Lavender Lemonade

Lavender  Lemonade

Yesterday, it was hot. I mean really, really unbearably hot. Yes, I know I live in Southern California. Yes, I know yesterday was officially the first day of summer. Its supposed to be hot, right?
No thank you! June in California is a weird month. Sincerely misleading in its placement during the calender year, June is about as close to a chilly spring as it gets here. Called 'June Gloom', most mornings start hazy and gray. By noon the sun usually picks up a little, but some days you'd swear it was so cloudy it would rain- but it almost never does. 
And then there was yesterday. By 10 am I had stripped down to just shorts and a sports bra trying to stay cool, but nothing was helping. I needed a cool, refreshing drink to perk me up before I wilted completely. I remembered seeing a lavender lemonade recipe on Finding Vegan recently- and man, did that sound GOOD. 
The perfect combination of spring flowers, summer citrus, and ice cold reshreshment.

It was also deceptively easy to throw together. The most challenging part was waiting an hour to drink it!
The original recipe called for 1/2 cup of sugar, but I wasn't really diggin' that. I'm trying to look better in my bikini, not worse! I cut the sugar down to 1/3 cup and used brown rice syrup since thats what I had on hand. And since brown rice syrup (and agave) are both slightly sweeter than sugar, a little less goes a long way.
This recipe is vegan, gluten-free, and refined sugar-free!

Adapted from Munchin' with Munchkin
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons dried lavender flowers
1/3 cup brown rice syrup or agave
2 1/2 cups water
3 lemons, juiced or about 1/2 cup lemon juice
2 cups water

Directions:
In a medium saucepan, combine lavender flowers, brown rice syrup, and the first 2 1/2 cups of water. Bring the mixture to a boil; Once boiling, reduce heat and let simmer for 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat, stir once, cover, and let it sit for one hour. 
When your hour is up, use cheesecloth to strain the remaining lavender flowers from the mixture. (We always get our cheesecloth from CheeseclothFabric.com 'cause they offer such great discounts when you buy in bulk- and we use it for everything! Recipes, cleaning, even as a first aid bandage once!) We simply placed a large piece of cheesecloth over the jug and held the edges while pouring.
Once strained, add the lemon juice and remaining 2 cups of water and stir well. Refrigerate & serve chilled!

PRINT RECIPE