If you've been reading my blog for longer than, oh, a day or two (hahahaha) you have likely heard me mention a lovely little ice cream shop called Sweet Ritual. They are a vegan ice cream parlor located inside another great Austin staple, the Daily Juice. Currently, Sweet Ritual specializes in vegan soft serve. They usually offer two flavors per week and have a myriad of sundae options on their menu. Shakes and coffee are a few more of their specialties. 

And I can't be modest in my adoration of this place. I love Sweet Ritual. Which is why I'm devoting another post entirely to them. Amelia, who opened Sweet Ritual in December 2011 with friend Valerie, asked me if I would be interested in telling my readers about a fundraiser the girls are having in order to add "hard-packed" ice cream to their current soft serve menu. They're doing this using a Kickstarter campaign, which is a "crowd-funding" platform that is extremely popular. Here's a video they made explaining the fundraising project.

I'm excited for this project for a number of reasons. Primarily it's because I'm extremely confident that Sweet Ritual's hard-packed will become the best on the market. Yes, there are a number of vegan ice cream options at my local Whole Foods and Sprouts, but they simply are not up to my standards. For instance, my local Whole Foods only offers a wide variety of Coconut Dream products and a couple other brands in flavors like "vanilla" (and I hate Coconut Dream. Yuck!). Even my favorite hard-packed ice cream, Purely Decadent by So Delicious, isn't as good as Sweet Ritual soft serve. You might be in a similar predicament. Adding another brand to the mix would be most excellent and the ladies at Sweet Ritual know their stuff. While it might be a long time before you'll see their hard-pack in stores nationwide, Austinites will at least have the option of getting some in their own town.

So, to try to get you on board, I asked Amelia if she would be willing to answer me a few questions about her company, her ice cream making process, and her business goals. Here's what she had to say.

Why ice cream? Some people love cupcakes, others are cookie fanatics. What makes ice cream so special to you?

Ice cream was always my favorite dessert as a kid. It was a ritual at our house that after we had put away the dinner dishes, my dad would break out a pint of ice cream and we'd eat it right out of the package. I like ice cream because, as you eat it, it changes in texture and forms. I named our shop Sweet Ritual because we are so ritualistic about the way we eat our desserts. I feel a sweet connection with the kid who scrambles his vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup into an ice cream soup, and then slurps it up on the spoon, because that's how I used to do it! We are really excited to offer a scoopable version of our ice cream to our customers. The number one request from our clients is either a soy-free or an agave-sweetened version. With the new machine we're
raising money for, we will have complete control over making different ice cream bases. These can be anything from cashew-based to almond-based. Also, we can control the sweetness level, and use alternative sweeteners such as agave or stevia.

How do you come up with new flavors? Do you keep the season in mind? Or are your new additions based purely on curiosity alone?

When dreaming up ice cream flavors, I first consider what people like in Austin and what I can use to bring local flavor to the store. I'm so excited to do a chili mango flavor next summer! I'm also excited to be showcasing local vegan businesses and using their ingredients in our ice creams. We are working with Capital City Bakery for brownies and Celeste's Best for vegan cookie dough. I literally cannot wait to get the machine running - as soon as we get a good chocolate recipe down, I'm going to dive head-first into a white coffee/brownie bits/walnut crunch flavor. YUM!

And finally, what are your long term goals when it comes to Sweet Ritual? I remember you mentioning wanting to open your own parlor. Do you dream of several locations? Franchising? Vegan ice cream domination!?

Our long-term plans with Sweet Ritual do include a store front, but that may be a few years away. We are letting ourselves grow organically in the direction we are going now, which means staying small, but having very tight control over quality of ingredients and freshness of product. We're in the store everyday making caramel in
small batches, or sifting cocoa for home made chocolate sauce. Buying this $10,000 ice cream machine will allow us to be able to wholesale our ice cream to area restaurants, so you can have a scoop of our ice cream alongside a fresh slice of pie at your favorite diner. Also, we'll be able to expand to San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, etc. with the wholesale product. It's a few steps away from world domination, but at least we'll be in more places than our tiny shop here in Hyde Park!

Mmm, I know that has me intrigued. If you are, too, head on over to their Kickstarter page and contribute. Perks for pledging include pints of hard packed ice cream, Sweet Ritual t-shirts, and even a private ice cream social for you and your friends! But you can also pledge as much as you feel comfortable, even just a few dollars. A lot of people will be very happy that you did!

I don't have a garden, but if I did, I imagine I would do exactly this with the miscellaneous veggies I grew from it! This little pizza is inspired by the one I had at the Cosmic Cafe in Dallas, though it tastes completely different. It's a great light meal and is super easy. It makes approximately four individual pizzas; if you're cooking for two reserve two servings of the veggie mix and save for the next night. If you're serving more than four people, double the recipe. I expect the veggie mix would work great on salads or in wraps, too.

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup chopped baby spinach leaves
1/2 cup chopped zucchini squash
1/2 of a yellow squash, chopped
2 cloves garlic, sliced
2 Roma tomatoes, halved lengthwise and then sliced
1/4 cup diced or sliced red onion
4 (or more, if you prefer) large basil leaves
A pinch of powdered cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon Bragg's liquid aminos
Cremini mushrooms (optional)
1 cup cheddar Daiya shreds
1 cup mozerella Daiya shreds
4 large Ezekiel sprouted tortillas

DIRECTIONS
If using mushrooms, use on per pizza. Pop off the stems and slice the caps. Marinate in some freshly grated salt and balsamic vinegar while preparing the other veggies.

Mix the two types of cheese together and set aside.

Combine the remaining ingredients in a large bowl and toss, ensuring that things get coated evenly. Let sit for 10-15 minutes so the veggies absorb the tomato juices and liquid aminos. 

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Set two of your tortillas on a large cookie sheet. Top with 1/2 cup of the cheese mix. Then add some of the veggie mix, evenly distributing the various delicious ingredients. Try to avoid getting too much of the liquid at the bottom of the bowl on your pizza (it'll make it soggy). Add the mushrooms, if desired. Press down and into the cheese.

Bake the pizzas for 10 minutes, until the Daiya cheese has melted and the veggies have cooked. We actually had to cook the pizzas one at a time because our cookie sheet wasn't large enough for two. Alternatively, you can bake one pizza per cookie sheet with two sheets in the oven, swapping the sheets between your two racks halfway through.

Mmm, summer on a plate! I think I'm ready for autumn, now, hee hee!

Makes 4 pizzas.

Awhile back, a reader recommended that I take a look at what the Happy Vegan Bakery has to offer. As mentioned in my post yesterday, I stopped by their booth at the SFC Farmer's Market at the Triangle on Wednesday and purchased a few of their goodies. I'm glad that I did!

The Happy Vegan Bakery makes a number of different baked goods, including cupcakes, loaves of bread, and more. They even offer a few take away meals and have numerous gluten free options. Some of the cupcakes are even bite size! This surprised me and I was very excited. Chris is not only on a mostly gluten free diet but she is also on a weight loss plan. The mini, gluten free cupcakes were perfect and I excitedly purchased a "Mocha" one for her.

I had seen the "Lemon" cupcakes on Facebook the day before and they were the motivation for me to come that day. I had to buy one of those, so I did.

And as I was talking to Charlotte about how awesome all of their goodies looked, I noticed a giant oatmeal creme sandwich. It made it hard for me to focus on what she was saying, hahaha. I took that as a sign and got one of those, too, fully aware of the fact that it would last me about three days.

Finally, she recommended one of her take away meals. This one had edamame and other vegetables in it. It looked like it would be great as a dip or as a salad topping. I have been eating a lot of salads, so I thought I could use it on them.

Chris and I taste tested each item later that evening. She enjoyed her gluten free mini cupcake and said it wasn't grainy or gritty at all, which is very common with gluten free baked goods. My lemony cupcake was WONDERFUL. Very lemony. I admired the edible glitter that I found sprinkled on top. The frosting had some resistance and firmness to it, which is how I prefer it. And, holy wow, my favorite thing ever was the oatmeal sandwich. Look at it! The cookie pieces are made predominantly of oats and are sweet and salty, and the frosting in between them has the same texture as the kind on top of my cupcake. It was lovely. Huge, but lovely. Yum!

The edamame mix complemented my salad nicely, too. Baked goods just generally hold my attention a lot more than vegetables...

The Happy Vegan Baker has a website, but they seem to be more active on Facebook. They regularly share photos of what they'll be selling at their farmer's market booths, too. In addition to purchasing goodies at their market locations, you can special order cookies and cakes through their website. You can also get your hands on their products at local stores. For a list, visit the Info page of their Facebook profile here. I haven't asked them if they can ship, but you could certainly inquire if you live out of town.

Happy vegan eating!

I haven't really spent a lot of time writing about Austin and I've been wanting to change that. I've lived here for two years now (and a couple months in 2007, too) and the level of originality this city has still surprises me.

Growing up in New Hampshire, there were  a lot of things that I lived without when compared to kids from more urban areas. My home state still isn't well known for it's vegan options or evening entertainment, but it has made some strides. I sort of have this goal of returning to New Hampshire and helping it become more green and vegan friendly- though how realistic this is I can't begin to imagine. It seems like most of us have aspirations that are beyond our reach!

In the meantime, though, I feel like I should share with everyone the different types of things that people in Austin are doing to make this world a better place.

Last Wednesday, I headed on down to the Sustainable Food Center's farmer's market at the Triangle. The SFC is a great organization with four different markets going on at different times and places during the week with rotating booths and vendors, all with the goal of encouraging a more sustainable food system. I got there right as it was starting. It was hot, I had yogurt in the car, and I didn't feel like I could spend too much time outside shopping in 100+ degree weather with other groceries melting away, too. But someone had recommended that I visit the Happy Vegan Bakery and that is what I intended to do.

But on my way I also saw some wonderful vegetables that I absolutely had to buy. I purchased six little zucchini and a bunch of cherry or grape tomatoes for $8 from a very kind gentleman. And while I was meandering around I discovered some delicious iced hibiscus and mint tea made by Nile Valley. I've been drinking their hibiscus teas for several years now and had completely forgotten or spaced the fact that they're based in Austin. I purchased a box of family size hibiscus mint iced tea bags for $5 and got an on the spot iced tea for free. It's so awesome, and it tastes just as good at home. According to their website, they use some of their profits to develop the business owner's former hometown in Nubia. 

I'm going to make a point of going to the various farmer's markets throughout Austin; there are so many with so many different vendors it can't possibly get boring.

But I'll have to start going to the ones that are on the weekends, I think, because I'll be leaving my full-time retail position in September. I've been trying to find another job for a long time now and, so long as I pass my drug test and complete my paid training with a passing grade, I'll be working days from here on out. Working evenings and weekends has put a genuine strain on my relationship, interests, and hobbies. I'm so very excited to have "normal hours" and to be able to spend more time with my family.

Photos of my goodies from the Happy Vegan Baker are to come. In the meantime, enjoy your day!

Hey, all. I have to admit, I am very tired. I was a super busy bee on Wednesday. After going to the eye doctor's and picking the winner of my Glass Dharma giveaway, I also picked up some groceries, went to the craft store, and down to the farmer's market at the Triangle and picked up fresh, locally grown produce, hibiscus mint tea from the Nile River booth, and sweet things from Happy Vegan Bakery. Then I came home, made brown rice, black beans, and kale for dinner and whipped up banana mini bundt cakes after that. While those were baking, I photographed the goodies I got from HVB and Chris and I had a taste testing fest with them. And then I photographed the banana cakes before doing all of the dishes I had created in the process.

Yesterday was equally as eventful as I drove to Dallas and back and nearly had a flat along the way. My stepfather travels a lot for work and he brought my mother with him this time so they could enjoy celebrating their 17th anniversary. I haven't seen mom since April when she came down for Easter and I haven't seen Richard, my stepfather, since October when I went to New Hampshire for my father's 50th birthday. So, because of the tire drama, I rolled into Dallas about an hour later than anticipated. We got a replacement and headed out to the Cosmic Cafe, which they drove past while waiting for me to show up, plotting their route for when I arrived. I had intended to bring them to the Spiral Diner, which seemed like it served more American style food, but apparently they thought the Cosmic Cafe looked awesome after seeing it, looked it up on their iPhones, and decided we should go there. What cool folks!

The whole place is decorated in an Asian, predominantly Indian, style. There are lots of Buddhas to be found, elephants, and lotus flowers, too. What's more is that the place seemed really popular. We sat down just after one and the outdoor eating area was still packed. 

In any case, it's important to note that the Cosmic Cafe is a vegetarian restaurant so the menu has a lot of things with cheese and yogurt on it. You can, however, order many dishes dairy free. They do not have vegan cheese, though. Sadness. Especially considering all of the nan pizzas on their menu. It didn't stop me from ordering one, though!

I started by inquiring about iced tea. They offered me a hibiscus passionfruit blend which I gladly accepted. It was served with blueberries and a lemon wedge and was very refreshing. I chose the "mandala pizza" for my entree, and that was exquisite. Loaded with fresh vegetables and herbs on top of tomato sauce and soft, spongy nan. It was just fine without any sort of cheese. Very impressive. Look at all those veggies! Squash, zucchini, tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach, and red onions? Don't mind if I do!

Mom ordered something called the "portobello trance" which looked like mushrooms in a flatbread sandwich made of nan. It looked wonderful, too.

And when our server told us they had a vegan strawberry cake for dessert, I had to try it out. So good! Mom thought it was a bit too sweet, but it was full of berry flavor. I ate almost the whole thing myself. Yum! And pairing it with blueberries was a great idea, too. I'm going to have to do that more often; fresh fruit and cake. What a great idea.

I would highly recommend visiting the Cosmic Cafe if and when you are in Dallas, regardless of your amount of veganness. I would suggest, though, that you eat inside until the wine place next door is no longer under construction. The workers were cutting galvanized steel while we were eating. It was noisy and smelled bad...

When we were doing stuffing our faces, I took a few  more photos of the ambiance (which you can see on Facebook here) before Mom and I walked down the street to City Pet Supply waiting for Richard to come back from his appointment. I bought Rusty some new toys and treats and then the three of us went back to their hotel. After much deliberation, we set out toward the "Grassy Knoll" on foot, went to the 6th Floor Museum, and had Chipotle for dinner on the way back. I introduced my mom to Instagram and we took some fun pictures of the three of us before I got back on the road. It was a long day, but it was definitely worth it.

Hello, everyone! I hope you're having a most excellent Wednesday. Mine is going really well. I went to the eye doctor's this morning. My peepers are in excellent shape and I was even told that my prescription was too high for my vision. My doctorface didn't imply that my vision has gotten better at all, but that perhaps my previous prescription was too strong and that my eyes have not gotten any worse. I am very pleased. I did order new glasses, though, because my current set keeps falling off of my face and does look like it's about to snap on the bridge. It was actually a pretty fun appointment; the staff was nice and enthusiastic and we played with, like, five crazy fun machines. Yay!

I walked my poodlebutt when I got home and am currently enjoying a bit of lunch. While it was cooking, I compiled all of my current recipes into a page for your convenience. The RECIPES page now lists all of the recipes I've made on the blog in various categories. Do check it out.

My mother and stepfather safely landed in Oklahoma City last night and are preparing to head to Dallas in a few hours. I'll be meeting up with them tomorrow for fun frolicking. I am hoping to take my mother at least to a vegan eatery of some kind so I can write about another vegan hot spot in steak-loving Texas; it's just how I roll. Especially considering my upcoming Houston trip is going to be far less about Houston than I anticipated. It seems as though the space center is between 30-45 minutes away from all the awesome vegan places that that area has to offer. Hopefully Chris and I don't have to live off of Souper! Salad or Subway. Life is just kind of rough sometimes.

The rest of my Wednesday will possibly involve a visit to the farmer's market at the Triangle and making kale for dinner. I am hoping to clean and rearrange my living room to make it more yoga friendly, but we'll see how things go.

In closing, I should mention that I have picked the winner for the $25 coupon code from Glass Dharma, redeemable toward glass straws and accessories. If you've been checking on the entries, you'll have noticed that there was one highly competitive young lady that was determined to win, and she did. That's right, JAMIE P. has won the coupon code. Congrats, Jamie!

Thank you, everyone, who entered. If you'd still like your chance at winning some glass straws, be sure to stay a fan of Glass Dharma on Facebook. You can also enter other giveaways at My So Called Balanced Life, Party of Five, and Green Mama Jama! I did!

Have a great day!

Hello! I'm in a super good mood today, even though Tuesday was my only day off this week; I spent it being a home body, except when I went to Starbucks to support National Marriage Equality Day and brought breakfast to my Chris-face afterward. Oh, and also except when we went out for dinner and a movie at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz on 6th Street for Girlie Night and Bend It Like Beckham! Hee hee! But I digress.

While I was home, I made these awesome cookies. I know you're probably thinking that it's too early for pumpkin anything and you're probably right. But I just get so excited for autumn flavors, scents, festivals, and activities that I start celebrating a bit earlier than most other folks. I just can't help it! I guess it's my way of coping with the fact that Texas doesn't really have an autumn season; I can't go to my favorite farmstand and pick a peck of my favorite apples or go on a hayride after picking pumpkins. Texas doesn't even have apple cider the way it's supposed to be. Sigh...

So I went into the kitchen and started whipping up some cookies with pureed pumpkin as the star ingredient. It took me a good while to finally come up with a dough I liked the taste of and the resulting treats are definitely unique! I'm calling them vegan Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread Cookies. A mouthful, I know, but they taste like and have the texture of pumpkin bread but in cookie form. Neat! I think I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies once before, but my friend Teresa introduced me to the idea back in the 90s or early 00s. She's also to blame for my love of lavender in baking after making a lavender pound cake!

Other pumpkiny things I've made over the years include pumpkin bread (kind of obvious), pumpkin soup and chili, and pumpkin roll. I think I might attempt to veganize the pumpkin roll for Thanksgiving. It is truly one of the most decadent desserts I've ever had. In the meantime, though, I hope you enjoy this recipe!

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
1 cup evaporated cane juice
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cups canola or vegetable oil
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup soymilk
2 tablespoons tapioca flour
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 cup vegan chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and oil two cookie sheets or line them with parchment paper.

Combine sugars with liquid ingredients and pumpkin until dissolved. Add the tapioca, baking powder and soda, salt, and spices and mix well. Slowly add flour as you mix. This is easier in a standing mixer.

Your dough should be shiny, thick, and sticky but not stiff and unscoopable. It should try sticking to your fingers when you touch it, but should also resist and stretch slightly. If you think your dough is too wet, add a couple more tablespoons of flour. When you have reached the proper consistency, add your chocolate chips and fold. Do not overmix!

Scoop heaping tablespoons of dough onto your cookie sheets, providing enough space for them to spread slightly. I baked them six cookies per sheet at a time and used one spoon to scoop and another to scrape the dough off the other. Use your spoons or fingers to shape the dollops of dough into round shapes.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool for five minutes before transferring to a wire rack and allowing to cool completely.

Makes 24-30 cookies, depending on the size of your dollops!

Reminder: Don't forget to enter my current giveaway to win a $25 coupon code redeemable at the Glass Dharma store for durable and stylish glass straws and accessories!

Chris and I had a wonderful little picnic on Wednesday. When we first got together in West Virginia, we used to go have date nights at one of our town's two Chinese buffets. Chris became vegetarian while we were living in Midland and didn't feel comfortable eating at the Chinese restaurant there without knowing 100% that their options were vegetarian friendly.

So, the last time either of us had had Chinese food was probably in San Francisco in 2009. Yikes!

We've been in Austin for two years now and still hadn't tried anything local nor another nationwide Chinese food chain. One afternoon we met up at a Panda Express. Chris asked one of the girls at the counter which items were vegetarian. One said, "Oh, anything without meat is vegetarian," but was quickly corrected by another claiming that all we could have were spring rolls and white rice. There's even more debate on whether or not there's anything at Panda Express that's actually vegetarian. The issue apparently is that they use chicken broth in nearly everything as a sauce or base. So if you're vegetarian but somehow don't have a problem with chicken broth, you're okay. But they definitely do no have vegan options.

Pei Wei, to the contrary, has vegetarian items listed on their menus. And, according to Vegan Eating Out, there are three vegan options for entrees. You can get edamame and spring rolls as sides and have can choose between the Spicy Korean, Sweet & Sour, or Thai Blazing (or Dynamite?) for entrees. If you're general vegetarian or an herbivore, you also have the options of getting the Honey Seared or Japanese Teriyaki Bowl, the sauces for which contain honey. With any option you can order it with vegetables, tofu, or vegetables and tofu on rice or noodles. Chris ordered the Thai Dynamite (pictured above) while I got the Sweet & Sour (see below).

Chris seemed pretty impressed with her dish, saying that it wasn't too spicy but was still quite good. She liked the spring rolls a lot. I thought they could have been crispier. But I liked my dish quite a bit as well. It wasn't too sweet and had a great mix of vegetables, pineapple, and tofu. Oh, the tofu! That's the BEST part. Apparently it's marinated and has a meaty, chewy texture. It's awesome. Needless to say, we were both very happy with our dishes. We each ate half for lunch and ate the second half for dinner.

We ate at a little pull off on Chisolm Trail in Round Rock. It was actually near the Round Rock the city is named after. We didn't have the chance to go into the historical buildings off to the side, but the scenery was very nice and peaceful. It was really hot out, but there was a mild breeze and that made the meetup more bearable. 

Anyway, I'm super glad to be able to get Chinese food again. I'm hoping to go to the Pepper Tree restaurant while we're in Houston in September. Vegan Chinese buffet? Yes, freaking please! Another option we're considering is a place called Radical Eats, a Mexican restaurant owned and operated by a former Kerbey Lane employee. 

All right, it's time to go back to work. Don't forget to enter this month's giveaway; you could win a $25 coupon code redeemable at the Glass Dharma website for reusable glass straws and accessories! Thanks for reading!

One of the many reasons a lot of people consider going vegan is the lifestyle's beneficial impact on the environment. In the United States, 80% of our agricultural land goes toward farming livestock, a process which also pollutes the air with dust and bacteria and is responsible for using thousands of gallons of water, the vast reduction of which could drastically reduce drought and be better served on grains for direct human consumption. A lot of vegans don't stop there, though. They buy items from health food stores in bulk, collect reusable shopping bags, recycle, shop secondhand and do a lot of other things to reduce their environmental impact. We try to do a lot of these things, Chris and I, especially when it comes to reducing our use of plastic.

My partner, Chris, listens to public radio religiously. She heard about Glass Dharma, reusable glass straws, during a segment on one of her favorite shows. We quickly ordered our own and have been incredibly happy with our purchase. These straws are stylish, lightweight, and durable. They come in different designs as well, and can be ordered with carrying sleeves for when you eat out, and straw brushes, too. They really are just so pretty and I love to use them. Don't you think they're attractive? Check out those reusable ice cubes I picked up at Bed, Bath, & Beyond, too.

I like them so much and wanted to write about them I decided to write to Glass Dharma and see if I could give you some for free! They said, "yes!" and are going to give one lucky winner a $25 coupon code to redeem for glass straws and accessories. Woo hoo! Their lovely straws come in different lengths and widths and can also be ordered with decorate "dots" (see my photos). They also have a design with a slight bend for you bendy straw lovers! For $25, you could purchase a "sipper" sized straw with carrying case and have a bit leftover to go toward a cleaning brush. Or you could buy three "ice tea" or "sipper" sized straws and have some of your credit leftover for an accessory. However you want to make it work!

And, as per usual, you'll have to use the Rafflecopter widget located just below in order to enter. The first thing you have to do is "Like" the lizz delicious page on Facebook. All other modes of entry are optional, but will increase your chances of winning by three or five times! If you do not follow the instructions, any incomplete entries will be deleted once the giveaway deadline has been passed. Here's the widget! And once you're done, scroll down for a recipe from my book Summertime Sippers!

Lemonade is such a wonderful treat! I love making it and do so pretty regularly. It's so easy, too. I always have a bottle of lemon juice in my refrigerator, ready to go. This was another recipe I developed prior to having the idea for Summertime Sippers, my first cookbook which is devoted entirely to iced cold beverages for enjoying on warmer days of the year. If you'd like, you can even try three more recipes from the book by visiting its page on this website. Today I decided to make the recipe variation I included in the book, which uses turbinado sugar as opposed to white sugar. It gives the lemonade a rich, creamy flavor, similar to "brown sugar lemonade" you might find at some restaurants. The flavor is just slightly different. You can always use regular sugar, if you'd prefer.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup lemon juice
3/4 cups turbinado sugar
Water and/or ice

DIRECTIONS
In a 2-quart container, dissolve the sugar in slightly warmed, room temperature, or from the tap water. Stir or swish until dissolved. Add lemon juice and some ice and fill the rest of the container with cold water to the 2-quart line. Stir. Let chill completely before serving or serve over ice immediately!

Makes 2 quarts.

Thanks for reading, as usual!