Summer Slushie Fun

by Lauri Griffin | More from this Blogger

30 Jun 2007 09:08 AM

Even though my children love slushies I hesitate to buy them often because I cringe at wondering just what exactly is used to make blue raspberry flavor. I've never seen a blue raspberry, and I've never seen a natural food that glowed in almost florescent colors.

But slushies are fun. And they are a great way to cool off. A few summers ago we bought a snow cone maker. My thought was that we could pour our own real juices over the ice. That part worked, but we had to remember to freeze the ice in a special container. The turn crank for shaving the ice was too hard for the kids to work themselves. And one block of ice was never really enough for three hot, thirsty boys. And then the plastic block form cracked. That was the end of homemade snow cones.

Last week we bought a slushie maker that almost works too well. In about 20 seconds it crushes the ice into minuscule bits. The maker comes with large cup. On the cup are markings. You fill up to the bottom one with syrup. Then add water to the second one and ice to the third one. Special ice isn't needed, any cubes from your freezer will do. You screw on the lid, turn the cup outside down and place it on the maker. You turn the cup a little until it clicks. Fifteen to twenty seconds later, you've got a large slushie! It is so easy that my kids can do it by themselves. They blades for the blender mechanism are inside the lid of the cup. That's a nice safety feature because the kids can't stick their hands on moving blades like they could with a blender.

We haven't tried using syrups yet. The whole idea was to limit sugars and artificial colors. When we use juice we fill up the cup to the second line, then add ice. Ruby red grapefruit is marvelous. Homemade lemonade slushies tasted like something from a gourmet restaurant. The boys are talking about all kids of different recipes and flavor concoctions. I'm even wondering about trying some frozen coffee drinks for myself.

More On Slushies:

5 Reasons Why You Need a Blender

The Sneaky Mama Sneaks in Strawberries for Summer!

Smoothies for Kids

Learn more about Lauri Griffin

Lauri lives in Colorado with her husband and three sons. Amidst all the laundry and packing of lunches, she tries to keep parenting fun.

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