Refreshing Strawberry Limeade & Akers of Strawberries

For Mother’s Day this year we decided to go strawberry pickin’. We were on vacation in Florida so we drove out to Baker, FL with my parents for a fun day of fruit pickin’ then a delicious Mother’s Day lunch. Akers of Strawberries has been around for years and I have many great memories of pickin’ sweet strawberries and eating their homemade fro-yo with my parents back in the day! I was so excited to take my little Ava there {and Ashton too!}. She enjoyed it more than all of us; immediately grabbing a bucket and searching for ripe, juicy berries {and eating a few along the way}. It was such a special day and I will forever treasure the memories of strawberry pickin’ with my daughter!

Check out our other pics and recipes from our berry pickin’ trips here.

We came home with 3 buckets full of bright red strawberries, ready for eating. We immediately cleaned them, removed the stems, and froze them in freezer bags for later. Ashton makes smoothies for breakfast a few times a week and frozen berries are perfect {and mean you don’t need ice!}. I saved some to make a Strawberry Pie but since the weather is so nice and we are spending more and more time outside I wanted to make a refreshing- family friendly- drink for us.

Ashton loves Sonic’s Cherry Limeade {I made it for his Bomb Birthday} so I decided to try out a Strawberry Limeade {recipe below}. It tasted great and was just what we were craving to refresh us from spending the afternoon in the sun! Bonus: the strawberry puree can be used as the base for many drinks including Strawberry Lemonade! Yum!

Ingredients:

Makes 4-6 glasses

1 1/2 cups strawberries, stems removed and sliced
1/2 cup sugar
1 part lemon lime soda (I used about 1/4 of a liter)
2 parts seltzer (preferably lemon lime seltzer, if not add a couple extra tbsp lime juice)
turbinado sugar, optional for rimming glasses
juice from 1 lime
limes, sliced for garnish
ice

Directions:

Add berries and sugar to a bowl and let macerate for about 30 minutes.
Add berries to a food processor (or blender) and pulse until smooth.
In a large pitcher add ice (about 1/3 of the way), then top with 2 parts seltzer to one part lemon lime soda.
Stir in a few scoops of strawberry puree and add juice from 1 lime.
Stir well then taste. Add more strawberry and lime juice if needed.
I add thinly slice lime to the pitcher and garnish the glasses with lime wedges and a sugared rim.

Macerate berries in a bowl. This makes them sweet and juicy.

Simply add 1/2 cup sugar to sliced berries and mix. Let sit for about 20-30 minutes.

Add berries to a food processor and blend until smooth.

This easy strawberry puree is perfect for mixing into cocktails and family friendly drinks

like Strawberry Lemonade.

Add ice to a pitcher and then mix in 2 parts seltzer to one part lemon lime soda.

then add a few heaping spoonfuls of strawberry puree.

Taste and add additional lime juice and/or strawberry puree.

I add sliced lime to the pitcher and add a lime wedge of the side of each glass too.

Juice from a lime adds a little more flavor!

Mix up well and taste.

I add thin slices of lime into the pitcher too.

I found these cool mason jars at Bed, Bath, and Beyond (set of 4 for $9.99 plus 20% off!). I decided to go above and beyond with these drinks and rim the tops of the glasses in sugar. Simply wet the rims with lime juice or water and dip and roll into a bowl or plate of sugar. Large sugar crystals work best such as Turbinado Sugar or Sugar in the Raw.

These Strawberry Limeades were {dare I say} better than Sonic! I love the fresh strawberry puree, tart lime, and the sugared rim. The perfect drink for a hot day!