Saturday, September 4, 2010

When life gives you lemons...make lemon bars!


From: Citymama.typepad.com
My cousin came over with a tub full of Meyer lemons from her tree the other day. Half of them were juiced and frozen (look at the color, it looks like orange juice!)

And the other half were juiced for these amazing lemon bars. (My recipe tweaks follow.)

I love lemon bars but can't stand an "egg-y" lemon bar. Bleh. I just don't want to taste the egg, and with some recipes you do. This is a "non-egg-tasting" recipe which passes muster for me. To make the shortbread even meltier, I replaced about 2 tbsps of all-purpose flour with the equivalent amount of corn starch. I baked the shortbread for about 5-7 longer than recipe specifies. I always add lemon rind to my lemon bar topping, and did this time, too. And, I dusted the top with confectioner's sugar. (Well, my sister did.)

Classic Lemonade Recipe

Lemons, sugar and water. The most simple lemonade recipe, and yet so refreshing. Your drinks don't have to be complicated to be refreshing. Make up a jug today, and relax on the patio.
Ingredients:
• 6 lemons
• 6 cups cold water
• 1 cup sugar
Preparation:
Juice your lemons, and you should get about 1 cup of fresh lemon juice. You can use bottled if you must, but the flavor won't be as crisp. In a large pitcher, mix lemon juice, water and sugar. Stir lemonade well and serve over ice, with a lemon slice or two to garnish.

Lemonade Stand - Another Coloring Page

The weather is getting nice and it's a great time to start planning a lemonade stand to help your neighbors cool off and make a little spending money for yourself.
Lemonade Girl is a fun comic about a lemonade stand for you to enjoy. Then practice your math skills with Lemonade Larry in this online game.

Now get a pencil and paper and plan your own lemonade stand. You'll need to figure out the cost of the lemonade, the cups, ice, and whatever else you want to offer. A good plan will make a successful stand. Use this basic recipe or your own favorite recipe.

Print the following pages to help advertise your lemonade stand and make it more fun.

Next Page - Lemonade Stand Sign

“Can You Help My Lemonade Stand?”

However, the economy has made things difficult. I’m getting fewer customers. Fewer people want to spend their money on a 25¢ handmade lemonade. (They’re settling for Kool-Aid and other just-add-water drinks). Additionally, the cost of cups, lemons and sugar have increased. I can’t pass that increase to customers, so my profit has been reduced.

Here are my costs:
Costs (per cup)
1/2 lemon

filtered water

sugar

5 ice cubes

plastic cup

labor


Other Costs
sign (marketing), table cloth, table rental, flashlight batteries (for evening business)

Total
21¢

Here are some of the options

I have thought of… What advice would you offer?
Trim
Modify my product
Cheaper, (lower quality) lemons
Lemon juice from concentrate
Fewer ice cubes
Cheaper sugar substitute
use 1/3rd lemon per drink instead of 1/2

My product is only water, sugar and lemons… With many of the suggestions above, I’m afraid customers may notice the difference in taste. If it’s slight, does it matter?

Reduce price
I’ve gone from 25 to 22 cents. Should I lower it more?
I’m already making less profits that I used to.

Reduce staff
one neighbor kid staffing instead of two (but this will make the wait times longer)
find less-skilled kids willing to take less money? (this could affect product and service quality)

Promote
special offers – discount when you buy two at a time (but won’t people think twice about paying full price in the future?)
try to get new customers by buying and adding a sign on the street corner to attract people from neighboring blocks
make, print, and hand-out flyers to kids on the school bus and school yard

Expand
I’ve been thinking of adding peanut butter and jelly (pb&j) sandwiches… drive sales at lunch time. (although, pb&j isn’t something I’ve made before… and there’s already a pb&j place near the playground)

The perfect give for the mom who loves to garden! Includes 1 qt. bottle of Villa Italia lemon soda, bag of fresh lemons, yellow flower print gardening gloves, Sunflower Lemonade Mix seeds, and a 1.4 oz lemongrass and green tea body bar! Container is a sunflower theme tin bucket with handles on the side.

No comments:

Post a Comment