"Glory in a Glass" Recipe

A few days ago I wrote about a wonderfully refreshing lavender lemonade that I sampled at a restaurant in a city an hour from my home.

Determined to recreate it, I went online and did my usual research (if you don't know me, I love to research) and found numerous recipes that looked interesting.

One in particular worked perfectly today!

Ingredients

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp dried lavender or 10 sprigs fresh lavender
1 cup lemon juice (about 6 lemons juiced)
8 cups cold sparkling water
1 drop purple food coloring (I didn't use it but you could if you wanted!)

Instructions

Create a simple syrup by combining 1 cup water and sugar in a small saucepan. Add fresh or dried lavender to your saucepan.

Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Let cool to room temperature.

Using a fine mesh strainer, strain lavender from the simple syrup.

Combine lemon juice, simple syrup, and cold sparkling water in a 1 quart pitcher. 

Add food coloring if desired.

Serve with ice and lemon slices.

Adapted from HERE

Because I didn't want to make a whole pitcher, I experimented with what proportions were needed for a single glass. I found that 2 TB of the simple lavender syrup added to 1 TB of fresh lemon juice, along with 1 1/2 cups of sparkling water was perfect! **Oh, and don't forget a few ice cubes!**

The lavender I used was some I'd picked and brought home from Croatia last summer. It had dried nicely, so I just picked the buds off the stems until I had 1 TB of dried lavender, then added it to the water and sugar to simmer. 

If you have some lavender around your home, or have a farmer's market nearby where they sell it, give this recipe a try for a little "glory in a glass"!