My husband does not like to cook. It's not that he doesn't know how to cook, because he is a pretty good in the kitchen; it just seems to take too much effort to make a meal -- with the all the prepping, cooking and cleaning.
And, my husband doesn't like it when I cook either. While he likes and enjoys the food I prepare for us, he would much rather spend our shared time doing something else -- anything else. He thinks cooking takes up too much of our dwindling free time, and that we would be much better off grabbing a bite to eat out, and then being on our way to enjoying something else.
The thing is that I love to cook. It is one of my favorite ways to spend my time. It can sometimes be a source of conflict between us. But sometimes, rather then discuss if we should eat out or cook, sometimes, he will just spend the time that I am cooking to dream up a delicious homemade refreshment.
He is quite specialized in it, knowing off the top of his head the general proportions to make a variety of drinks, and the fridge is always well-stocked with simple syrup, ready to go.
For a while, we were sipping on his improved version of Orangina, we then moved on to a variety of iced tea flavors, and now we are deep in the midst of lemonades (and limeades). Delightful lemonades with mint and peaches and sometimes a dash of lime to give it an extra kick.
These beverages are pretty simple to make, and according to my husband, they are well worth the sacrifice of free time used to make them since you can't taste anything quite like it anywhere else.
Peachy Limeade
4 peaches, pitted and cut into one inch pieces
1 lemon
1-1/3 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
4-8 limes (depending on how much juice they have -- you want to extract about 1/3 cup from them. I always buy them in bulk because they are 10 for a dollar at our store.)
Water, sparkling or non, for serving
To make the simple syrup:
In a small sauce pan combine the sugar and 1/3 cup of water. Over medium heat, stir until the sugar has dissolve, then set aside and allow to cool. If you would like to make more to have it at the ready in your fridge for whatever beverage concoction you have the itching to make, the recipe is really easy: just one to one.
To make the peach juice:
In a medium sauce pan combine the peaches and one cup of water. Squeeze the juice of the lemon into the pan. On medium heat, allow the peaches to soften and cook down for about 30 minutes or until softened all the way through, stirring occasionally.
Over a large bowl, in a fine mesh sieve, push the peach puree with the back of a spoon to extract all the juice. From the four peaches you should acquire a little over 3/4 of a cup. Set aside until ready to use. (We kept the left over peach puree and plan to use it to cook with; we were thinking about making a peach barbecue sauce or a peach ginger cake.)
Squeeze the limes until you have about 1/3 of a cup.
Now you are ready to do the mixing. In a measuring cup (just for the ease of it) combine 3/4 cup peach juice, 1/3 cup lime juice, and 1/3 cup simple syrup. Stir well and taste. The taste will vary depending on the potency of your fruit, so feel free to adjust accordingly. You want to achieve an equal balance in flavor of peach and lime. Oh, and remember, this is a concentrated version. You will be cutting this with about 50 percent water so keep that in mind when you are tasting it. Once you have achieved the desired flavor add the water until it is the right intensity in flavor.
Serve over ice with lime slices.
