Lemons

What you need:

3-5 lemons, sliced in rings

green herbs (mint and thyme are my faves)

6-10 cups of boiled water

1-2 cups of ice

A bundt pan

Now, there’s something to know about ice rings… whatever you want to show up on the TOP of the ice ring should be on the bottom of your bundt pan. This means that unless you have a clear glass bundt pan you won’t really know what the ring will look like until you unfreeze it. As you’re positioning your lemons and herbs, just be sure to put enough greenery underneath the lemons so it shows up. Then, you’ll want to add some water (just enough to freeze all your stuff together NOT enough to float the lemons and herbs). You’ll also want to add about 1-2cups of ice to weigh all the lemon slices down and make sure they didn’t float. Then, you’ll put the whole shebang into the freezer for about an hour.

At this point pull out any ice that didn’t freeze, and add another layer of water, then freeze it. Do this two more times.

When it’s time to remove your ice ring, flip the bundt pan over into your punch bowl, wrap a warm, wet towel around it, until the outside of the ring melts and it falls out.

You may find that your lemons/herbs/whatever else you used to decorate your ring may be covered in a bit of water. You can use a hair drier to melt a bit of that water so that your ring looks snazzy. This isn’t totally necessary as the whole thing will slowly melt into your punch anyway.

it’s so easy, right? and so lovely…. I wish punch in bowls was more of a thing! I think I’m going to try to bring it back since punch in jars is so popular at swanky bars.

Lemonade Sorbet
Weight Watchers Points: 1 per serving
Serves 6-8

Mississippi gets boiling in the summertime and already by memorial day was 97 degrees. We’re making a move at the end of June to a new little town and the thought of loading boxes in the heat makes me want to wilt… but the heat also means it’s time break out my ice cream maker and enjoy the fruits of my labor. the long weekend gave me a chance to make a southern summertime staple in my favorite form…frozen.

What You Need
4-6 lemons (for 1 cup on lemon juice)
1 1/3 cups of water
7 tsp of stevia
3 tsp sugar

What to Do
In a small pot on medium or high heat, make a simple syrup by boiling the water and adding in the sugar and stevia until both have completely dissolved and the liquid is slightly thickened. Remove the syrup from the heat and let cool.

Grate the lemon zest and squeeze the lemons (if you don’t have a juice strainer, make sure to strain the lemon juice for seeds).
Mix in the lemon juice and zest. Chill in the refrigerator until cool. (also, make sure that your ice cream maker bowl is frozen..it takes mine 24 hours to set, so plan ahead, peeps).

Once the lemonade mixture has totally chilled, freeze it in your ice cream maker according to your maker’s instructions (mine took about 35 minutes to totally freeze mine) then transfer it into a container and let it harden in the freezer.

we had some monday as a memorial day treat because it was outside it was H-O-T and this was delicious…cold, sweet and tart at the same time. the flavor is pretty intense, so your serving size should be on the conservative side, but from having little tastes all week i can tell it’ll be perfect for a summer time treat.

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