Brazilian Limeade

Last night I was reminded how much I love this drink. We went to a restaurant called Fogo De Chao which is a Brazilian restaurant that is pretty sweet. Its very very very similar to Tucanos but they have different meat selections. I am usually not a drink orderer so I of course ordered my usual water, when one of our friends said, oh no you must have the Brazilian Lemonade. So long story short, I pounded down a few of these bad boys and didn't regret it at all. I had made this a while ago for some cookout we had with a bunch of family and it tasted very similar to the kind I had last night. I guess technically if you were to go to Brazil it would be called a "lemonade" but that doesn't make sense to me since there isn't one lemon in it so I don't see any harm in calling it limeade...don't sue me please :)

This recipe comes from Our Best Bites, so if you would like to see step by step instructions with pictures head on over to their place to see it.

4 juicy limes
1 cup sugar

6 cups cold water

6 Tbsp. sweetened condensed milk

1. Mix cold water and sugar very well and chill in the fridge until ready to use. This step can be done ahead of time.
2. Wash limes thoroughly with soap to get the wax and pesticides off of the limes because you’re using the entire lime. Cut the ends off of the limes and then cut each lime into eighths.
3. Place 1/2 of the limes in your blender and add 1/2 of the sugar water. Place the lid on your blender and pulse 5 times.
4. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a pitcher (the one you’ll serve the limeade in) and pour the blended mixture through the strainer and into the pitcher. Use a spoon to press the rest of the liquid into the pitcher. Dump the pulp in the strainer into the trash.
5. Repeat with remaining limes and sugar water.
6. Add sweetened condensed milk
; stir and serve immediately over lots of ice.

**Randi's Side Notes**
~ This recipe does not save well, so I would make this right before serving.
~ I have also seen but not tried another recipe for this stuff and it sounds fantastic so I will have to try this one next...if anybody beats me to it, let me know how it goes!!!

5 cups cold water, divided
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large overripe banana, peeled (peel should be speckled, not too overripe)
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
Zest of 3 limes
1/2 tsp coconut extract

Combine 4 cups cold water (if your blender fits 5 cups well enough then you can add all 5 at this point), coconut milk, sugar, banana, lime juice, lime zest and coconut extract in a blender. Cover with lid and blend on low speed for one minute. Pour mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a pitcher, then using a rubber spatula press and rub lime zest back and forth against strainer to release oils from the zest into pitcher. Pour in remaining 1 cup cold water and stir. Serve over ice. Store in refrigerator and stir each time before serving.