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Our Summertime hot weather has finally arrived here in Phoenix. We really enjoyed the longer Spring this year, but now it is time to find ways to keep cool!
When my son and his family were living with us, I was reminiscing about the snow cones we used to get at the snack bar of all of the Little League games my kids played in. And then, I found a Snow Cone Machine on clearance at our local grocery store for about $7.00! I decided it would be perfect to keep my grandchildren cooled off and happy and a great treat for when they were playing out in the backyard wading pool. I was even able to find the syrups on sale as well! I later found out that the company (Jelly Belly) had discontinued the model I purchased and came out with another one. But, you can still purchase the one similar to the one I have on Amazon. It is surprising how well this little machine shaves the ice for snow cones! I just use regular ice cubes from my freezer and this little thing goes to town, shaving the ice fairly quickly. No one has to wait their turn very long. When I bought the machine, it came with little pointy snow cone cups, but we used those up quickly and now I use paper cups instead. They are easier to find and just a little sturdier for little hands I think.
There are quite a few different models of snow cone or shaved ice machines out there. But, the hands down most popular and best value for your money is this one. I think it is so cool looking and would be awesome to have for a pool party with any age of kids.
Now, let's talk snow cone syrups. I think that you can still find the Jelly Belly syrups in the store, and they are pretty good, depending on the flavor. We had a root beer flavor that lasted about 2 days. The cherry is pretty good as well. I am not to sold on the tangerine. If you are having a big party, you can get this set on Amazon for a great price and it has really great reviews on the taste. The nice thing is that it comes with the flavor bottles that come with the tips to pour the syrup right out of the bottles, as well as 50 spoon straws and 50 cups!
Another, more cost saving alternative is to make your own syrup! It is super easy and only takes 3 ingredients and you can make it any flavor you want. Here is how you do it:
Snow Cone Syrup
In a small saucepan, mix together 1 cup of water and 1 cup of granulated sugar.
Cook and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Allow to simmer at least 3 minutes, or longer to make it thicker. Remove from the heat and stir in 1 package of unsweetened Kool Aid or other powdered drink mix. Alternatively, you may add an extract, such as root beer extract or lemon, to taste. Allow the syrup to cool then pour it into a squirt bottle to use on your snow cones.
I made a grape flavored syrup! Maddy was my taste tester and she said that it tastes great!
You will be the favorite parent on the block when you start handing out snow cones to all of your child's friends! They are the perfect, inexpensive treat at a water party. Be sure to have lots of flavors because when I helped at the snack stand at the Little League games, rainbow flavors were always the first choice!
Have a fun weekend!
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**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. But, all opinions expressed are my own.
It is one thing to just sit as a family and randomly watch a movie together with some people interested and others not so much. But, planning a special family movie night makes it a special time when memories are created.
It can be easy and inexpensive to plan a movie night. A lot of stuff can be found at DollarTree! If you get everyone involved it is even more fun. When we go to the movie theater, we all have our favorite treats that we like to get. Personally, I love a box of Junior Mints. Some people love Milk Duds or Mike and Ike's. Popcorn is a must! You can pop it in advance and bag it in some cute bags or get reusable plastic popcorn containers like these that you can use for every Family Movie Night. If you don't want to go with sodas, you can always whip up some smoothies or other juices as a special treat.
Make sure everyone is comfortable by breaking out the cushions, pillows and blankets. Be extra sure everyone goes to the bathroom and has all of the treats that they need before you dim the lights just like in a real movie theater! Turn off your phones and electronics and really get into the show! Remember if you have younger children, start the event early enough so that they are able to enjoy the whole movie.
Everyone has different ages to appeal to when it comes to a movie night. If it becomes a weekly or monthly event at your house, and you have younger children, let them take turns choosing the movie and make sure everyone knows that there is no complaining because their turn will come and it puts a real damper on the party if people complain. (This reminds me of when Maddy was in Jr. High and was really into the Twilight Series. When she got the first movie, she really wanted us all to watch it together. We did. After she went to bed that night, my husband confided in me that he thought it was the worst movie he had ever seen! Ha Ha! But he never would have told her that. She knows now, but she has moved on so...).
On the other hand, if you have teenagers, be sure they know the boundaries of what can be chosen, especially if they have younger siblings. At our house that would mean no extreme scariness or horror. Mom and Dad have to approve all choices, ratings, subject matter, etc. But come on, there are a lot of really good family movies out there that everyone can enjoy! Here are some of our choices:
Well, I hope we've given you some ideas for movies that you may not have thought of! If you have a movie that is always a hit at your house, let us know. We're always up for a good movie! I hope you'll incorporate Family Movie Night into your family's list of fun activities to enjoy together, and have a blast doing it!
Have a great weekend!
**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. But, all opinions expressed are my own.
When I was a kid, it seemed to me that eating chips wasn't that uncommon of a thing with sandwiches or as a snack. But, if we had dip with our chips, that was something special. Dip meant that we had company or it was a special celebration of some kind. Dip was what you got to have at birthdays or church luncheons. Dip elevated the meal from ordinary to FUN!
I still get a craving for onion dip sometimes, and I remember when we first started having RANCH! Man, that makes me feel old. I lived before Ranch! It seems like salsa became popular after I was married as well. Before that we always used taco sauce on our Mexican Food, or other more runny sauces were served with tortilla chips back then. It seems weird that we lived without salsa when we love it so much now! (Here is our recipe for fresh salsa!)
Another food that was a bit more rare to have at our house when I was a kid was shrimp! Being the seafood lover that I am, I loved it, but we were pretty poor back then and shrimp was a treat that we didn't have too often. Sometimes we had the canned little ones in salad, but those tiny treats weren't very practical to feed our large family.
So, today, for Fun Friday I am bringing you a recipe that is not only fun because it is a dip, but also because it is made with shrimp which was once a delicacy to me! Since Memorial Day is this weekend, it is a great time to break out the dip!
I saw a version of this shrimp salsa in a store flyer. It looked so colorful and summery that I decided to try it. The flyer didn't give proportions or measurements and I noticed that the ingredients didn't include any flavorful spices that would give it that Mexican taste. So, I came up with my own version and served it to may husband one night at dinner. He loved it! I know that you will, too!
Here is the recipe. Just remember to add the seasonings to your taste!
Enjoy! And Have a fun and safe weekend!
**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. But, all opinions expressed are my own.
Hi everyone! Welcome to Fun Friday! Today we are thinking about an upcoming weekend, Memorial Day! Do you have house guests coming for the long weekend? Or, is this a just a great weekend to spend enjoying your kids and family? Whatever your situation, this Pancake Sundae Station will be a big hit with everyone.
We have about a billion pancake recipes on the blog here. Just peruse through our breakfast section and you will find them! Today we chose to make Root Beer Pancakes for you. I posted this recipe in the early days of the blog. (When you go to it for the recipe, you will be able to tell that it was the early days of the blog.) I did update the recipe for you because I don't know if Root Beer is just less strong than it used to be or what, but I find that my pancakes don't have the strong root beer flavor that I want from these pancakes. So, I added a tsp of root beer extract to kick them up a bit.
Not only did I add the extract, today I was making this for Maddy who is vegan. So, instead of egg, I used chia seed instead. Did you know that you can use chia seed as a replacement for eggs? Even if you aren't vegan, that is a handy thing to know! Just mix 1 T. of chia seed with 1 T. of water and let it sit for about 10 min and then use it like you would an egg. This proportion equals one egg. So, if you are ever out of eggs, just pull out your chia seeds! Chia seeds are very healthy, too. Maybe that can counteract the effects of the root beer? Another good alternative for your Pancake Sunday Station would be Chunky Apple Pancakes with Red Hot Syrup! The red syrup would look so patriotic! You can choose to make whatever pancake recipe you love and make it as healthy or not as you want. I think that in this instance, dollar sized pancakes are best.
Setting up Your Pancake Sundae Station
Many of the things we used in our station came from Dollar Tree. They have an entire patriotic section on their website.
Many of the things we already had on hand, like the mini crate and the red pedestal tray. Just look at what you have hanging around your house.
Suggested Pancake Sundae Bar Toppings:
Oh my goodness! The sky is the limit!
Finally, let everyone build their own sundae! They can be as healthy or as unhealthy as they like, and they will have a lot of FUN doing it!
For more patriotic party plans, check out this post:
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Creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs! (copyrighted)
Author
Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to eleven! I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born. Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out! Read more about us here! Archives
June 2024
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