Rose Lemonade

The first whiff of this drink will put you somewhere in the middle east that too in the times when kings and queens prevailed and they often enjoyed exotic drinks from ornate cups. At least that where it put me. Yes, exotic is the right word for this drink. To bring you back to modern times, thaw out of winter and welcome spring while you enjoy your favorite TV show at the end of an exhausting day - it is guaranteed to put a spring in your step - no pun intended. I already spoke enough about the smell and yes that is the best part and what's more, that fragrance makes the crisp bubbly lemonade - the kind that you have had several times before - just that extra special.

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Sparkling Iced Tea Basil Limeade

The world drinks tea hot or at least I thought until I came to the United States. Hot tea was a mystery here up until a couple of years ago when Starbucks introduced the chai latte, which by-the-way is no where close to the hot steaming 'elaichi-adrak' desi chai that I knew growing up. I will be honest here, I have tried the iced tea several times, tried hard to build a liking for it, even tried to convince myself that it might be an acquired taste - did not work (hubs is sitting here nodding his head, he didn't care for it much either). Alright, so much about what I do not like. I sat back and in my head tried to extract the good from the iced tea and compensate for the part that was not so much. My conclusion was that iced tea needed some citrus and some fizz. So that is exactly what I did - some lime and sparkling water and voila it worked great - both as a refreshing crisp citrusy drink made exotic with the goodness of leaf tea and also to revive a tired hubs just back from work - an awake hubs is much more useful than a tired sleepy one *wink*.

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Pink Lemonade Bar

ay for me! This is something I have wanted to try for a while now. Ever since the advent of spring this year and with red ripe strawberries showing up everywhere, pictures of various strawberry based recipes including some perfect gorgeous strawberry lemonade bars all over the web. After extensive research on the internet bookmarking a lot of recipes and cooking them through in my head (or 'soft-cooking' as I like to call it), I eventually came up with my very own version of these beauties. I like to call them Pink Lemonade bars. Love the reddish purple-pink color. They are really easy too. During the soft-cooking process in my head however, they seemed a lot tricky - getting the right texture, tartness, sweetness and then cutting them into the perfect squares. They are in fact a breeze to make, gorgeous to look at and taste amazing! Hubs described it perfectly when he said it tasted like an exotic and complex sweet dish, tart and fruity balanced just right with sweet and creamy with the crust adding a playful texture. Delightful!

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Sparkling Blueberry Basil Limeade (Skinny)

hill out in style this summer with this bright, lively and very refreshing berry-lime drink. I am a big fan of lemonades/limeades myself but the big problem I have with them is they are loaded with sugar. So here's a recipe that lets you chill by the pool in style without having to load up on sugar. Hubs was a little skeptical when he heard of a blueberry drink. He likes most all berries except these and raspberries. I had it ready for him when he got back from work. Back home from the hot Florida sun. He took a sip and I could see his face light up. Of course he followed the sip with a detailed description of how good was it and why, how it was crisp and cool and tasted like lime and blueberries in the best way possible, but for me I had gotten my feedback even before he started talking. That was enough.

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Pink Lemonade

ot sure if its the summer doing it or its just me but lately I have been enjoying making different kinds of lemonades. Takes few ingredients, minimum effort and the result is a tasty drink that everyone enjoys and you get compliments for as they come back from school or work and feel the need to cool down. This is one such in the series that I made lately.
As the weather warms up, if you are craving for something cold, bright, crisp and refreshing, this is the drink for you! Pretty, romantic and glamorous and a color that is to die for. This drink always leaves an impression. The fabulous hint of the berrylicious fresh cranberry flavor riding over the base of refreshing citrus of lemons, this drink has the taste that you will remember and will want to come back often to.
A wonderful thirst quencher on a hot summer day or any day for that matter. Pink lemonade makes for a delicious party drink or for just a casual get together.

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Mint Ginger Lemonade

ummer is almost here. It is the season that is welcomed in many parts of the world and dreaded in others. I happen to hail from the part that falls under the latter. Mere mention of summer makes me start thinking about anything cold or refreshing that helps cool you down in the sweltering heat. My foodie brain starts to visualize different kinds of drinks that I can make and enjoy. Guess you can say in some rather strange way summer also gets the creative juices flowing, no pun intended. Refreshing oftentimes to me means some combination of mint and what better to put it together in a drink that I have rarely seen anyone dislike, the lemonade. A simple recipe that done right can get you rave accolades.

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Minty Raspberry and Blueberry Spritzer!

ime flies. Probably the most corny yet the most profound phrase of all time. Summer is already coming to an end. Can you believe it appears like it was only yesterday that we celebrated the New Year 2011 and it it already September, even feels funny writing 2011, want to think its still 2006! While we get ready to welcome the fall with the thoughts of celebrating Dussehra, Diwali and Thanksgiving, this is one pretty pinky summer cooler you must try. Summer is 'berry season' so here is an ode to summer with this 'berrylicious' cool vibrant drink which  is perfect for a lazy summer afternoon or a casual get together or even those fun weekend pool parties. Kids will love this and you can even add a splash of vodka for a little adult treat!

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Strawberry Basil Lemonade

s the weather warms up, if you are craving for something cold, bright, crisp and refreshing, this is the drink for you! Pretty, very girly - romantic and glamorous and a color that is to die for. This drink always leaves an impression. The fabulous flavor of fresh juicy strawberries riding over the base of refreshing citrusy lemons with a twist of basil infused syrup, this drink has the taste that you will want to remember and come back often to.

A wonderful thirst quencher on a hot summer day or any day for that matter. Strawberry lemonade makes for a delicious party drink or for just a casual get together.

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Sparkling Italian lemonade and a Win !!

Basil infused lemonade..how does that sound..refreshing..cool..and so Italian na!..So its Giada time again and this time it is her Sicilian sparkling Italian lemonade which I had bookmarked the moment I saw  the ingredient list... lemon n basil... now I just love the flavor of basil the slight minty and an unique refreshing flavor which I like to put in everything... pesto, pasta, pizza... it just tastes awesome! Never put basil in drinks though so made this and It is out of this world good... crisp and delightful!! The basil is very subtle and surprisingly good with the lemon. I diluted it with a little bit more water because it was a bit strong for my taste, but overall we loved it. 

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Ginger tea lemonade

t may sound a little unusual for an Indian household but we do not drink tea in our home. Neither me nor hubby really liked it ever. The concept of iced tea however always had our fancy but again we never liked the taste, funny eh! So this recipe met me one day while I was watching Giada's show (again). As I usually like lemon flavors in my drinks, be it lemon tea, lemon soda or lemonade (you get the idea), this recipe struck home with me as she was making it. I went ahead and tried making it as-is and it was fabulous. It has a feel of a sophisticated mock-tail with tea and lemon flavors and a hint of ginger. Something you would want to sit sipping on the beach on a hot summer afternoon (yes you can put an umbrella in your glass :)

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