Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade

1. 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.
2. Add the lemon juice into the pitcher with the strawberry juice.
3. Stir in the sweetener of your choice (see note below).
4. Pour in the sparkling water or wine and stir. Serve over ice and garnish with lemon slices and strawberries.

For the sweeteners:
Simple Syrup: You can purchase it or make your own. To make simple syrup, combine equal parts water and sugar in a saucepan. Heat until the sugar is completely dissolved in the water. For the lemonade, you probably won’t need more than a 1/2 cup of syrup unless you want the lemonade to be really sweet.
Agave Nectar Syrup: You can purchase it or make your own. To make agave nectar syrup, combine about 1/2 cup agave nectar with about 1/4 cup water in a saucepan. Heat until the agave nectar dissolves in the water. Remove from the heat and add as much as you’d like.