What do you love about summertime? Is it the warm weather on your face? The adventures that await when you go outside? Or something completely different? No matter what you enjoy about summer, we can amp up your enjoyment with a tasty treat that your entire family will enjoy. It is a treat that will bring back awesome childhood memories for you and help you create a few new ones. To get you started, we invite you to cool your summer with these easy slushie recipes.
Slushies with Kool-Aid
Have you ever thought about using Kool-Aid packets to create some awesome flavor combinations for your summer days? Most people never imagined how great it can be. To delight your kids and enjoy some of the coolest flavors of summer, we urge you to give this recipe a try.
All You Need:
- 8-oz Club Soda or Water
- 1/2-cup Sugar (to taste)
- 1/2-tsp Kool-Aid Powder
- 2-4 Cups of Ice
- A Blender
How to Make:
Prep time for these slushies is about 5-minutes total. You simply pour everything into a blender, adding two cups of ice to it, and blend for approximately 30-seconds. Add the rest of your ice and blend again until it reaches the desired consistency. If you aren’t a fan of Kool-Aid brand drink mixes, you can use others drink powders that you enjoy using the same recipe.
If you need more slushies but prefer to not mix up several batches, you can easily double the recipe. You will also want to have a higher-powered blender that can turn ice into slush.
Fantastic Fruit Slushies
Making fruit slushies is a great option for cooling down in the summer, even on the hottest days. It is also a healthier alternative to many of the other options we make use of. These slushies don’t require a lot of ingredients and most can be ready to enjoy in just a few minutes.
What You Need:
- 1 1/2 to 2 Cups Fresh Fruit, Chopped. (You can also use frozen fruit if you prefer less prep)
- 1/4- Cup Water.
- 1-Cup Ice
- Mint, Nuts, ETC-to taste.
- A High-Power Blender.
How to Make:
The first thing you will need to do is gather your ingredients and prepare your fruit. After you have done that, you will want to combine 1 cup of ice and water, along with your fruit. You can also add in the mint leaves, lemon juice, and other things that you want to add. Once everything is in the blender, turn it on. Blend until it has the consistency that you want. When finished, pour it into your glass. You can use extra fruit to garnish if you want.
If you want to add a little more fun to your fruit flavors, we recommend that you give these ideas a little consideration.
- Ginger: This will make all fruit flavor combinations pop.
- Vanilla or Lime: Both of these flavors are great for mango slushies.
- Lemon: Add to most fruits if you want a little lemonade kick.
- Basil: Ideally you will pair basil with berries of some sort.
- Honey: Use honey for added natural sweetness if your slushie is too tart.
- Mint: Anytime you bring out tropical fruit, mint will be an awesome add-in.
Magical Soda Slushies
You can use soda for slushies if you want to. All you will need to do it is your favorite soda flavors, some ice, and a blender. However, in my experience with slushie making, adding ice to soda, and busting it up in a blender can leave the soda flat and a little watery.
I much prefer to use either a slushie machine or a magical Ziplock bag. The Ziplock is time-consuming, but it is one of the most awesome slushies I’ve found so far. To do it, you need two bags, one gallon, and one quart. Put your soda in the quart bag. In the gallon-sized bag, add ice cubes and table salt. Generous amounts of each, though ensuring the quart bag will still fit inside. In order to jump-start the big freeze, I added some water to the gallon bag as well.
Wrap the bag in a dish towel because it will get very cold, very fast. Shake the mixture around gently for a couple of minutes. Or, as I prefer, set it on the counter for a few minutes and just shake randomly over the next five to 10 minutes. I feel that this makes it less likely to flatten the soda fizz but still produces the desired effect. Both options will give you a slushie with a very smooth texture in around 8-10 minutes.
Gatorade Slushie Fun
Even Gatorade can make an outstanding slushie that kids will love. We like the mermaid layered slushies because even though you may only use one flavor of Gatorade, it will taste like several at one time. All you need is a pale-colored Gatorade, some sugar, food coloring, and ice, along with a way to blend everything together.
To make it you will begin with blending your Gatorade and ice into a slushie consistency. Then dip out some of the mixtures into a glass, adding a few drops of one food coloring color. In another glass, add more of the mixture and a different color. Repeat with a third cup and a third color. In a new glass, dribble some of each mixture in layers to keep the colors separate. They will mix and blend as they melt while you and your family enjoy it.
Final Thoughts
As summer kicks off this year, go into it with the knowledge that you can provide a burst of cool on even the hottest of days. These slushies are all very easy to create, do not require special machines, and taste delicious. We hope that you approve of the flavor options as much as we do as you prepare to cool your summer with these easy slushie recipes!
