One major side benefit to me not tutoring anymore is that I’m actually inspired to cook sometimes now.  I’ve made mustard-crusted chicken (yummy!), chicken fajitas, salads that have stuff in them besides lettuce, and a beef and corn casserole (which Jim loved and I only sort of liked).  Next time Jim has band practice, I plan on making Fettucine with Bitter Greens (I can guarantee that Jim won’t be a fan of that recipe).

Today’s project was homemade lemonade.

I guess I never thought much about lemonade before; it’s so easy to buy a pre-made bottle and be done with it.  But Idylwilde Farm had a special on lemons yesterday, so I bought five and thought, “What the heck.  I’ll make lemonade.”  I used the recipe in Joy of Cooking, got my sugar water all boiled last night and cooled for today, and then went at it.  And the lemonade was actually pretty good, though I’d prefer that it was a little less sweet, a little more lemony, and that it didn’t use salt.  Looking in my Fannie Farmer Cookbook, I see that recipe uses a different approach to the sugar and water, and has no salt and more lemon juice.  I’ll try that one next, but…here’s my question to all of you:  do you have a favorite lemonade recipe?  And are you willing to share it?  Add your recipes to the comments!