Fresh Blueberry-Infused Lemonade

I'm back! :) Seems like time has raced by for the last few weeks. We've been pretty busy working on various projects and tasks before I go back to work next week. Elizabeth has continued to be a wonderful and blessed growing baby girl! Here she is at 6 weeks old!

 But enough of the cuteness - for now. :)


I've concocted an amazing new creation in the kitchen, and I wanted to share it here with all my readers! Robert has requested it since I made it up, and anything my husband wants me to make again is a winner in my book. :) 

So here it is: Fresh Blueberry-Infused Lemonade

Ingredients: 

2 fresh lemons
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
15-20 lemon balm leaves - you'll want a variety of young (smaller) and older (bigger) leaves
3/4 - 1 1/4 cup sugar (depending on preference) 
2 liters of water
Infuser with pitcher - I bought mine at Costco for $16 (or mesh colander + large mouth pitcher)

Start with preparing and measuring your
ingredients.

 Zest one of your lemons. (I used about
2 teaspoons of zest).

Set the zest aside.

Rinse your blueberries and set them aside.

Rinse your lemon balm leaves. Be sure to take
deep breaths while you do! You won't regret it :)
Pat them dry, and set them aside.

Measure your sugar. I used 3/4 cup, but you can
use more or less depending on your taste. (My
hubby likes everything sweet, though.)

Once your lemon balm leaves have had a chance
to dry, tear them. Don't worry about being exact;
this is not a science! Try to tear every leaf at least
once to release as much lemon-minty goodness as
possible. :)

Juice your lemons. (I did this by hand, which is a
fabulous way to find any minor cuts, hangnails or
scrapes on your hands and fingers, btw!) I strained
my lemon juice, since we don't like pulp (or seeds!)
in our beverages, but you could just juice directly
into your pitcher if you wanted to.

Add the sugar to the lemon juice.
Mix with a wooden spoon
until the sugar is dissolved.

Add the lemon balm leaves to the lemon juice
and sugar mixture.

Put your blueberries and
lemon zest in your
infuser (or mesh colander).

Add your water to your
pitcher (but don't fill it all
the way - you want to leave
room for your infuser or
colander).

Hold the infuser or colander with the
blueberries and lemon zest over
the pitcher, but don't submerge
it completely. Steady the infuser
or colander with one hand while you
mash the blueberries gently with a
wooden spoon - right into the lemonade!

Secure your infuser and lid onto your pitcher. Let your lemonade sit for at least an hour so that your flavors really meld and marry. (If you're using a mesh colander and pitcher, you can just let it sit over the sink with a piece of plastic wrap gently laid over the top - you're only needing to protect your delicious beverage from dust and bugs). It's okay if you see bits of lemon zest, pulp or blueberries in your lemonade - this makes it more tasty!

This is my favorite part about
this recipe - the lemonade turns a vibrant
color of fushia!

Enjoy your lemonade over ice.
It will keep nicely in the refrigerator
for 2-3 days.

I hope you like my Fresh Blueberry-Infused Lemonade!

1 Month Old

Our precious girl is 1 month old today!

I tried my best to get some good pictures of her today - with 3 different cameras - but truthfully, it's so hard to get everything set up for "perfect lighting" and getting good shots in with her right now.

Elizabeth has discovered her legs can move just as quickly as her arms, and uses them all the time for many different purposes - telling mommy she's needing more to eat, expressing anger or excitement, and my personal favorite: kicking daddy in the stomach when she realizes he's picked her up to comfort her...and he can't feed her. Ha!

Her favorite song is that ridiculous Burger King jingle about the 50-cent soft serve. She will seriously wake up out of a sound sleep when it comes on, and she'll get a big, goofy grin on her face! (I'm definitely not doing my job as a musician to expand her palate, lol).

She loves to snuggle, and we've started calling her "bug" (as in, potato bug), because she "Slinkys" her way down from your shoulder and curls up into a little ball like a potato bug.

Elizabeth is also learning how to hold her head up - very well! She does it all the time now. She is much better about not throwing a fit in the bath, and actually enjoys it.

This baby is such a blessing. :) 

Enjoy the pictures! (And please, don't compare them to the newborn pictures I did. There really is no comparison, and these pictures are really rough).

"I don't like this on my onesie,
Mom."

"What's over there?"

"Please, mama, I don't want to do this!"

"I'll sit still for a minute..."

Probably the best shot I got...

Me: "Who's 1 month old today?"
Ellie Jo: "Me! I'm 1 month old
today!"

"It's my 1-month birthday,
and I'll cry if I want to!" (Serious,
this is how it really went. I'm lucky
I got any pictures without her crying).

This is a good one of her fussing....

"Why you switch cameras, mom?"

I like to refer to this as the "Joe
Pesci" face.

 

"This is cruel and unusual punishment!"

"Watch me wave!"

Looking at the dining room table...
(much more interesting than mom's
camera, you know).

"I'm tired of this now, mommy..."

Looking for Daddy to save her from
the photoshoot...

The only one I did with the flash (she looks
super thrilled).

"Are we done now, mommy?"

We're so happy that our little sweetums is 1 month old. She does something new every day, and just makes us laugh so hard! (Sometimes we laugh when I'm sure she'd prefer we didn't!)

Here's to month #2 of our adorable Ellie Jo!

Baking Goodness

My creation from last week. :)

Baking. I love baking. It's a recreational activity for me! 

I decided to go through my Pinterest board "Foodies" before I went out to the grocery store last week. I hadn't been to the grocery store in - I can't remember how long. I guess about 3 weeks.

This is the recipe I made first, Cream Cheese Coffee Cake. Credit goes to the creator of the recipe here. I decided to add fresh blueberries to half of the coffee cake (right on top of the cream cheese mixture layer), since we had them on-hand. Also, I doubled the crumble for the top (it's the same as my Apple Crisp!)

It turned out delicious!

I also made these chocolate chip scones. I donated most of them to "The Well" (the church's outreach event), so that we could bring in some donations for the kids. I was helping run the new espresso bar on Friday night for the event, and everyone loved those scones! I did not get any pictures of them, as I was holding a 3-week-old while I glazed them! (I even answered my phone when it rang with my bare foot, since my hands were both occupied!)

Because I'm currently obsessed with The Pioneer Woman's cookbooks, website, recipes, etc., and on suggestion from my "not-sister" (AKA, sister-in-law), I made these Vanilla Bean Scones. They were a lot of work! I think my butter got too warm while I was mixing, too, because they came out less of a crumbly consistency, and closer to sugar cookies (which, Pioneer Woman clearly says they should not resemble; whoops!)

I'm going to make some pita bread tonight, too, I think. Stay tuned for that recap!

Generally, I don't get out of the house much anymore. Which is okay. I am loving being at home with my little sweetheart, because by this time next month, I'll be back at work. So, I've been finding things to keep me busy while she sleeps! Baking is one of them. I'm going to work on some other cleaning/ sewing projects this upcoming week (hoping to blog on that tomorrow!)

We've also decided that I'll only be working M-W when I return to work. I'll still be working 20 hours/ week, but I'll be working 2 8-hour days and a 4-hour day. My boss was really awesome about allowing me to have any schedule I wished (within reason, and as long as I get my 20 hours in every week). I'm so thankful for that! It also allows me to be at home with my baby girl at least half of the work week, and all weekend every weekend. :)

Here's our little sweetums now:

Well, okay, it was earlier this week. But still cute! :)

See ya around the blogisphere tomorrow (hopefully!)

PS - if you want a peek at any of the recipes I'm most interested in making, just check out my Pinterest board "Foodies".