When life hands you lemons...!

Well we've all heard it said, that "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade!!", and to this I say how can you not, when a gf drops in with a whole bag of them ... just for me. Lindiwe (Lindy)recently popped in for one of her many tea stops, and brought a bag of the MOST DEVINE SMELLING lemons out! You see, this is why I am such a country girl at heart, .... it's simple things like this, that really mean the most in life to me .... or when a gf arrives with the most beautiful posy of roses ... "And's ... I miss you girlfriend :-(.... sniff". I miss those days when you'd arrive at the door with your a posy of roses, your brood, your smile .... and your hair (lol)! ....or a rosy bag that you'd seen at the robot, that reminded you of me ....(sob), so you drove around the block a second time to buy it! ....drinking my coffee gf, drinking my coffee...


Ok so back to the lemons! ....they are going to go from this......

To this!......SPARKLING VANILLA ROASTED LEMONADE (just gotta love Martha Stewart!)

Ingredients
Makes 6 1/2 cups; serves 6 to 8
· 10 lemons, trimmed, halved crosswise, and seeded
· 1 cup sugar
· 1 cup water
· 1 vanilla bean, split and scraped, pod reserved
· 1 1/2 to 2 cups club soda

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place lemons, cut side up, in a 12-inch ovenproof skillet or a large baking dish. Sprinkle with sugar, then add the water and vanilla seeds and pod. Roast until edges of lemons are golden brown, about 25 minutes. Let cool.
2. Squeeze the juice and pulp from lemons into a blender. Remove vanilla pod, and add syrup in the skillet to the blender. Puree, then strain through a sieve into a pitcher, pressing to extract liquid and some pulp.
3. Fill glasses with ice. Pour 3/4 cup lemonade into each glass. Top with 1/4 cup club soda. (Or cover, and refrigerate lemonade for up to 3 days.)

Helpful hint: Roasting the lemons takes the edge off the acidity.

I mean what is a girl to do when you have vanilla and lemons in the SAME RECIPE! .....