, as my husband so cleverly suggested.

Watermelon Lemonade
from smitten kitchen

1 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice
2 cups fresh seedless watermelon puree (strain through a coarse strainer to remove seeds, if not using seedless watermelon)
3/4 cup simple syrup*
3 cups cold water

Stir all ingredients together and serve over ice.

* Simmer one part water with one part sugar (I used 3/4 cup of each) until sugar has dissolved. Let cool. Alternately, simmer one part sugar with half as much water and once it has dissolved, add the second half of the water, cold, which cools the mixture down faster.