A new twist on lemonade

One of the best tips I picked up from a cooking class is to use dried lavender flowers to fancy up some lemonade. The lavender adds a floral aroma and a slightly sweet flavor.

An easy way to use it is to use brew some lavender to create a lavender lemonade.

 You just follow your favorite lemonade recipe (or the back of the Crystal Light box, in my case) except you replace the water with this:

1. Boil the amount of water needed for your lemonade

2. Add 1 - 2 TBSP of dried lavender depending on your taste to the boiling water.

3. Turn off the heat and allow the lavender to steep in the water. The longer you steep - the stronger the color and flavor will be. Lavender flowers impart a brown color so you may want to steep less unless you are using the pink lemonade mix.

4. Make the lemonade using the recipe.

One variation is to use half the water for your lemonade recipe to make a super concentrated mix. Then, when you are ready to serve - add back in half the amount of sparkling water or club soda. For instance, if you want a gallon of sparkling lavender lemonade - you only use half a gallon of water to make the mix. Then you add back in half a gallon of sparkling water/club soda when you are ready to serve.

Another variation is creating a lavender lemonade sorbet:

Lavender Lemonade Sorbet

4 cups water

1 cup sugar

1 lemon, zest of

1/4 cup lemon juice, fresh

2 -3 teaspoons lavender

Directions:

1.  Over medium heat mix all ingredients together and bring to a boil.

2. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes

3. Refrigerate 4 hours or until well chilled.

4. Strain mixture and pour into an ice cream maker. Freeze according to manufacturer's directions. If you don't have an ice cream maker, you could put into Popsicle molds or add some ice and blend into a slushee.