Busy Mommy Media » Drink Recipes

Iced Tea and Fruit Flavored Ice Cubes

Linda — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 20:36:55 +0000

In the summertime, we drink gallons of iced tea, juice, and water. Making iced tea is a daily occurrence during the summer and we found an easy way to make it by accident. One morning, my son was going to help with breakfast. He made the coffee while I was busy finishing up breakfast. When I went to pour the coffee, it was rather strange looking for coffee. I tasted it and by accident he had made tea instead of coffee. We had our first iced tea maker! We have used our electric coffeepot for tea ever since.

Iced Tea

Ingredients

3 tea bags (paper tag removed) for medium strength
10 cups of water
1/3 cup of sugar or other sweetener for slightly sweetened tea, if desired
Lemon slice if desired

Preparation

Pull off the paper tags and put the teabags in the coffeepot where you normally put the coffee. You do not need to use a filter.

Add the water to the water reservoir in the coffeepot

Note: If you are using a glass pitcher, let the tea cool before adding it to your pitcher so it will not break your pitcher.

When the tea is finished brewing add the tea to your pitcher and finish filling the pitcher with water.

Add sugar or other sweetener if desired.

Serve over ice with a slice of lemon, add sugar or honey if desired.

Sun Tea

We have also made sun tea. It is a great way to make iced tea without turning on the stove or coffeepot. You will need a glass jar with a lid that will hold eight glasses of water. Add 6-8 tea bags and loosely put the lid on the jar. Set the jar in the sun for 3-6 hours. Kids love to watch it change colors as it makes tea. Serve over ice with a slice of lemon, add sugar or honey if desired.

Ice Cubes

When it is hot in the summer, it is so easy to be dehydrated. Drinking plain water can become boring. Instead of drinking plain water, kick it up a bit with some lemon ice cubes.

Ingredients

8-9 lemons juiced
ice cube trays

Add lemon juice to an ice tray and freeze. Add an ice cube to your water for a refreshing drink.

Try adding other fruit ice cubes to your beverages like lime, oranges, or pineapple.

No Tangled Necklace Chains

If you have old ice trays lying around that are cracked, do not throw them away. Put a necklace in each ice cube hole and your necklace chains will never tangle again. The ice cube trays stack well and it is easy to find the necklace you want. It is so nice not to have to untangle a necklace when you need one.

Enjoy!

Make Your Own Hot Cocoa Mix

Lorie — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:31:49 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, my family was hit hard with the flu. One of the things my family asked for was hot cocoa, and a lot of it! As one of the flu victims, I can tell you it was one of the things that just made me feel better. One problem though, we ran out of hot chocolate packets. I went online and found some recipes to make your own and found out that they were really good. Luckily, I had all of the ingredients on hand, which was good because we really did not want to get out. These would also make some really nice inexpensive Christmas gifts. Just put in a nice container with a tag on in it telling them how to use it. So, whether you get the flu or not, winter is here and it’s time to snuggle by a fire and drink a cup of hot cocoa. Here’ a recipe I like and also a recipe for fat free, sugar free, for those watching their weight.

Hot Cocoa Mix Recipes

Hot Cocoa Mix
4 cups nonfat instant powder milk
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup non-dairy coffee creamer
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 (4 ounce) package instant chocolate fudge pudding
Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. If a finer consistency is desired, you can pour the mix into a blender or food processor and run it through that. Store in an airtight container. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup (depending on your cocoa preference) of the mix to an 8 ounce mug of boiling water.

Fat Free/ Sugar Free Hot Chocolate Mix

3 cups instant nonfat powdered milk

1 cup Splenda Granular

½ cup baking cocoa

1 small box fat free/sugar free instant vanilla pudding

Mix ingredients together in a large zip lock bag and shake. Store in bag or an airtight container. To make a cup of hot chocolate, add ¼ cup of mix to 1 cup hot water.

Makes 18 servings

Per serving 58 calories, 0 g fat, 1g fiber

Cool Treats Don’t Have to Freeze the Budget

Lorie — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 06:17:23 +0000

It’s July and it’s HOT! What do you and your kids want most? Well, if they are like mine they want cool treats like slushies, milkshakes, ice cream, and Blizzards from Dairy Queen. The only problem is if I go out and buy these items they will freeze my budget. So, how do I give my kids these cool summer treats but not freeze my budget? Well, the thing I came up with is to make my own at home. Not only are they cheaper, but you can also let your kids help you make them. My kids love to make summer treats at home. When I make Blizzards at home, I can make at least a dozen for the same cost as one at the fast food restaurant. I have to buy 6 for my family when I go out, so for me making them at home is the best option right now. So, if your kids are craving those expensive cool treats this summer, try some of these homemade recipes. I hope your family loves them as much as mine does!

The Magic Milkshake (Taste like a Wendy’s Frosty)

1-1/2 to 2 cups ice water
1-1/2 cups nonfat dry milk powder
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 to 1-1/2 trays of ice cubes, as much as you can spare
2 tablespoons corn oil plus a 5-second squirt of non-stick spray for emulsification purpose (I used canola oil)
Place all of the ingredients into the blender, including the oil and the non-stick spray. Use less water for thicker milk shakes and more water for shakes that are easy on your blender motor. The blender should be about 3/4’s full. Place the lid on. Process for a full 2 minutes. Pour into cups and serve. Makes 4 – 12oz servings.

Recipe from Hillbillly Housewife

Slushies

2 cups ice water
1 packet fruit-flavored drink mix (use your favorite flavor)
2/3 cup sugar
4 cups or 1 full tray of ice cubes

You need a blender to prepare this recipe. Put all of the ingredients into your blender. It will be about 2/3 to 3/4′s full. Put the lid on. Process the mixture on high for a full minute. Stop the blender, use a spoon to stir it a bit. Look for unchopped ice chunks. If all the chunks are grated up, then go ahead and serve it. You may need to process it for another full minute though. Serve immediately. I usually have to spoon this out of the blender with a measuring cup because the mixture is so thick. Makes 4 – 8oz servings.
Recipe from Hillbilly Housewife

Homemade Blizzards

1 candy bar

1/4-1/2 cup milk

2 ½ cups vanilla ice cream

1 teaspoon fudge sauce

Freeze candy bar. Break into pieces while still in the wrapper. Combine all of the ingredients in a blender and blend on medium for 30 seconds or until well mixed. Pour into 16 oz glass

Makes: 1 serving

And don’t forget the Ice Cream in a Bag recipe for ice cream.

Orange Cream Smoothie

Courtney — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:09:37 +0000

As the weather heats up nothing satisfies more than cold drinks and a dunk in the pool. I can’t help with the pool, but I can very much recommend making a pitcher of this orange-y smoothie. A definite knockoff of a popular chain’s signature drink, this is super simple and fast to make with the added bonus of not needing to gather everybody up to go to the mall to get one.

Experiment with different juice flavors if you like (apple is the only one I’ve found dissapointing), but this classic combination of orange and vanilla is a great place to start.
I give proportions for a single serving glass or a bullet-type blender cup here so that you can make as much or as little as you like. Just make what your blender can hold. If you want to disguise this as a more “healthy” type snack you can add some flax oil/meal or protein powder as well, though the meal will be noticeable in the finished drink and the oil or protein probably won’t be.

Orange Cream Smoothie

Per Person/Bullet blender cup
1 cup crushed ice
2 tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate
2/3 cup vanilla soy milk or rice milk*
few drops vanilla extract (optional)
1/2 banana, cut into chunks (optional)

Combine all ingredients in blender pitcher or bullet cup and blend until smooth. Taste and add more milk or water or orange concentrate to sweeten or thin if needed, blending once more to incorporate any additions. Serve immediately in frosty glasses.

*A word on the soy/rice milk–I use these because of the richness of the regular soy or rice milk and the lack of curdling when combined with the acid in the orange juice. The soy and rice milk especially make it taste like you’ve used sherbet as they do in the original, but without the added preservatives and fat usually present in commercial varieties. That said, my mom made us similar smoothies when we were kids with regular milk and they came out ok, though proportions might have had something to do with that. If you want to try this with regular milk, I’d recommend upping the banana to help emulsify the whole thing and drinking before it melts and separates so that if your milk does curdle it won’t be noticed. Taste-wise, it doesn’t make a huge difference if it does curdle. Definitely add the vanilla extract if you use regular milk since it will lack that extra creamy punch that comes with the vanilla orange combination.

Hot Russian Tea

Rachel — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:05:32 +0000

This is really easy to make even though it uses fresh squeezed juice. Once you make it you can have it on hand for days. It is really soothing on a sore throat and helps to build up your immune system with natural vitamins to help you get rid of a cold faster.

2 cup sugar
2 cups water

Boil 5 minutes.

Add:
2 cups orange juice (fresh squeezed)
3/4 cups lemon juice (fresh squeezed, about 4 lemons, or from frozen)
2 qts. water
1 t. vanilla
1 t. almond extract

Heat to the temperature that you want to drink it at. This can be kept in the fridge and reheated as needed.