Who says entertaining has to be complicated? Especially in the summer, throwing a party needs to be nothing more than an excuse to gather with family and friends. Toss together some simple salads, slice some fresh bread and fire up the grill. Prepare a fantastic dessert to delight your guests, and have some tasty cool beverages on-hand.
Here’s a sampling of some of our favorite summer drink recipes.
Limeade (Makes about 2 quarts)
10 medium limes, washed well, halved pole to pole, and halves thinly sliced, plus- 1 lime, sliced, for garnish
- 1 1/3 cups sugar
- Salt
- 6 cups cold filtered or spring water
- Ice, for serving, optional
In a medium nonreactive bowl, toss the lime slices, sugar, and a tiny pinch of salt and set aside to soften, about 25 minutes.
With a muddler, masher, or wooden spoon, muddle the limes until sugar dissolves and juice is thickened to a syrup, about 2 minutes.
Set a strainer over a nonreactive bowl, pour in half of the lime slices and syrup, and press to release as much liquid as possible; discard the solids and repeat with the remaining lime slices (you should have about 2 cups of lime syrup).
Add the water and stir to dissolve all the sugar.
Transfer the limeade to a 2-quart or larger serving pitcher and chill well.
Stir before serving, over ice, if desired, garnishing each glass with a lime slice.
Dark and Stormy
- Ice
- 2 ounces dark rum
- 8 ounces ginger beer
Fill a glass with ice; add rum and ginger beer.
Stir to combine and serve immediately.
Citrus Sparkler (serves 
1/2 cup chilled vodka- 1 1/2 cups chilled limoncello liqueur
- 1/2 cup fresh orange juice
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- Seltzer
- Lemon zest, cut in thin strips for garnish
In a large pitcher, whisk together vodka, limoncello liqueur, fresh orange juice, and fresh lemon juice.
To serve, divide among 8 ice-filled glasses and top with seltzer. Garnish with lemon zest.
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