The Couch Sessions

Last week, I lucked out and was able to pick up a friend's farm share while she was on vacation. Melon, lettuce, delicious heirloom tomatoes... and beets. As can be the case with beets, I was bewildered how to make the most of them. Too hot out to roast, not enough to pickle. Some internet research led me to Joy the Baker's Pantone-pretty Beet Lemonade, a perfect summer pick-me-up. As usual, I was missing some ingredients and was A) too lazy and B) too cheap to go to the grocery store. Pretty much all I had was the beets and a leftover container of lemonade mix to take the place of fresh-squeezed lemons. I altered the recipe accordingly and guess what? It was still pretty darn refreshing for about half the work.

Beets are messy, and this lemonade is easy to inhale, so I recommend making a big batch all at once. Double or triple my recipe below and store in a glass container for future refreshment.

Cheap Beet Lemonade

Makes about 4 servings

Ingredients

1/8 cup grated beet
3.5 cups water
Lemonade mix

Instructions

1. Obtain unpeeled beets. Grate. (Tip of the trade: Don't wear white.)

2. Mix 3.5 cups water with lemonade mix.

3. Add .5 cup lemonade and grated beets to blender. Blend for 1 minute.

4. Strain mixture. (I used a mesh strainer with a coffee filter liner.) Add remaining lemonade. Garnish with lemon slices, if you're fancy. Enjoy the end of summer.