A few summer recipes!

Last week I hosted a direct sales party in my home, which prompted me to put my thinking cap on and to roll up my sleeves in the kitchen, which I love to do. So anyway here is the recipe for the Mint Lemonade that I made, the Lemon Bars, and the Homemade Brownies. I unfortunately got too caught up in getting ready for the party that I forgot to take pictures. 

Mint Lemonade
I cheated a bit on this beverage, the base of the drink was from a lemonade beverage mix, but I wanted to spice things up a bit, and I have a whole flower box overflowing with mint. So I made a simple mint concentrate, where I took 3/4 cup of chopped fresh mint and boiled that with 2 cups of water, after boiling I let it sit for 5 minutes.
I then added the 2 cups of mint concentrate to the lemonade.
For the lemonade I only used 4 cups of water with the lemonade mix required for 2 quarts of lemonade. Then I added the mint concentrate to the lemonade and had a very refreshing summer beverage, and I served it in water goblets with fresh mint sprigs and lemon wedges.

Lemon Bars
Mr. T's favorite dessert is Lemon Bars, which is why I decided to make them. It is so nice though to actually use a recipe when making them. For my Bridal Shower a few years ago I needed to make these bars without a recipe. They were edible but, these I think were much better.
For the first layer combine
2 sticks butter, softened
1/2 cups white sugar and
2 cups flour
Press this mixture into a 9x13 inch baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20 min.
While the above is baking combine
4 eggs
2 cups sugar - I only used 1 cup
4tbs flour
1/2 tsp baking powder and the juice of
2 lemons
and lightly whip.
When the first layer is done baking pour the lemon mixture over the crust and bake for an additional 20 minutes at 350.
Sprinkle with powder sugar.
Enjoy!!!


Homemade Brownies, from Scratch 
I have never made homemade brownies before, I usually buy the box mix but forgot to purchase that when I was at the store so I set out on the adventure of making them from scratch. I think I have been sold, they tasted great and were so easy.
Melt 2 squares unsweetened chocolate add
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar - I always use less sugar than the recipe actually calls for
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup all purpose flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
and I added a dash of cinnamon
Than simply poor the batter in a 8x8 or 9x9 inch greased pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30.
Cool for 10 minutes than sprinkle with powdered sugar. 
ENJOY!  


One of the things that I loved about all three of these recipes is that I had all of the ingredients on hand, all I needed was the lemons - that makes for a very easy shopping list.
I hope you enjoy these recipes .

Blessings,
Joy