Roasted Peach Lemonade and MY BIRTHDAY!

To be honest with you I usually dread my birthday like I dread paying my bills.  For some reason though this year was a good birthday!  Maybe it is because it is my last birthday in my twenties, or maybe it is just preparing me for the big 30.  Shutter, shutter...oh boy, doesn't that sound old?  I can't quite put my finger on why this birthday was so good...so many things went right though, and so many people made me happy.  I am just going to go ahead and list my reasons that my 29th birthday was a winner:

1.  Everyone was nice to me.  Even people I didn't know wished me a happy birthday...including 2 handsome men who happened to overhear someone else wishing me a happy birthday. : )

2.  Facebook is not all evil.  Every few minutes a new notification would pop up on my screen saying someone else had wished me a happy birthday...it kept me smiling all day long!  Plus, this year I decided to respond to all my happy birthday greetings by saying thank you in a different language...which provided extra hours of amusement and education for me...seriously I learned a ton of new ways to say thank you and pronouncing them was very entertaining.

3.  I ate good food.  I made a bunch of cinnamon and Mexican chocolate scones and brought them to work...they were good, and more importantly people ate them all up!  Then I was treated to lunch by my sister and ate with a bunch of awesome people.  Then I got taken out to dinner.  It was good. : )

4.  My niece gave me a card she picked out with my Mom, and bought me Mary Poppins on DVD...one of my all time favorite movies!!!!   My Mom said she was very picky about my card and when my Mom read this one out loud she was sure it was the one for me!  Awwww...she is the best!

5.  All day long I felt loved and received emails, calls, texts, Facebook messages, and more calls...even though 1/2 those calls were work related I still appreciated them. : )

6.  At midnight I went online and looked at tickets to a cousin's upcoming wedding...for the last few weeks they have been pricey, not at good times, and lots of stops on the way....however this time they were $100 cheaper, perfect times, and direct flights!!!  YEAH....Bought my ticket!!!!  Happy Birthday to me!

7.  My Mom bought me some pretty sweet gifts this year.  A really swanky wristlet purse wallet thing, some really cute glass birds...they aren't crazy birds, but cool Anthropologie like birds, an awesome teal sweatshirt, a really cute tray thing, and more!  Good job Mom!

8.  Everyone who knows me knows that I detest gift cards as presents...only because they seem so impersonal.  However, this time my 2 little sisters and Marine brother all chipped in and bought me a way too generous gift card.  On top of the card there was a stack of sticky notes that read like this:

1.From Mimi, Gunnar, and Karmel

2.THIS IS NOT A GIFT CARD

3.THIS is a lens for your camera

Haha...awesome...now since I still haven't bought my camera...fyi I returned my Sony NEX since it took horrible up close macro shots and made food look no bueno...I am just going to use the money to actually buy my camera instead. : )  THANKS YOU GUYS!  You are the best!

9. Everyone I love was able to call or contact me in some way, including my brother who is at training camp...he has restricted phone rights and was somehow able to text me during the last minutes of my birthday!  Unexpected but awesome!

10.  My Godson and his adorable sister even called and left me the cutest message telling me "Happy Birthday Auntie Dags"....aww...best message ever!

Now last year on my birthday I posted a recipe for roasted peaches with mascarpone ice cream...This year I am going to stick with that theme and share with you a recipe for this delicious roasted peach lemonade I just made.

I had so much fun making it I decided to try roasting other fruits and adding them to lemonade....winner idea!  Well, I really only roasted mangos, but decided that you could probably go ahead and follow this basic concept for any flavored lemonade...roasted strawberry, apple, plum, nectarine, pineapple...oh boy!

1. Roast the fruit of your choice 

2.  skin and puree said fruit

3.  Add to your favorite lemonade recipe

4.  Serve over ice with a fancy garnish

5.  Or freeze into Popsicles, or process in ice cream maker : )

I imagine if you don't want to use cane sugar you could always swap it out with agave, honey, or maple syrup.  Of course it would taste different, but still delicious.

  

fuzzy pictures from the camera phone : (


Roasted Peach Lemonade

Step 1:  Make the Lemonade

In medium saucepan boil the following until sugar is dissolved.  Allow to cool a few minutes.

1 cup sugar

1 cup h20

In large pitcher mix the above with the below:

1 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

4 cups cold water

If too sweet for your taste add more water.

Step 2:  Roast the peaches

4 medium -large peaches

1 Tbs sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Slice and pit the peaches.  Place in pan skin side down.  Sprinkle with sugar.  Roast in oven 20-25 minutes until skin comes off of the fruit easily.  Remove skins and place in food processor.  Add about 1 cup of the prepared lemonade and puree until smooth.  Add to rest of lemonade and stir to combine.  Chill, and stir again before stirring.  Please note - the peach puree will separate and settle as it sits in the fridge.  No worries just whisk away! : )  Serve over ice.  Some people found the lemonade too thick - I didn't, but if you do please dilute with more water, vodka, or rum. : )