A refreshing way to enjoy the weather

Spring is here and I can't wait to sit outside with a good book and a refreshing drink. I'm a big fan of natural stuff as well as things my whole family can enjoy.
I'm in love with this great Citrus Fruit Punch recipe. It's perfectly refreshing for the hot southern summers.
Here's what you need:

1 cup - mint leaves
1 cup - lemon juice
1 cup - orange juice (fresh squeezed citrus is always the best tasting)
1 tablespoon - grated lemon peel
1 tablespoon - grated orange peel
1 1/2 cups - Florida Crystals® Superfine Sugar (I love this because it's organic and has no additives)
2 1/2 cups - water
2 tablespoons - honey (I use my local honey for this)
Ginger Ale


Preparation:
Combine first 5 ingredients in large bowl. Set aside.

In 3-quart saucepan, combine Florida Crystals® Superfine Sugar, water and honey. Over medium heat, bring to a boil. Pour over juice mixture and let cool. Strain and store in refrigerator.

To Serve:
Combine 1 part juice mixture with 3-4 parts ginger ale. Serve over ice.

Makes about 16 servings.

The great thing about this recipe is you can you more or less sugar depending on how sweet you want it.  It's also a fun and easy recipe to make with the kids and will surely be a favorite for the summer.

Trying our hand at lacto-fermented pickles

Hope our probiotic pickles are good. 3 more days of fermenting before we try them.

Tea towels turned bread bags

I don't really have a ton of cute tea towels. For me they were functional for drying dishes. Now we've started baking our own crusty bread (really simple and delicious recipe) I need bread bags.
Plastic bags don't breathe and keep moisture in. Paper bags get tossed out. But linen, linen makes perfect bread bags.

So I gathered some of my tea towels and made simple drawstring bread bags.  I've saved so much cord and ribbon that I used what I had in my stash as drawstrings.

Step 1: Seam up the sides.  I used my serger for this. You can use a regular machine and sew up the sides or do french seams.

I really love my serger

Step 2: Fold the top down to make a casing for your drawstring.  Since the top of the towel already has a finished edge you don't need to have it doubled under.

Step 3: Insert string.

Step 4: Put the bread in the bag. Try not to eat it.

You may notice there is no bread in this bag. That's because we need to make more. These bags are so easy to make and great for gift giving instead of wrapping paper.