[ingredients]
1 pint strawberries, rinsed and hulled
1 cup fresh lemon juice (about 6 lemons)
simple syrup or agave nectar syrup to taste
5 cups sparkling water or wine (you can also use plain water)
Instructions
[instructions]
Place the hulled strawberries in a blender and puree until smooth. To remove the seeds, place a fine mesh strainer over a pitcher and pour the mixture into the strainer. I poured mine though in a few batches and stirred each batch with a spoon to speed up the process. Discard the seeds. Add the lemon juice to the pitcher.

Stir in the sweetener of your choice.*
Pour in the sparkling water or wine and stir. Serve over ice and garnish with lemon slices and strawberries.

For the sweeteners:
To make simple syrup, combine equal parts water and sugar in a sauce pan. Heat until the sugar is completely dissolved in the water. For the lemonade, you probably won’t need more than a 1/2 cup sugar unless you want the lemonade to be really sweet.

To make the agave nectar syrup: combine about 1/2 cup with about 1/4 cup water in a sauce pan. Heat until the agave nectar dissolves in the water. Remove from the heat and add as much as you’d like.

Serves 6