Peach Mango Slurpee

We are still trying new ways to use our 2-quart ice cream maker.  We made root beer Slurpee/slushies with much success and it says in the directions you can use any liquid.  You can even use sugar free mixes such as crystal light or lemonade.  We are not Kool Aid drinkers are here, but we were at the store the other day and I though the girls could pick some flavors to try for the sole purpose of making some slushies.  Hey for $.10 cents a pack you can't go wrong there.  I thought the best flavor to try would be Peach Mango, mostly because it was lighter in color, and therefore, in my mind, less likely to stain gaint fake cherry smiles on their faces or worse, never come out of the carpet.

Cool and refreshing peach mango slushies

Simply make a pitcher of the Kool Aid like normal.  Pour 6 cups of the liquid into the pre-chilled inner canister (we freeze ours overnight or at least 12 hours so it is nice and cold), and turn the machine on.

A mango peach pool of deliciousness

After 20 minutes your drinks will be ready.  See how much it slushed up?

Did I mention you can slush up adult-type drinks in this same manner?

After that, gather your glasses and find a few straws.  (For the kids we used sippie type cups that came with lids and straws, great for the no spill factor).  Then high-tail it outside (especially if it's still nice and warm like it has been here the last month) and have a little treat.  Again, you can also make sugar free versions of this for guilt free enjoyment.  An alternative to this if you don't have an ice cream maker is to freeze the juice into ice cube trays, then throw them into the blender with a little extra juice, and pour into glasses.

I always think this frozen concoction is going to turn back into a liquid the second it gets out of the machine, but this stayed nice and "slurpeefied" for the 20 minutes it took to leisurely enjoy it.

Two peach mango slurpees - a nice little treat.  One for me, one for you!

So all in all I think this turned out pretty good.  The peach mango flavor was rather "light" in comparison to the slap your grandma grape or cherry flavors of yesteryear.  I can't even remember the last time I had Kool Aid, but this was a great way to make a special treat out of it.

Rootbeer Slushies

Well it was a rare summer event that just happened here in Washington.  We had some 85- 90º days back to back, AND that just happened to occur over a weekend to boot!  What?!  Well tis true and to celebrate this hot day I thought I would give you the absolute easiest thing you can do with your Cuisinart 2-Quart Ice Cream Maker.  That's right!  Anyone want a root beer slushie? I thought so!

A delicious cool and refreshing root beer slushie!

First of all you only need ONE ingredient.  That's right you heard me.  All you need is 6 cups of any liquid.  That can be Kool-Aid, ice tea, any juice, and for you health conscience out there, you can do sugar free things too!  Diet soda, Crystal light, plain ol' lemon water (lol) whatever you wish. What we decided on was good old fashioned A&W root beer. Actually you can thank the little craft we did a few days ago, that fun homemade back yard sprinkler that needed an empty 2 liter bottle to complete.  Way to kill two birds with one stone I say... root beer slushies AND a way to cool down in the hot sun. Perfect.

This is my favorite kind of math.  Root beer, plus ice cream maker, equals this!

Deliciousness!

Simply pour 6 cups of your liquid into the chilled canister (it's best to freeze the inner canister for 12-24 hours before using) and turn the machine on.  That's it!  Then lovingly gaze at the swirling mass for about 20 minutes as your slushie slurpie comes to life. (we like to cover the top opening with an oven mitt, just to help keep it really cold in there by the way)

After that, scoop into some frosty glasses and enjoy your frozen concoction!  I thought these might melt into a puddle as soon as we got them in glasses, but I was totally surprised that they kept their slurpie-like texture for the entire time we were enjoying them.  Hooray!

Now sip one of these frosty beauties while the kids run through the homemade sprinkler in the backyard and you have it made in the shade!

Orange Julius Slushies - Ice cream machine

Well, local Washingtonians are not going to fully believe it, but I am here to announce summer is official here! (Step aside Steve Poole).  Most long-time webbed-foot dwellers around these parts know that we don't see the really great weather until after the 4th of July.  Seeing that today is July 8th we are right on time.  One look at the extended 3-week forecast with nothing but happy suns and no clouds to speak of, with highs in the nice and mild 80's is nothing short of a Christmas miracle.  Especially after two rainy La Nina patterns back to back that lasted two long years.  Our girls spent the entire day today happily in the sun.  Besides soaking up some much needed vitamin D, they spent time playing in the back yard, running through sprinklers, splashing in the kiddie pool, catching frogs, and  watching butterflies.

Some of the marvelous creatures found in our backyard today

I was thinking of cracking out our new 2 quart Cuisinart ice cream maker but I knew we didn't have enough heavy cream needed to make a new batch, so I perused the pages and found you can make a number of slushies and frosty beverages in there too.  This is what we decided to try: Orange Julius Slushies

We happened to have the few ingredients needed on hand so we thought we would give it a whirl.  You will need:

Ingredients:

12-16oz Orange juice concentrate (thawed)
2 cups water
1/3 cups sugar
2 cups (1 can) coconut milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tsp vanilla

Put 2 cups of water in a bowl and add the 1/3 cup of sugar.  Stir until disolved

Once the sugar is dissolved.  Add the OJ and the can of coconut milk (plus the 1/2 cup heavy cream) and stir again.  By the way, the original recipe called for 2 1/2 cups of coconut milk and we discovered one can is only 2 cups.  So that is why we added 1/2 cup of heavy cream to make up the liquid difference. You could also use regular milk.  The original recipe also called for 12 oz of OJ, but our Costco sized juice was 16 oz and we just added a smidge extra of water so it wasn't too sweet.

Mix all ingredients together and add the 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

Pour into your chilled inner compartment for your machine and let it go for 20 minutes.

Once you are done, pour a number of frothy glasses of pure orangy goodness.  We topped ours with whip cream and a cherry.  Mostly because it's America and we can do what we want.

This was a nice, thick and creamy treat.  Even thicker than even, dare I say, the actual Orange Julius you might get in the mall, almost more of a milk shake consistency.  We were surprised the coconut milk gave it that perfect hint of "something" that made it very julius-esque.  Hubby was thrilled the Cuisinart had chilled some of the mixture near the edges into almost an ice cream you could scoop. Very cool (literally).  So here's three cheers and a toast to summer time!

Shamrock Shakes

Not to be confused with my last post, shamrock shapes, we now move on to shamrock shakes.  Tis the season for the sweet green milkshakes that only come out once a year. Thick and creamy, minty and refreshing.  I always find it a cool surprise when my hubby shows up with two that he's secretly stashed in the freezer for us to share after the kids go to bed. And look how adorable they've made it now with a ruffle of whip cream and a cherry on top. A cute little tasty treat to splurge on now and again. It seems in recent years, that as we get closer to the 17th most of the McDonald's have already run out of the delectable stuff.  I found out this year they actually start selling them mid February and that is the reason they are mostly gone by the actual holiday.  You'd think they'd plan ahead for that, right?

In a round about way, I can sort of attribute shamrock shakes to making some really good friends I've had for over thirteen years now.  I believe it was summer time or late fall right before Y2K (member the panic?) when I got a wicked craving for a shamrock shake.  Of course there weren't any to be had, so I went a searching the internet (wow I can't really even say googling, this was way back in 1999) and I came across a copy cat recipe site that had a shamrock shake recipe you could make from home.  

So I cracked out the blender and tried it that weekend.  Not too bad and definitely satisfied the minty taste I had been pining for.  Oh and those friends I mentioned, well I found a group of ladies on that cooking site that ended up started their own cooking site/recipe exchange and we have been friends all these years.  We are from all over the country, and most of us have never met in person, but we have been there for the births of babies, death of loved ones, highs and lows, and all the fun stuff in between. That was on top of sharing fabulous recipes and cooking tips, and all of that thanks to a little ol' shamrock shake you say?  It's funny but completely true.  Here's a little shout out to my Zesty girls (Bee, Sammi, Joanie, Stacy, Kelly, Christie, Tammy, Michelle, and Kim)!

Well as you know, shamrock shakes can be a little pricey, and of course you want the option of having them year round if possible.  So I went a googling recently (I can say google now, since it's modern day) to try and find another copy cat recipe that we could make from home, and here is our result (sans the cherry).

Homemade shamrock shakes

The recipe was almost self explanatory, and though close, I am still on the look out for one that is thicker/closer to the original.  Am I the only one who really feels that the shamrock shake is their eggnog shake (minus the spices) with mint added.  I really think it has an underlying eggnog background flavor, anyone with me here? Defend or Discuss.  Ok so I will link to the recipe we used, with simple ingredients of milk, ice cream, mint extract and green food coloring.  My first thought is the next time we make these, to use chocolate chip mint ice cream for an extra dash of mint flavor, not to mention chocolate chunks are always a bonus.The real test will be to make these next Christmas, when I can add a dash of eggnog in there to see if my suspicions are correct.  I will keep you posted.  In the meantime, enjoy the minty goodness one refreshing sip at a time!